YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY THE LIBRARY OF THE DIVINITY SCHOOL *;*Ws* *y *% THE PERSECUTION OF DIOCLETIAN, ffiamfartoge : PRINTED BY C. J. CLAY, M.A. AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. THE PERSECUTION OF DIOCLETIAN A HISTORICAL ESSAY BY ARTHUR JAMES MASON M.A. FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE CAMBRIDGE. CAMBRIDGE: DEIGHTON BELL AND CO. LONDON: GEORGE BELL AND SONS. 1876 TO GEORGE WILLIAM MASON ESQUIRE /9 OF MORTON HALL ARE DUTIFULLY DEDICATED THE FIRSTFRUITS OF HIS SON'S STUDIES. -M. Now is come salvation and strength, and the Kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ ; for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the Blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their , testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the death. Nox et tenebrae et nubila, confusa mundi et turbida, lux intrat, albescit polus, Christus uenit, discedite. PREFACE A roughly sketched fragment, of which the present volume is the development and completion, received from the judges the award of the Hulsean Essay Prize in 1874. It is with the aid of Mr Hulse's Benefaction that the work is now published : and the author has to thank those who selected the sub ject for having first set him to work upon this most interesting period. My book ventures, contrary to an established etiquette, to pretend to something not unlike origi nality. Of course, but few new 'facts' have been disclosed. There are not many 'facts' — in that limited sense of the word which excludes all that is inward, all that turns a string of events into History — still left to be discovered in any historical field : they are as rare as gold-nuggets. But I have made a real effort to understand for myself, what the 'facts' which are everybody's property mean, without follow ing any previous author. No English writer of any viii Preface. eminence has made a special study of the great crisis, though Dean Milman shows careful thought and a just appreciation of the Persecution as a whole ; and Gibbon is always masterly. Far the best account of the period that I know, is in the Duke de Broglie's exquisite book, L Eglise et V Empire; but this too is only a cursory description. To several of the Ger man authors I owe a great deal ; in fact to one Pfarrer Hunziker— I am head over ears in debt for his book zur Regierung und Christenverfolgting des Kaisers Diocletianus und seiner Nachfolger. He has furnished me not only with many useful references and much carefully worked chronology, but also to some extent with my method, and with many sug gestions which I have used. But it will be found that I very rarely agree with Mr Hunziker, or with any of the German scholars, to whom I endeavour to state my obligations in the notes. The laborious erudition of Tillemont presents the grateful student with every shred of information that can be gathered from antiquity : but no historian could call him master. The chief novelties in this book may be briefly mentioned, with a view to their confirmation or ex posure in the interests of truth. They are as follows : — the notion that Constantine's Church policy was a fulfilment of Diocletian's design ; the modelling of Diocletian's Persecution after that of Valerian (to gether with the contrast shown between Valerian's Preface. ix and Decius' efforts) ; the proof that Diocletian had nothing to do with the so called Fourth Edict ; his conduct at the Abdication newly explained ; the true dating of the Manichaean Edict ; the de molishing of Constantine's supposed Second Act of Toleration ; and a number of lesser points. My view of the character of the great Emperor is, I trust, not wholly new : only in the present year, I was glad to observe, the British Quarterly Magazine contained an article by Mr Freeman, in which something like justice was done to Diocletian's memory. The ad mirable portraits on the title-page will show some thing of the difference between his colleague and himself; though it must be owned that the unflattering likeness of Maximian (which does not bear out his description in John Malalas) was coined in the place where Maximian was best hated, at Rome. Morton, October, 1876. TABLE OF CONTENTS. PREFACE CHAPTER I. The Second Augustus II. The Church and the Age III. Motives of the Persecution IV. Diocletian's Two Edicts of Persecution V. The Execution of the Two Edicts VI. The Fourth Edict, or, the Persecution of Maximian VII. From Diocletian to Constantine PAGE vii i 29 53 101 139 205 237 Appendix I. On the Details of the First Edict II. Diocletian's Marriage Edict of 295 III. ^ The Epistle of Saint Theonas IV. The Passion of Saint Theodotus Chronological Table Index 343346348 354 374375 THE PERSECUTION OF DIOCLETIAN. CHAPTER I. THE SECOND AUGUSTUS. Much more do Commonwealths acknowledge thee, And wrap their Policies in thy Decree, Complying with thy Counsels, doing nought Which doth not meet with an eternal Thought. George Herbert. The accession of the Emperor Diocletian is the era from which the Coptic Churches of Egypt and Abyssinia still date, under the name of the ' Era of Martyrs.' All former perse cutions of the faith were forgotten in the horror with which men looked back upon the last and greatest : the tenth wave (as men delighted to count it) of that great storm obliterated all the traces that had been left by others. The fiendish cruelty of Nero, the jealous fears of Domitian, the unim- passioned dislike of Marcus, the sweeping purpose of Decius, the clever devices of Valerian, fell into obscurity when com pared with the concentrated terrors of that final grapple, which resulted in the destruction of the old Roman Empire and the establishment of the Cross as the symbol of the world's hope. In the year 283, on or about the very day when the Church, at any rate in the West, had already learned to M. I 2 Death of Cams. celebrate the Birthday of the Saviour, the Emperor Carus died in the remote East, in the midst of a most prosperous campaign against the Persians. His death was attended with a mysteriousness which baffled the scrutiny even of those who were nearest to his person. His own private secretary has left us an account of the occurrence, which suffers us to entertain any of three several views with regard to the immediate cause. The writer himself professes to believe that Carus died in the ordinary course of nature, of. a disease, unnamed, from which he was suffering at the time. But it happened in the midst of a most violent thunderstorm, which created such confusion that nothing distinct could be afterwards ascertained, except that, immediately after the thunderclap which made most impression upon the multitude, arose a cry that the Emperor was dead, and at the same time the imperial tent was seen to be in flames. The eye witness of the scene without any misgiving asserts that the Emperor's valets — not the lightning — had set the pavilion on fire ; and that they did so in their ' frantic grief,' — grief, presumably, at finding Carus dead already of his sickness. This, he says, occasioned a belief that the Emperor was killed by lightning— the belief of Eutropius and all later authors. It was from that day that Diocletian dated his own reign. Some have thought that the great general was indeed lying sick, from the effects of poison ; that the moment of the thunderstorm presented a good opportunity for cutting short the work ; that the tent was really set on fire to blind men with regard to the real cause; and that the instigator was Diocletian. It was far more likely the work of Arrius Aper. Eight months later, when the victorious army, either panic-smitten at this strange misfortune, or unable to proceed Diocletian avenges Numerian. 3 because of the incompetency of its leaders1, had arrived on the shores of the Bosporus again, it was found out that Numerianus, the gentle and virtuous younger son of Carus, was dead, and had lain some time dead, in the camp at Perinthus. He had been in feeble health, and suffering, it was thought, from bad eyes. Arrius Aper, prefect of the Praetorians, had been canvassing to succeed his son-in-law whenever the vacancy should occur, and had actually been giving the orders during the young Emperor's illness. He was now brought in chains before a court-martial at Chal cedon. Diodes (such was Diocletian's name while he was yet a subject), who presided in this council, had been Prefect of the corps which guarded immediately the Emperor's person. If we acquit Diocletian of complicity in the murder, we accuse him of the most culpable carelessness at his post. Aper was his most formidable rival. It seems difficult to doubt that he had suffered Aper to destroy Numerian and helped to conceal his death, and had then informed against him. Lifting his eyes to the sun (the emblem of divinity) Diodes protested his own innocence, — a clear indication that Aper had endeavoured to asperse it ; — and then pronouncing solemnly, as if on his own personal knowledge, that the prisoner was the murderer of Numerian, he executed the sentence of death upon him with his own hand, — a clear indication that Aper could have proved his charge. "Be proud, O Aper," he cried, as he stabbed him to the heart : " thou fallest by the hand of great Aeneas2." 1 Or their ambitious desire to be desirous of empire. I am glad to nearer the centre ofthe empire. find that Mr Brunner takes the same 2 Quoting the Aeneid X. S30. Au- view of Diocletian's share in these relius Victor makes him add the deaths (Vopiscus Lebensbeschreibungen, solemn lie, that he had never been p. 104). I — 2 4 The Dtuidess of Tongres. Human life was at this time considered of so little moment, and the life of an Emperor so fair a mark, that even if this surmise be true, we should hardly think of reckoning it as a serious crime against a man like Diocletian. He was no common assassin. But whatever we may think of his guilt, his vigorous behaviour towards Aper, and the circumstances which led to it, ought to be well considered by those who would form a just opinion of his character. We have the whole story on the distinguished authority of the grandfather of Vopiscus the historian, an intimate personal friend of the great Emperor, from the time when he served as a private under Claudius to the days when he refreshed himself after his twenty years of labour in the proud retire ment of Spalatro. Many years before, a certain Druidess who kept a little shop at Tongres had the honour of enter taining the future Augustus as her lodger. One day, as he was paying her his bill, she rebuked him for being too miserly. Diodes answered with the natural banter of a young legionary that he would be liberal enough when he was Emperor, — a promise, it must be owned, which he hardly kept. The woman told him it was no matter for a jest, for Emperor he should be, when once he had killed the Boar, Aper. Diodes was conscious of the promptings of ambition, and had already avowed his passion both to Vopiscus' grand father and to Maximian, afterwards the colleague of his empire. He was struck with the woman's words. Arrius Aper was probably already a conspicuous officer, well known by name to Diodes and his comrades, who might some day be a competitor for the purple. It is characteristic of Dio cletian that all through his lifetime he believed himself to be the object of a special destiny, whose workings were Hunting the Boar. 5 sometimes discoverable in advance. However, on the pre sent occasion, Vopiscus says, "as he was a deep man, he laughed and said nothing1." He had a long while to wait. Aurelian, Tacitus, Probus, Carus, all took their turns before him ; but Diodes was patient. On one such occasion he remarked drily to his confidant, " I always kill the Boar, but some one else has the benefit of the carcase2." It was a well-known story that when at last the opportunity was presented, and Diocletian had avenged (as men thought) the murder of Numerian, he said aloud, " I have killed the mysterious Boar at last." Diocletian's old friend was fond of repeating to his grandson the historian, how the Emperor had told him " that he had no other reason for killing Aper with his own hand, but to fulfil the Druidess's saying, and con firm his own empire : for he would not have wished to get the repute of being so cruel, especially in the first days of his power, had not the necessity of fate driven him to this harsh act of slaughter3." Thus on the 17th of September, 284, Diocletian was elected by the assembled generals to fill the throne of the master who had been put aside. Early in the following year" the battle of Margus easily got rid of all opposition from the West, by the death of the abominable Carinus, who 1 Vop. Num. 15: ut erat altus, risit Vopiscus says) went boar-hunting ex- et tacuit. pecting to get the purple as in a fairy- 11 Vop. Num. 15: ego semper apros tale, but not if (as I think) he had occido, sed alter utitur pulpamento. marked down the right game from the 3 Vop. Num. 15. Gibbon (ch. xii.) first. At any rate the main facts are says: "The reason why Diocletian beyond a doubt. Cf. Bernhardt Ge- killed Aper was founded on a prophecy schichte Roms von Valerian bis zu Dio- and a pun as foolish as they are well kletians Tod I. 353. 354- known." It was foolish indeed, and " Probably March: cf. Hunziker, p. unlike the Emperor, if he really (as 203. 6 Period of Unsettlement. was killed on the field by one of his own tribunes, whose wife he had affronted. Carinus had himself subdued the usur pation of Julianus, — and so Diocletian was left without a rival, the master of the world. With the death of Carinus, or rather of Carus1, closed that great period of the history of Rome, and of the world, which began with the death of Nero and the downfall of the Julian dynasty ; — a period marked by every vicissitude of fortune, — in which the steady and terrible upgrowing of the army is of more historical interest than the fitful biographies of the princes who held the sceptre at its nomination or on its sufferance ; — a period of utter unsettlement, when it was almost impossible to guess from year to year what hands were destined to guide the state, or to what new degrada tions the world might be forced to submit. Since the abject resignation and death of Philip the Arabian, a succession of warrior princes had rather led the armies of the state, than governed it internally, each elected in an arbitrary manner, and each passing away by some means or other within a very brief space. The most curious part of the history of these chieftains, who were for the most part men of respectable character and excellent intentions2, is the variety of their views of their own office. Several had hoped to be the regenerators of the old Republic. Decius, a notable example of those who "have greatness thrust upon them," believed that the puri fication of the Senate, not his own personal government, was the main hope for the empire; and to that end he i It is from the earlier date that Dio- » With the notable exception of Gal- cletian himself reckons the beginning of lienus, alike the cleverest and the his reign. worst. Decius, Valerian, and the Senate. 7 had revived the obsolete office of the censor, and even invited the Fathers to appoint to the honourable post. He acted in the old plebeian spirit of the Decii, with no more selfish ambition than to be a trusty officer of state. ^Emilian had gone so far as to make a definite arrangement with the Senate, by which he renounced all civil power while he retained entire command of the armies. Valerian, who for his virtues had been selected by the senators as their censor, appears to have taken less pains to please them as their Emperor ; and though Pollio1 very likely speaks the truth, when, he asserts that, if the votes of all the world had been taken, Valerian would have been chosen Emperor, yet, as matter of fact, his election was the result of a deliberation between the chief officers of all the armies,— who rejected ^Emilian (strange to say) as being too much of a soldier and too little of a prince. Claudius Gothicus, who acquired his dignity in much the same way as Valerian, behaved very respectfully, though firmly, to the Senate ; but on his deathbed took the liberty to nominate his own successor, Aurelian. The nomination was accepted by the army and conse quently by the Fathers, though not without a protest for their own candidate, Quintillus. They had accepted, however, a man who cared little for their antient claims, and was unable to reconcile himself to the etiquette of the pretended commonwealth. The many rough lessons, which this bluff Illyrian taught the members of the curia, earned for him in vulgar parlance the title of " The Senators' Schoolmaster2." Aurelian slighted their authority on different considerations from those which had moved Valerian. This latter had himself 1 Poll. Valer. I. i. 2 Vop. Aur. 3? : paedagogum esse senatorum. 8 " The Senators' Pedagogue." been Princeps Senatus under the tyrant Maximin. He knew the utmost of their strength, and of their weakness. He saw that it was useless to think of restoring their supremacy. Still, he was a Roman, and a man of birth and culture, and could never allow himself to forget what the Senate had been in the days of Cato and of Cicero. But Aurelian, great general as he was, and clever man as well, was an unlettered barbarian from a distant land, whose only education had been in the camps, and who knew little and cared less about the past. The only thing which he saw very clearly was that the pretensions of the Senate, and their pedantic antiquarianism, hindered him in the free exercise of his own will. Such a body was fitted for no higher functions than to send him out pontiffs to reconsecrate the temples of Palmyra1. But the next two reigns were a triumph for the Senate. After the murder of Aurelian the troops actually refused to exercise the right, or rather the power, of proclaiming his successor. The " fortunate and valiant armies " wrote an epistle to the Senate and people of Rome, couched in the most reverential, obsequious terms, entreating them to send out some man whom they should deem worthy of the imperial dignity. The Senate had gained all that it could desire. But unaccustomed as they were to the exercise of any important privilege, they felt embarrassed with the proud prerogative. Vain and overjoyed with their recovered bauble, on the one hand they wrote as follows to the local senate of Carthage : " The right of conferring supreme command, of nominating the sovereign, of bestowing the sacred style of Augustus, has returned to us. To us therefore refer whatever is important. 1 Vop. Aur. 31: ego (Aurelian) ad senatum scribam petens ut mittat pontificem qui dedket templum. Might pays Right a Compliment. 9 All appeals will now lie to the Prefect of the City, provided they are appeals from the proconsuls and the ordinary judges. At the same time we take it that your dignity, as well as ours, is restored to its ancient consideration, since the highest order in the state, by regaining its proper power, preserves the rights of all the rest1". Yet, on the other hand, they sent back word that they referred the choice of a prince to the army of Aurelian. For eight months the world was astonished to find itself a free republic, while right and might — at the distance of Rome and Bithynia — bandied these momentous compli ments three times to and fro. The self-denial of the troops at last won the day ; and the Fathers appointed Tacitus, the senior senator, an antient, modest and virtuous philosopher. When he too had been assassinated, the army did not indeed renew its obliging offers to the Roman curia ; but Probus, the admirable officer whom they elected, himself hastened humbly to crave the generous permission of the Senate to wear the purple with which he had been invested. They were, he said, the rightful sovereigns. He regretted that Florian, the brother of the late Emperor, had not waited for their authority before assuming the title of Augustus2. He insinuated that the purpose of the soldiers in 1 Vop. Tac. 18, 19. The following No more of your holidays at Baiae and private letter gives a lively view of the Puteoli ! Devote yourself to the city feelings of the senators : — " Claudius and to the senate-house. Bravo for Sapilianus to his uncle Cereius Maeci- Rome ! bravo for the whole republic ! anus.— Honoured Sir, we have obtained We are commissioning emperors and what we have always longed for. The creating princes. We who are begin- senate has come back to its antient po- ning to do, are able also to forbid:— a. sition. We, we create princes ; our word's enough to the wise."— Alas for order distributes magistracies. We have the wisdom of the remark itself! to thank the Roman army— a really 2 Florian's was the merest usurpation : Roman army. It has restored to us the he had not even the semi-constitutional power which we have always possessed. suffrage of the officers. 10 The Compliment retracted. electing himself was to punish this infringement of the sena torial rights. So splendid an apology from an Emperor was even more flattering than the homage of the generals had been. The Roman aristocracy began to think its supremacy com plete and lasting. But within six years the legions grew weary of the peaceful austerity of Probus' discipline. He was forced to go the way of all Roman Emperors, and into his place was thrust, by the mutinous common soldiers who had killed him, a senator indeed but no friend ofthe Senate, Carus. That antient assembly was no longer to have any influence upon the destiny of the world. Carus addressed to it no apologies, and no thanks. He told its members in plain language that he was now their sovereign, and bade them be thankful that the honour had fallen upon one of their own nation and of their own order. But as Probus was the last who acknowledged his obliga tions to the Senate, so Carus was the last nominee of a tu multuary army. He now made way for one who was to establish an orderly government and a fixed, though novel method of succession ; — one who gave himself to the im provement of the countries already beneath his sway, while he did not neglect the necessity of impressing the prestige of the Roman arms on those who yet lay outside the empire ; — one who seems in a sense to be almost the transition from antient history to modern, and at any rate prepared for that transition, which may justly be said to have taken place under his great successor Constantine. Diocletian has never been better described than when Gibbon calls him a second Augustus, the founder of a new empire. He was the Founder of a New Empire ; — not the restorer of an old. Diocletian can in no wise be conceived of as a The Second Augustus. 1 1 reformer, in the sense of that word which implies a recurrence to that which is primitive. He was far too great a statesman to attempt a retrogression : a prodigious stride in advance was what he took \ For in the first place a retrogression to Senatorial govern ment would have been impossible. A worthy captain like Decius, with a peculiar ancestral reputation to keep up, might attempt to restore the old constitution, but not an enlightened modern-minded politician. For firstly the empire was no longer in any real sense Roman. Rome happened to be the germ and the antient capital of the empire ; but the dominions stretched from the Tigris to the Clyde. The wealthiest members of the commonwealth were not Romans but Span iards : the most learned and eloquent were trained in the schools of Autun and of Carthage : far the most able and pow erful were the hardy and vigorous races of Dalmatia and Pan nonia. And in fact the senators were no longer even the repre sentatives of the burghers of Rome : for since the sensible edict of the senseless Caracallus, any free man from Antioch to Lis bon enjoyed the franchise equally with the descendants of the Pisos. A few Pisos were the last relics of the old Roman gentes : for the modern senators were either foreigners, or else descended from their Roman ancestors through many genera tions of illegitimacy. To bring back legislative and executive powers into the hands of a few rich old gentlemen, merely because they happened to live in Rome, would have been as absurd, at that date, as it would be now to entrust the govern ment of the British Isles, with India, Canada, and Australia, 1 The extreme importance of this observation will be seen in the next chapter but one. 12 Senatorial Government impossible to the mayor and corporation of the Confessor's capital of Winchester. It would have been still more preposterous. An Emperor could not have tried to become the servant of the Senate, without ignoring the most noticeable feature in the whole poli tical landscape. The Army was now no longer what it had been \ According to the original theory of the Roman army it was a muster of the Quirites for war. Roman citizenship alone gave men the honourable privilege of fighting in the legions. In the pressure which was felt after the battle of Lake Trasimene, some were recruited whose freedom was only acquired : but the innovation was so grave, that the recruiting officers restricted their choice to those freedmen only who had children in Rome to be their hostages2. And so soon as peace was restored, the good citizens went again to their homes and the legions ceased to be. As long as the army could accept this theory of its own existence, senatorial govern ment was natural enough. But under the Caesars a standing army had been formed, which had gradually become less and less Roman. And now these soldiers were supreme. They had interfered in the highest political matters, and would interfere again. Their interests — and they were strong enough to look after them — were quite distinct from the interests of civilians. If the responsibilities of government had again been laid upon the conscript Fathers, they would have been in a perpetual dilemma. For, on the one hand, without these vast hosts upon the frontiers, the Senate could not have existed. The Goths and Burgundians, the Carpi and the Persians, would have been fighting together on the Appian 1 See Richter, das westromische Reich, p. 33. 2 Livy, xxii. 11. becatise of the Army. 13 Road and in the Forum. And yet, unless these troops were dissolved, the Senate could never be obeyed. The legions, formed of all nations under heaven1, would never submit to an unwarlike council composed of the magnates of a single city. The only conceivable aristocracy that could have governed the world, by governing the soldiery, would have been a council of the highest officers of the army 2. And if it was impossible to return to a republican regimen, so was it also inexpedient and mischievous to retain those fictions by which the Empire was disguised. Diocletian no more sought to reproduce the empire of Augustus and Ti berius, than the commonwealth of the Gracchi or of Brutus. If the world was to be delivered from anarchy, and from the cruel tyranny of the soldiers, there was need of three great things. The sovereignty must be displayed in its most im posing grandeur, to claim the loyal reverence of its subjects. To defend it from all risk of sudden assaults, an apparent division of it was required. The succession must be made regular and well known beforehand. I. The continual rude shocks and changes which the throne had suffered during many years had diminished its effect upon the imagination of mankind. Those who saw new men rising one after another and taking violent possession of the imperial office, no longer felt the same veneration for the supreme magistracy as they had felt when first the Maiestas of Rome had become incarnate in the successors of Octavian. The subtle policy of that great statesman had led him to frame the new system which he introduced in such a sort as to 1 Probus admitted 16,000 recruits from ter I.e. the Germans with whom he was at war, 2 See Burckhardt, Zeit Constantius in one day. Vop. Prob. 14: cf. Rich- des Grossen, p. 24. 14 Prestige. conceal the introduction. Living as humbly as any private senator, he only gradually acquired his powers by gathering into his own person all the republican offices. His one bold step was the assumption of the title Augustus, by which he endeavoured to impress upon the world the sanctity of his person even apart from the sanctity of his tribunician office. But now that this mysterious awe for the Head of the State had been dispelled by the common spectacle of murdered Emperors, and the throne bought and sold, Diocletian found it necessary to effect an aesthetic change in the circumstances of his person. He was himself susceptible in a high degree of the impressions of artistic order and of grandeur, and he knew men well enough to see how strong is the love of pomp even in the proudest minds. He was aware that men's fear and hatred of ritual is the strongest tribute to its efficacy. And he made a bold use of this power. The Emperor is no longer, as in the time of Carus, a simple soldier seated bare headed on the grass to receive a foreign ambassage1. Every theatrical effect is used to inculcate the grandeur of the throne : — the whole army look on with awe-struck eyes, while a Caesar, clad in the imperial purple of Rome, is forced to expiate his fault by marching a mile on foot before the car of the incensed Augustus2. The plain title of an Imperator con veyed no adequate notion of the majesty of a Diocletian : — it was but the highest dignity of a decayed Italian town. The Lord and Master of the world assumed a style which ex pressed him better, — Sacratissimus Dominus Noster. The word was all the better in the opinion of Diocletian for being 1 Compare the account in Gibbon (Vol. ii. p. 95, ed. 1792) of Carus and the Persian envoys. 2 Aram. Marc. xiv. xi. 10. Orientalism. 1 5 abominable to Roman ears : for Diocletian had broken with all the narrow traditions of a Roman rule. V etat c est moi. The mightiest general, the most venerable senator, might no longer draw near his divine Numen with the old familiar embrace of a fellow Roman. He had assumed, together with the diadem, all the other observances of the Persian court. Those who would approach him (if their rank and if their business warranted the favour) approached through many circles of guards and eunuchs, until at last with their foreheads touching the ground they bowed before the throne, where, in rich vestments from the far East, sat the wily Dalmatian scribe. " Ostentation," says the great historian of the Decline and Fall, "was the first principle of the new system instituted by Diocletian1." II. But there was more solid work done than this. A single head can be severed at a single blow ; and up to this time the head of the Roman state was perpetually exposed to such blows, with nothing to protect him. It had been proved again and again during the last twenty years, that neither virtues, nor military abilities, nor even popularity, afforded him any security. His defenceless position was a continual temptation to all the adventurers in the army ; and the temptation was for ever proving successful. And the bulk of the empire made his position more difficult. The Emperor, fighting on the frontier against the common enemy, had no notion how many usurpers might be marching against 1 II. p. 167. De Tillemont, never cond Victor and Vopiscus are in direct very discriminating in his judgment of variance on the question whether Aure- characters, is of course quite wrong here lian wore the diadem: 1 think on the in following Aurelius Victor : it was whole he did not. For some reason or certainly no mere ritualism or ' pride in other Diocletian never wears it on his clothes,' though doubtless t.e ceremo- coins: it first appears on the coinage of nial was to Diocletian's taste. — The se- his successor Galerius. 1 6 Strivings after Ubiquity. him from Britain or Spain, from Syria or Pannonia ; and by the time he heard of a sedition, it was old enough to have grown into a war. His presence was constantly demanded, both at the seat of half-a-dozen important campaigns, and also at the centre of civil government : and as the gift of ubiquity has been denied to the human race, he was forced to leave his most pressing affairs to deputies both at home and abroad, in none of whom, probably he placed any con fidence at all. Diocletian found a way to remedy this defect. If the work of the vast realm was too laborious for a single person, and the isolated position too hazardous, Diocletian's plan was, not to divide the empire into several more manageable kingdoms, but to quadruple the personality of the sovereign1. The two Augusti, seated at Nicomedia and Mediolanum, conducted all the internal affairs of state with regularity and promptitude. The two Caesars on the eastern and western frontiers maintained or extended the Roman borders. All four were but as one person present in four places. It was to the interest of each not to advance himself at the expense of the rest. The fewness of the number precluded the formation of any cabals or conspiracies among them ; while it was fully large enough to make the disaffected despair of a rebellion, for it was but rarely that any two of the four could be surprised in one place. We never hear again of the murder of an Emperor ; for the murderer would have found the three survivors more than a match for him. There was one splendid novelty in this arrangement l Lact. mortes 7, in attributing this has grasped the right thought, but by multiplication to Diocletian's timidity, the wrono- end. Rome taught her Place. 17 which was worthy of Diocletian. The world was not indeed really divided into eastern and western empires, as under the Christian princes of the succeeding century. The laws were still promulgated under the names of both Augusti. There was not even that hard and fast partition of the provinces and legions which is said to have taken place on the acces sion of Constantius1. But to make any partition at all was an emphatic declaration that the days of Roman government were at an end. Marcus and Verus, Bassian and Geta, Carus and Carinus, had all ruled the provinces together from the so called Mistress of the world. But now Rome was fallen irretrievably. The great reformer swept away the relics of the lie which had so long imposed upon mankind. Milan and Nicomedia were now the two eyes of the world. Next after them ranked Treves and Sirmium. By the diminution of the Praetorian guards, who had passed from being the tyrants to being the protectors of the Quirites, Rome was reduced to the position of a second-rate garrison-town. Nay, even in the sumptuous buildings with which Diocletian ministered to Roman luxury, we can read the lesson of the Dalmatian supremacy. His vast Thermae "was the most extensive of all the gigantic edifices of the Empire." The baths of Caracallus could but accommodate one half the number that enjoyed the munificence of the new Augustus2. Rome was humbled by his gifts. But the most significant humiliation is yet to be told. To the utter horror of all conservative upholders of the lie, Rome and Italy themselves 1 See Vales, on Eus. vm. xiii. n. credited with the erection, the Thermae Tillemont, however, denies the fact. are a monument of the grand self-asser- 2 Burn's Rome and the Campagna, tion of the reformed government. p. 257. Even if Maximian is to be M. 2 1 8 The Senate, were now forced, instead of receiving proudly the tributes of a hundred provinces, to pay taxes, like any other part of Diocletian's empire, for the maintenance of their foreign master's courts. A writer who is usually judicious in his criticisms, and who had an admirable private source of information con cerning Diocletian, tries to make us believe that the four Emperors always behaved with great reverence toward the Roman Senate1. But we may observe that Diocletian is a favourite with Vopiscus, and that Vopiscus was a conservative Roman ; and all men would fain attribute to their heroes the motives which animate themselves. In point of fact, Diocletian, so far as our records go, behaved to the Senate precisely as though it did not exist. Maximian indeed, on one occasion to which we shall refer hereafter, appears to have consulted their opinion ; but even to him the senatorial roll was chiefly attractive, as a list of persons who might be worth the plundering, and in whose families might be found a more recherche" sort of victims to his pleasures2. We do not even know that Diocletian sent, like Carus, to acquaint the Senate of his accession. He did not put them down indeed, as a non licita f actio ; — he suffered them to sit, if they cared to do so, and to send him submissive deputations. Maximian even sat by and heard Mamertinus speak of Rome as the ' Lady of nations,' and say that she had ' sent the luminaries of her own Senate to lend for a few days to the most favoured city of Milan the semblance of her own Majesty.' 'But this bold rhetorician, in the same fine sentence, accurately de scribed the situation, when he said how pleased that rie°-- i Vop. Carin. 18 : semper reuerentes 2 Lact. mort. 8 : ad uiolandas fri- senatus Romani. morum flias. Settlement of the Succession. 19 lected 'Lady' was to have two Emperors at no greater distance than Milan, and how the Romans sought the highest points of view around and strained their envious eyes towards the new metropolis1. As Gibbon points out, the most fatal blow to the authority of the Senate consisted in the mere absence of the Emperors. III. But the most open abrogation of the Senate's powers was involved in Diocletian's scheme for regulating the succession. The only real safeguard for a nation's peace and welfare is the belief in the Divine Right of Kings, not viewed as a theological dogma, but as a profound political maxim, based on the facts of history. There need be no great power entrusted in reality to the reigning family ; but so long as the primacy of the state is vested in a line of persons who succeed one another in some indisputable order, no revolution need be feared ; in fact a revolution must be nearly im possible. There could hardly be a civil war to decide be tween candidates for the office of prime minister or grand vizier. But once leave this peaceful hereditary government, and the worst consequences ensue. No elective monarchy, no republic, except that of Rome, has lasted long without civil bloodshed ; and even our exception was convulsed with dissensions, horrible to think of, during its earliest and latest years. And a despotism is in a far worse case. The peace and safety of all the Roman world depended on the life of one man; and that one man usually had no sort of birth- 1 Thepassagedeservestranscription:— quantum potuit acctssit. lumina siqui- ipsa etiam gentium Domina Roma, im- dem Senatus sui misit, beatissimae illi modico propinquitatis uestrae elata gau- per eos dies Mediolanensium ciuitati simi- dio, usque - speculis suorum montium litudinem Maiestatis suae libenter imper- prospicere conata, quo se uoltibus uestris tiens, ut ibi tunc esse sedes imperii uide- propius expleret, ad intuendum cominus retur, quo uterque uenerat imperator \ 2 — 2 20 Choice of Maximian. claim to his position, nothing to make his person specially sacrosanct, and certainly, as a general rule, nothing whatever to endear him to the people, unless indeed he ingratiated himself with the lewd rabble by the bloodiness of his shows, or with the army by the vastness of his largesses. Even this custom of largesse endangered the position of the prince; for, the more princes, the more frequent largesse ; and in order to be able to lavish the same, the donors were obliged to extort excessive and unrighteous taxes from the people, which, by a natural Nemesis, rendered them unpopular while taking the only possible steps to popularity. The peoples groaned under this rapid succession of princes, upon whose personal character they entirely depended, and re signed themselves again and again to be pillaged in apathetic despair. It seems probable that Diocletian had barely sat upon the throne of West as well as East a month, before he took the first step to establish his new system of succession, by in vesting one Maximianus with the inferior dignity of a Caesar. Diocletian was a good general but not a great one. He had been selected for the same reasons which made the officers prefer Valerian to Aemilian : — he was not a mere soldier like themselves. Diocletian was doubtless conscious of his own weakness in warlike operations. He felt that he needed some faithful soldier, capable of undertaking the chief command of the forces, and yet willing to act in obedience to himself. Such an arrangement would please the army better than the reign of a second Probus ; and Diocletian would have more leisure to devote to his own profound statesmanship. He was perhaps led finally to choose his old friend and countryman Maximian, as likely to be a fit assistant, by some skill or prowess dis- Diocletian's Opinion of him. 2 1 played in the battle of Margus. We do not know how great a general Maximian was; but there is reason to credit him with some respectable strategic gifts, simply because there was nothing else whatever to recommend him. Diocletian, who seems to have been a very candid friend, found himself free to acknowledge repeatedly that Maximian, like Aurelian, ought never by rights to have been a sovereign. His powers, he said, were those of a field-marshal : — he was disqualified for government by his harsh barbarity \ But in spite of these defects, after Maximian had satisfactorily served his- noviciate for eleven months, the next step was taken. He was associated with Diocletian as full Augustus2,, bound to his benefactor by no other laws of subordination than those which gratitude and good faith would suggest. From that time on we never hear of a moment's dissension between the two Emperors until a much later period. While Diocletian could afford to dis parage the character of his partner, Maximian had learned to look upon him with a quaintly superstitious fear, and laid his victories, — whether over the poor Bagaudae of Gaul or over the dreaded and inaccessible Moors, — at the feet of the elder sovereign. It was not till six years from the day of Maximian's eleva tion, — that is, not till the first of April, A.D. 292, that Dio cletian ventured upon completing his work, by adding to the double Augustus-ship a corresponding double Caesarship. 1 Vop. Aur. 44: Herennianus prae- Hunziker, p. 137 note 5, thinks Ga- fectus praetorii Diocletiani, teste Asclepio- lerius referred to: but Vopiscus calls doto, saepe dicebat, Diocletianum fre- Galerius by this name alone (Carin. 18), qtienter dixisse, cum Maximiani asperi- and certainly Herculius, though not more tatem reprehenderet, Aurelianum magis of a general than Galerius, was still less ducem esse debuisse quam principem. of a statesman. nam eius nimia ferocitas eidem displi- 2 April 1, a.d. 286 : see Tillemont, cebat. Emp. iv. p. 500 (ed. Bruxelles, 1709). 22 Augusti and Caesares. Doubtless long before he had himself assumed the purple, he had excogitated plans for making the government of the world a happier thing for the world itself, and less precarious for the governors. Like the great first Founder of the Empire, he had been contented to wait patiently until the convenient seasons should offer themselves for introducing new improve ments and adding new buttresses to his throne. We must try to consider the system somewhat in detail. The two Head-Emperors claimed the Divine Right in the most literal sense. They professed no allegiance to men, neither to Senate nor to soldiery. From Jupiter alone they had received their purple, and, when they resigned, into his hands alone they resigned it1. Of the two Augusti, one, clearly, was intended always to have the preeminence : there was to be no doubt who was the real master. Edicts were issued under both names : the rescripts bore both : but one name is invariably the first 2. We find Maximian not only obeying willingly the order to persecute the Christians3, but also most reluctantly submitting to Diocle tian's decision in the matter of abdication4. Even Galerius, when at length he became an Augustus, in spite of his con tempt for Constantius, found himself restrained from giving full vent to his fury against the faith by the milder determi nation of his senior. In the same way the two Caesars were not on an equality. We continually have mention of holding the third, or the 1 Paneg. Incerti, v. 12 : recipe lup- course we must not press the word too pi ter quae commodasti. hard. 2 Lac. mort. 20 : Constantium quam- « Eutr. ix. 27 : cut aegre collcga op- uis priorem nominari csset necesse, con- temperauit; Aur. Vict. C. xxxix. 48 : temnebat cum m scntaitiam Herculium aegerrime Lact. mort. 15 : /idem paruit. Of traduxisset. Vicennial Abdication. 23 fourth place : though of course, in their case, subordination implied no allegiance, but only signified the order in which they might expect to accede to the primacy. The promotions took place in order of seniority, which not only had the bene ficial effect of securing the succession from all contest, but also provided that the Eastern and Western portions of the realm should alternately have the precedence, and so avoided jealousy. Thus at the death of Constantius, Severus succeeds him (as second, however, not primus), not as being Constantius' own Caesar, but as being the senior : and Maximin forthwith becomes the heir-apparent, while Constantine takes the lowest room. The Augusti were to be taken from the Caesars alone1. It seems quite certain that Diocletian wished his own precedent to be followed, and that at the end of twenty years (if the Emperor lived to hold office so long) he should retire into private life, leaving younger men to do the work, and taking away from them the temptation to put an end other wise to his reign. We can scarcely account else for the simultaneous abdication of Maximian and Diocletian : or for the determination of Galerius (who really was desirous of carrying out — so far as he understood them — the plans of a far wiser genius than his own) to give up his position as soon as he had celebrated his Vicennalia and set his house in order. Wherever it seemed possible, the great statesman wisely wished the succession to run in families : and yet he sternly excluded all notion that there was a hereditary right to the purple. There seems very little reason to doubt that he would personally have preferred to make Constantine and Max entius Caesars at the time of his abdication, but was over- 1 Tie appointment of Licinius was proved (of course) the wreck of the the first departure from this order, and whole system. 24 The Hereditary Principle. powered by Galerius. However valuable the hereditary right may be in the case of a single throne, it would have quite marred the meaning of the quadruple system of Diocletian. If but one of the four had been an imbecile or a minor (as might well be if natural kinship had been the rule) the whole balance of the fabric would have been destroyed. At the same time, where ability was to be had among the sons ofthe Caesars, -the blood relationship offered a great additional stability : for it was not often likely that a father and son should be at variance, like Herculius and his rebellious off spring. In fact, so great a value was set upon the personal tie, that in every case where nature did not supply the link, it was formed by marriage, divorce being insisted upon if the new Caesar was no longer free from the yoke of matrimony. It was not without significance that the two Augusti were invariably spoken of as fratres, and that Galerius sought to appease the discontentment of his younger colleagues by substituting the title of filii Augustorum for that of Caesars. The practical working of the new system was admirable. The commanders of the several armies did their work in happy security, knowing that there was nothing to fear from within, —and with a most prosperous issue. The usurper Carausius, to whom at first Diocletian had been forced to concede the title of Augustus, fell before Constantius, and restored our rich island to the unity of the empire1. The whole of Africa yielded to Maximian; while Diocletian himself superintended, 1 Those who doubt the propriety of when it suits his purpose to extol the this epithet at that stage of our national difficulties of the conquest, he uses less progress, must consult the rapturous flattering language: Pan. IV. 22 : Britan- eulogies of Eumenius, Paneg. ix. 9 and mam, squalidum caput siluis etfluctibus X. 1 1 : tot uectigalibus quaestuosa. At the exerentem. same time it must be admitted that Success and Harmony of the System. 25 with pitiless severity, the reduction of Egypt. Galerius, though at first utterly beaten by the Persians, at last subdued most effectively the vastest monarchy of the East, and added five fair provinces beyond the remote mysterious Tigris to the dominions of his father-in-law. The last real war of the em pire was accomplished, and Rome beheld, in Diocletian's nineteenth year1, the last triumph that ever trod the Sa cred Way. The harmony of the four rulers was almost proverbial. The apostate Julian, many years later, describes it in a very exqui site passage, in metaphors borrowed from the language of festal processions, as though it were some magnificent march of the whole world into a happier and holier state. " Diocletian," he says, " walked first in splendid array, leading with him the two Maximians and my own grandfather, Constantius. And hand was linked to hand, and yet they did not walk abreast, for the others formed as it were a- choral dance around him, making him a guard of honour, and ready, if he had suffered them, to run before him, like lacqueys : but he would in no wise claim more honour than was his own. And when he felt that he was weary, he gave to them all the great burden that he bore upon his shoulders, and walked on, free and happy. The gods wondered at the concord of the men and gave them to sit over very many2." Lactantius in the seventh chapter of his clever and amusing little book gives us a very fair description of the works to which Diocletian devoted himself in the interior of 1 I may be excused entering into 2 Jul. Caess. p. 315, Spanheim. The the proof that the Triumph and the Scriptural tinge of the original bewrays Vicennalia were not celebrated at the Apostate. To enjoy the beauty of the same time: cf. Hunziker, p. 142, the piece, it is better not to see the silly note. context which spoils it. 26 " Patriarchalisch-bureaukratischer the empire. He mentions first the great increase of the standing army ;— so great, he complains, that there were not enough men left to till the ground, which was allowed to run wild ; and the army itself suffered in consequence, as the supply of provisions was inadequate to their demands. Perhaps the complaint is partly true, but no doubt receives its bitter tone from the dislike of the author to the Emperor whose cowardice (Lactantius thinks) occasioned the perse cution. Next he finds fault with the admirable system of local governments now introduced: provinces were divided and subdivided into more manageable portions, like the arrondissements and cantons of modern France ; this multipli cation of offices, while of course it multiplied salaries, and therefore taxes to match, and while it made the state machinery more complicated, yet was an effectual means of putting down the extortion and wrong which Lactantius thinks it produced ; for each petty officer was constantly overhauled by his superior, so that the central government had a far better control than in the old days of praetors and quaestors1. What was really irksome to the people, and to this writer among the rest, was the perpetual ostentation of government, in the person of these innumerable officials, which we have noticed as the first principle of Diocletian's system. This dislike actually broke out into riots, when 1 Hunziker, p. 142 : Wir konnen seine dignities. The subject may be found Regierung am besten ais einen durch die worked out with German laboriousness Verhdltnisse nothiaendig gewordenen und in Wietersheim's Volkerwanderung, in umsichtiger Hand ruhenden patriar- Vol. m. ch. 18. The general result chalisch-bureaukratischen Despotismus fully establishes the position that what- baeichnen. soever was novel, striking, and anti- I have omitted all particularisation of Roman in Constantine's policy was these offices, as well as of the court learned in the school of Diocletian. Despotismus." 2 7 Diocletian— in whose days political economy lay in undis covered mines of thought— attempted to regulate the prices in the market ; but as soon as the disturbance was reported an order came down that the obnoxious regulation should be removed1. What Lactantius thinks the 'insatiable avarice' of Diocletian, will perhaps obtain a better name at this distance of 1600 years. In order that he might never find himself with an empty treasury at some sudden emergency, he determined to keep a reserve-fund always ready, and preferred levying new taxes to touching this deposit. Dio cletian did not, like former Emperors, treat the state resources as if they were his own private property, so 'avarice' can hardly be laid to his charge. We have it on excellent authority that he was extremely parsimonious in all those matters which had hitherto constituted the chief bulk of imperial expenses: though the four imperial courts2, and the salaries of many hundred rationales and uicai'ii, cost money, yet they can hardly have cost more than the games which were now retrenched. There was, however, one new object on which Diocletian seems indeed to have lavished a great deal of wealth. He had a passion for building. The de scription of his own palace at Salona reads like the Arabian Nights. His wife and his daughter appear to have had similar mansions built for them. Basilicas, circuses, public offices, rose in all the towns in his dominion. His outlay upon the new capital of the East was so prodigious that Lactantius tells us he wished to make Nicomedia the coequal of Rome. It seems as if the writer of whom we speak was 1 See Burckhardt Const, p. 70. same Oriental pomp as their Augusti : 2 We do not know however whether probably not. the Caesars were indulged with the 28 The Golden Age. constrained to admire the grandeur of Diocletian's manage ment, and tried to record it for us with as bad a grace as possible. Eusebius, though his account is less definite, speaks much more generously of the first eighteen years of this great reign. "What abundance, — what prodigal abundance — of good things this reign was permitted to enjoy, no man is sufficient to declare. Those who held the ./highest govern ment of the state, completing their tenth years and their twentieth years, in feasts, and great solemnities, and most sumptuous banquets, and merrymaking, passed all their time in perfect and unshaken peace1." The secular panegyrists— and who can wonder at them? — thought all misery was at an end for evermore, and hailed Valerius Dioclefeianus Jovius as the " Father ofthe Golden Age2." 1 Eus. vin. 13. Calpurn. Sic. 1. 42 : 2 It must be confessed they thought aurea secura cum pace renascitur aetas, less highly of Herculius. Lampr. et redit ad terras tandem squalore situque Heliog. 35 : Diocletianus aurei parens alma Themis posito, iuuenemque beata saeculi, et Maximianus, ut uolgo dicitur, secuntur ferrei. Observe carefully that the book saecula, maternis causas qui lusit in ulnis. from which these words are taken is ad- dum populos deus ipse re^et, dressed to the first Christian Emperor. and so on. The literary deus was doubt- — The compliment, however, was not less Numerian, but Carinus was still uncommon in worse times : see (e.g.) polluting the earth with his existence. CHAPTER II. THE CHURCH AND THE AGE. oi)5' floris irdpoiBev ijv fliyas Traixiiaxf Bpdtrei fiptiaiv oiid' d\^erai, irplv uv, os 8' fireix' £ unhappily not yet 2 Compare the account of the Tauro- published. Christianity meets these Wants. 35 lassitude1. Was asceticism an attraction ? the Christian was bound by a perpetual vow to make war upon the flesh, not by sudden orgiastic onslaughts, but with a rational systematic constancy. If men found splendid ceremonies a help to self- forgetfulness, the Catholic Church, in her long peace, if not before, had learned to use a ritual, severely chaste indeed, but, to those who understood it, affecting and sublime. Though from the contempt with which Arnobius speaks of the heathen use of incense, and Lactantius of their ceremonial use of lights, we might infer that these exquisite symbols had not yet been incorporated in the Christian worship2, yet the anti- phonal hymns, the long vestments of the priesthood3, the careful arrangements ofthe building, the solemn attitudes of devotion, the orderly movements of the inferior clergy who formed the choir, made such functions as that of the consecra tion of Tyre Cathedral as imposing as any which the modern Church can shew. And one entirely novel element was to be found in the assemblies of the Christians. All the powers of trained orators like St Cyprian and St Athanasius were tasked in producing sermons, full of the most stirring appeals, and the most soothing consolations. Thus instead of encouraging men to pry into the secrets of their earthly future, Christianity engaged them upon the immediate present;— or else it carried them on to a future 1 St John iv. 14 ; cf. S. Ambr. hymn. compatible with a Christian usage of vii. 23: the same things. Tert. idol, ii, after laeti bibamus sobriam enumerating the common uses of incense ebrietatem Spiritus. adds: nobis quoque in super ad solatia * Lact. inst. VI. 2; Arn. VII. 26; sepulturae usui sunt. cf. Tert. ap. 42 : I think Canon Robert- 3 The rroSfip-qs (Eus. X. iv. 2) : this son (Hist. vol. II. p. 44, ed. min.) con- passage may be figurative, but the fact eludes too strongly from the first two remains : see Heinichen on Eus. Vit. passages quoted. The language is quite Const. I. xiii. 1 ; and Bingham xiii. 8. 3—2 36 Numerical Status. over which their own wills and actions had control, unaffected by the chances of this mortal life. It had its own mysteries. There were secret doctrines undivulged to pagan ears, sacred formulas only taught on the very eve of Baptism. There were 'divine oracles' which pagan eyes might never sully, but in which the simplest Christian might find his doubts resolved and his goings ordered. And above all there were ordinances, - — the Mysteries — into which we believe that Angels in vain desire to look, and yet if one thing is more certain to the Church than another, it is that the devout partaker is really 'born again for eternity,' — is really joined to the Godhead in an insoluble bond 1. By such means as these, besides those more general causes enumerated in the "Decline and Fall," the Kingdom of Heaven had been gradually widening. It had attained a numerical census which is very variously calculated. Naturally the proportion of Christendom and Heathendom differed greatly in different regions. Chastel gives to our faith a fifteenth part of the western world, and a tithe of the East. Gibbon estimates the total Church as a twentieth of the popu lation, La Bastie followed by Burckhardt as a twelfth, Mat ter as a fifth part, while Staudlin makes bold to divide the world in equal shares between the two religions. Dean Milman does not care to discuss the statistics. " If it be impossible," he says, "to form the most remote approxima- 1 Compare the Taurobolian inscrip- because I had taken a God for my con- tion quoted by Burckhardt, p. 222 : ductor." in • aeternvm • renatvs ; 'Oracles ' and 'mysteries' were at that time the most ordinary names for and another mystic epitaph, p. 218:- the Scriptures and ^ Sacraments>_ " There are two distinct bands among the latter of course being still the com- the dead : . . . I belong to the latter, mon term in the Greek Church. Intellectual Status. 37 tion to their relative numbers with that of the Pagan popula tion, it is equally erroneous to estimate their strength and influence by numerical calculation. All political changes are wrought by a compact, organized, and disciplined minority. The mass of mankind are shown by experience, and appear fated by the constitution of our nature, to follow any vigorous impulse from a determined and incessantly aggressive few1." But even if the Church could not claim equality with Paganism in this matter of numbers, there were other points besides that of positive faith and energetic zeal, in which she could hold her own. Intellectual and literary power was fast passing over from the heathen side. Longinus was dead ; so was Plotinus. Porphyry and Hierocles were left alone to waste their gifts in combating Christianity, either by the venomous attacks of jealousy, or by "weaving their souls away, out of sight of other souls2." Even as thinkers these men were no whit higher than philosophers like Lactantius and Arnobius and Pamphilus. Against the voluminous and varied learning of Eusebius, we have nothing to set but the bombast of the Panegyrics and the pleasant gossiping biographies of the Caesars. And as for poetry, we could have seen in the graceful exercises collected by Wernsdorf, even if Nemesian himself had not told us3, that the stock of subjects upon which 1 Milman, Hist. Chris, n. 205 (ed. reaped after such a sowing of the min.), cf. Gibbcm. II. 365 ; Burckhardt, Church's seed.— But I see by Canon 157. Those who acquiesce in Gibbon's Robertson (1. 221), that .Dr Lightfoot estimate forget that his data are those has touched upon the subject. I have no of the city of Rome, and at the time of doubt the question has been set at rest. Decius. Rome was the most pagan city 2 Mrs Browning's Greek Christian in the empire, and sixty years had added Poets, p. 2. their contingents to the Church, includ- 3 Nemes. cyneg. 47 ; omnis et anti- ing the abundant harvest that would be qui uolgata estfabula saecli. 38 Riches pagans could write was quite exhausted. The most genuine effort of contemporary Latin poetry is the doggerel which the boys at Rome made up about Aurelian : — unus homo mille mille mille decollauimus : mille mille mille uiuat ille mille qui occidit. tantum uini habet nemo, quantum fudit sanguinis'1-. The Muses had been christened, and were to burst forth in the passionate splendours of Gregory and Synesius, Pru dentius and Ambrose. Nor were the adventitious goods of fortune lacking to the Church. The wealth which was now in her hands might well have excited the covetousness of a less honourable sovereign than Diocletian2. Bishops like Paul of Antioch lived in greater state than the Emperor Aurelian himself. According to Eusebius, even governors of provinces and great state officers were fain to court the goodwill and support of the Prelates. When Gallienus had issued his edict of toleration, he not only sent his missive to the State officers, but wrote formal letters to the magnates of the Church. The old buildings in which the Christians of earlier and humbler days had met, were now too strait and too plain to suit the multi tudes of rich and poor who flocked to worship there. Splendid churches were erected everywhere. It is plain in Lactantius that the old Emperor's love for architecture, as well as his farsighted policy, made him shrink from destroying the mighty Cathedral of Nicomedia, which towered up on an eminence in full sight of his own palace windows. Christian laymen were in high position everywhere. If 1 V°P- Aur- 6- forty years before by St Lawrence, 2 The covetousness of Roman gover- Prud. peri steph. II. 45 foil. nors had been excited, and cheated, and Honour. 39 we may credit Eusebius, some of the brotherhood had even been intrusted with the management of provinces, with the express assurance that they need not be distressed about the sacrifices usually necessary in such cases : they might be omitted. And in the court itself, all the highest positions about the Emperor Diocletian's person appear to have been purposely assigned to Christian chamberlains. The three who are expressly mentioned, Dorotheus, Gorgonius, and Peter, proved the truth of their faith by their death : it is probable, therefore, that they proved it also by their lives ; and that, as Joseph was raised in the heathen house of Potiphar till, what ever was done there, he was the doer of it, so the wise Dio cletian (who had ample reason to know that princes are sometimes murdered by those whom they trust) was induced to select for these trusty posts men whose holy lives raised them conspicuously above suspicion '. These great officers, so much more influential in an Oriental palace than among us, lived with the master who was so inaccessible to others, on terms of the most easy familiarity. They not only respected so good a prince, but loved him and were loved by him like children with their father. Only the library, for some reason or other, was not yet under a Christian servant, — at least at the time when Bishop Theonas wrote his most interesting letter to Lucianus2. Is it not possible that this advantage, 1 S. Theonae ep. apud Routh, Rei. 2 Neander I. 194, Bernhardt, Diocl. Sac. III. 439 foil. : quanto magis princeps pp. 34, 35. The letter cannot reason- ipse nondum Christianae religioni ad- ably be assigned to any other period, scriptus ipsis Christianis uelut fidelioribus because Peter, the successor of Theonas uitam et corpus suum curandum credidit, (Eus. VII. xxxii. 31) suffered martyrdom tanto decet uos sollicitiores esse et pro- under Maximin (Eus. IX. vi. 3). From spectiores, ut per id plurimum Christi this passage we may gather that Theo- nomen glorificetur et illius fides per uos nas died in 300. There is no reason qui principem fouetis quotidie augeatur. to doubt the identity of the Theonas. 40 Man will not abide in Honour. too, was afterwards gained, and that the conversations for which Theonas gives instructions so sensible, did take place, and further develope Diocletian's good disposition towards us ? But the faith had won a place nearer to the Emperor than any court officers could give it. There is no doubt whatever that his own wife Prisca and his daughter, the unhappy Valeria, were at any rate in their catechumenal probation, if indeed they were not already members of the Body1. Nay, this letter of Theonas speaks of Diocletian himself as of one only not yet entered on the Church's baptismal register. Eusebius, however, with an ingenuous candour which ought, to have forestalled the unkind criticisms of Gibbon ', gives us a most sad account of the way in which this long armistice had affected the Church internally. Sloth and negligence had crept over her spiritual life* The great Sees wrangled with each other for precedency, and bitter words and excommuni cations were bandied about between them. Those who seemed to be the shepherds of the flock converted their holy office into a mere secular tyranny. They — or we, as the historian touchingly says— were ready to use violence against one another. The persecution which ensued he treats, not as 1 Lact. mort. 15. Otherwise they which Gibbon imputes to him? He can hardly be said pollui, by being writes for Chrislians, and he desires to forced to sacrifice. spare their feelings as much as he can. 2 Eus. viii. ii. Gibbon entirely, per- If he had mentioned the names of haps intentionally, misunderstands the recreants, he would have wronged many reticence of the Bishop of Caesarea. families among his contemporaries. This Eusebius mentions the whole persecu- venomous attack of Gibbon is in Vol. tion as a deep humiliation to the II. p. 490. At the same time we may Church ; he expressly says that he regret that Eusebius took so narrow a means to pass over all that is discredit- view of what was "profitable first to able to the Christians : would he have us of the present day, and then to hinted at these scandals so plainly, had posterity." he entertained the dishonest intention Premonitions of Persecution. 41 proceeding from the will of the Emperors, but as a direct chastisement from Heaven for the sins of the Church. And who shall say that he was wrong ? The historian can only notice those causes which may be proved by evidence ; but the believer sees through all history the overruling Will of Divine Love. The storm of judgment did not burst without admonition, though the admonition was unheeded. "Long before the general persecution," Eusebius writes, "when all was yet in peace," many brave spirits bore witness to the faith : here and there one suffered the loss, not of rank only, but of life. But all of these without exception were soldiers1 : Satan did not yet see his way to a general onslaught on the Church. The whole of this little preliminary persecution, which must have been in a very limited section of the army, Eusebius traces up to some one insignificant commander, whom, in the History, he does not deign to name (though in the Chronicle he calls him Veturius), who apparently, being a martinet, on his own responsibility required all believers to resign their commis sions. At first this was all that was proposed. There was no threat of death. It was a free choice between denial of the faith and military degradation. We shall see on what kind of grounds the few who were executed must have received that punishment. Some considerable time 2 before that winter in which the general persecution was determined upon,— probably three years before Veturius cashiered his Christian subalterns, — 1 Eus. VIII. iv. 2 : twv Kara ra ffrpa.- This was in Diocletian's 17th year. T6ireSa ,u6non> airoTreipap.hov. The ex- 2 Lact. mort. 10: deinde interiecto pression a. little lower down, (tttow'ws aliquanto tempore in Bithyniam ueuit eis irov Kal devrepos, is very marked. hiematum. 42 Diocletian is fretful and there was, according to Lactantius, a short outbreak in the East, where Diocletian was at the time1. The Emperor, who, for some cause or another, was in a state of nervous and irritable suspense, consulted the omens, to see if they could give him any relief. It was only at critical moments that (so far as we know) he had recourse to such observances ; and this drawing of auguries helps to prepare us for the strange sight of Diocletian persecuting. The exta of the sacrifice presented none of the wished-for appearances. Another victim, and another, was sacrificed, and with the like result. The master of the soothsayers thereupon, — a well-known person of the name of Tages2, — who had either observed some of the bystanders' sign their foreheads with the deathless sign of the Cross, or suspected that it was so, assured Diocletian that the mystic answer was not given because there were present at the altar profane persons, who had not obeyed the summons always given to depart3. The old sovereign, in an uncontrollable fit of vexation and fretfulness, at once gave orders that all the people who were present should be made to sacrifice, and also all the 1 The presence of Diocletian in the 3 The story gives Burckhardt (p. 327) East — probably at Antioch — with an occasion for an atrocious tirade against army, and the inquietude which sug- the poor professor of rhetoric who gested the consultation of the omens, wrote the little treatise : die Schrift as well as caused the Emperor to be beginnt gleich mit einer erwdslichen so irritable, seem to point clearly to Unwahrheit. And all because Burck- the year 297, when Diocletian, with hardt chooses to suppose that according his reserve force, was waiting there in to Lactantius the presence of Christians suspense for news of Galerius.— The in the court was unknown and dis- same story is told less fully in the allowed ! By and by he exclaims : Inst. div. IV. 27. wenn nicht manches wichtige Detait 2 Well-known, that is, to Lactantius' sich nur hier aufbehalten fdnde, so ware friends in Bithynia : magister ille haru- dieses Buck besser unentdecM geblieben. spicum. The word magister seems to He thinks it an undeserved outrage suggest the chair mentioned above, upon the name of Lactantius to attri- P- 33- bute the work to him.' has his Slaves whipped. 43 servants in his palace. This conduct of the Christians, to whom he had been so kind, seemed intended just to spite and vex him. He determined that all who refused to do as he bade them should be soundly whipped. His anxiety about the crisis which was approaching (whatever it was) rose to such a pitch, that he even sent out messages to the com manders of the troops about him to propose the same test to the soldiers under them, and if any should refuse it, to turn them once for all out of the army1. Nothing further was done : the excitement soon passed off: no blood was shed, and the Emperor did not wish any to be shed : Lactantius does not even say in so many words that a single slave's back was the sorer, or that anybody at all was in any wise the worse, for this ebullition. Besides the brief notice, given without details, in Eusebius, and this lively and probable incident in Lactantius, we have a few other documents which record martyrdoms before the persecution began. Of these we may set aside the Acts of St Maurice and the Theban Legion as being altogether impro bable 2. The pretty stories of the five stonemasons of Sirmium, and ofthe four 'Crowned Saints' of Rome, belongto a different period altogether, and are wrongly set at this date. But the Acts of St Maximilian, and of St Marcellus and St Cassian, are undoubtedly authentic, and throw great light upon the 1 datis ad praepositos litteris, etiam Christian officers left for Veturius to milites cogi ad nefanda sacrificia prae- deal with ? Canon Robertson also cepit, ut qui non paruissent, militia (l. 204) follows the wrong lead in soluerentur. Hunziker, pp. 15 1, 152, making the order universal. confuses this with the action of Veturius 2 The story is given in Robertson, which took place three years later, I. 203. There are several other docu- and interprets the litterae into a whole- ments, which Mr Hunziker has dis- sale purgation of the army. If it were cussed in his second Excursus. so, how came there to be so many 44 A contumacious Boy condition of the Christians under the tetrarchy, and therefore upon the origin of the persecution. On the Ides of March in the year 295, while Dion, the proconsul of Numidia, was engaged in levying new troops to carry on the war against the Mauritanians, a young conscript of one and twenty, named Maximilian, was brought up to be measured, to see if he was of the regulation height. As he was being brought up, he cried aloud, "I may not serve, because I am a Christian :"— not (I believe) meaning that the military discipline could not admit of Christian soldiers, but that Christianity forbad the profession of arms. The pro consul refused to notice the appeal, and ordered him to be measured. Maximilian cried out again : " I cannot possibly serve : I cannot do what is wrong : I am a Christian." " Take the emblem of the service," said the magistrate, " and enlist." " I shall do nothing of the sort," the boy replied : " I already wear the emblem of Christ my God." The proconsul, unused to such smart frowardness, bad him take eare, or he would despatch him to his Christ. "The boy retorted that no higher distinction could be offered him. The proconsul said no more, but ordered them to hang the leaden badge about his neck. Maximilian answered boldly : " I refuse to take the badge of a worldly warfare. It is of no use. I shall tear it off. I cannot possibly wear this bit of lead, after accepting the saving emblem of my Lord Jesus Christ, who has suffered for our salvation, though you know Him not." In vain the magistrate, who admired the free spirit and pitied the youthful beauty of the boy, stooped to argue the case. It was perfectly possible, he pleaded, to be a good soldier and a good Christian at once. There were no idolatrous duties imposed upon the soldiers. A quarter of the army were Christian men. The refuses to enter the Army. 45 pick of the lifeguards who attended on all the four Emperors were Christians \ Maximilian was proof against all argu ments. Those Christian soldiers, he supposed, knew their own business : it was none of his. It was impossible to ignore his refusal to serve : and the only punishment for such an offence was death. If he were let off, others who only wished to shirk duty would plead Christianity as their excuse. The lad had set his heart on martyrdom, and thanked God for giving him his heart's desire. He exhorted the brethren, who thronged around, to strive earnestly after the Beatific Vision and after a crown like his own. His dying request to his father was, that he would present the executioner with the new cloak which had been prepared for him against his entrance into the army. And so he passed out and was beheaded. A proof that this pagan proconsul had no objection to Christianity as such, and could have no objection to it as now a received religion, is exhibited in the fact that nothing was done to Maximilian's father, who stood by and openly backed the boy in his resolution 2. This happened at Teveste, in Numidia, near the sources of the Bagradas. In the same quarter of the globe, at Tangiers, a like fate befell Marcellus, at a date unknown, but most likely after peace had been restored in Northern Africa. On the birthday of 'the Emperor'— Maximian, I suppose— the 21st of July3, while all the soldiers of the legion were 1 § 2 : in sacro comitatu dominorum 2 Ruinart, p. 263. I use the fine nostrorum Diocletiani et Maximiani, Verona edition of 173 1. Constantii et Maximi, milites Chris- " This is the date gathered by Tille- tiani sunt, et militant. The names are mont from the birthday Panegyric. The in their right order. In the Acts next Acts might have said imperatorum, mentioned, Galerius is omitted, as since the two Augusti were born on having -ao jurisdiction in these parts. the same day of the year, Pan. Gen. 1, 2. 46 A Centurion abjures the Service. celebrating the feast with meats offered to idols, Marcellus, who was a centurion, rose up and cast down his official vine- stick, his weapons, and his belt upon the table, and renounced the service. A soldier of Christ, he said, ought not to be en tangled with the things of this world. He expressly renounced all allegiance to the Emperors — "your Emperors" — and re viled the state gods as deaf and dumb idols. He was treated with marked indulgence : the subordinate judge before whom he was brought regretted that the circumstance was too public for him to conceal it, but expressed his willingness to refer the matter to the Emperors or the Caesar, Constantius, in whose prefecture of Gaul the province of Tingitana was probably included. Finally he was remanded to the Deputy Prefect ofthe Praetorium1, the Vicarius of the country, who gave the only possible sentence, — death. St Cassian, who was actuary to the Vicarius in military cases, on hearing this sentence, flung away his pen and book, and strenuously asserted that the decision was unjust. What more natural than that he should be associated in the punishment2 ? We have reason to be very thankful for the preservation of these three records, because we may well suppose that all other martyrdoms before the year 303, such as the few in the legion commanded by Veturius, were the result of similar insubordination. Let us again remark that we know of no martyrdoms before that date but under military law3. Under military law, so far stricter than the civil, if a soldier per sistently refused to obey an order to sacrifice, there was 1 On the nature of this office, see 5 Ruinart, pp. 264—267. Wietersheim, in. 87 foil. Strangely 3 For the Sirmian stone-masons suf- enough it was not chiefly a military fered at a later date than is usually office. This particular Vicarius seems supposed : see below, ch. vii. to have been deputy for two Prefects. Diocletian s Goodwill towards us. 47 nothing to be done but to execute him. The quarries were only a civil punishment. Besides, no Roman officer thought death — especially by the honourable method of beheading— a very severe penalty to inflict. Not one of these martyrs, then, perished simply for being a Christian, but for mutiny and treason. Of course an officer who was a zealous pagan might issue orders which Christians could not obey, in order to seek occasion against them : but yet the principle on which he would execute them was the same. And in all the cases we know of at all distinctly, the soldiers not only disobey, but disobey with ostentatious contumely. Mr Hunziker, in his exhaustive essay, concludes from all this that Diocletian, and he alone, is responsible for all the deaths before 303, as well as for the inauguration of the terrible persecution then begun. His reasons for so thinking are very difficult to follow, and I profess I am unable to understand them. If, all through these years before the great strife began, Diocletian was itching to attack the faith, how came he possibly to be living on terms of endearing familiarity with his Christian chamberlains ? how could he endure the embraces of his wife and daughter ? My own conclusion would be just the reverse. I think the one reason why we find military, but no civil martyrdoms, is that Dio cletian had less immediate control over the army. The legions were absolutely subject to the good pleasure of their tribunes, who (in details) acted independently of the higher authorities : while now, under the new careful civil organisation of Dio cletian, no civil magistrate would have dared so to infringe the unrepealed law of Gallienus, as to punish a man for pro fessing the religion it sanctioned : he would have heard more of it anon. Lactantius hints that even the omnipotence of 48 Diocletian and the Truth. the monarch of the Roman realms had transgressed its rights,- when Diocletian had his household flogged, and ejected the Christians from the army1. Here I cannot go with him : but it was indeed an admirable piece of self-continence (if Diocletian was so eager to destroy Christianity) that he did not have his slaves crucified and his soldiers beheaded. I cannot but regard his action on the occasion mentioned by Lactantius as being a mere paroxysm of that peculiar nervous nature (which broke down so utterly for a -time at the Vicennalia), brought on by the agitating silence, which might perhaps mean that Galerius had suffered a second and a more disastrous defeat from the Persians2. I cannot but think that everything points to the fact that the old man was most favourably disposed towards the Church, and even when he was so far stirred as to terrify her by a taste of what he might do if he pleased, dealt far more leniently than might be expected. Not that the Emperor had any notion (probably) that Christianity was true. Truth did not enter into the religion cf pagans, for paganism had no historical basis to go upon. The most advanced of the Platonists were indeed just begin ning to borrow from the Church the idea of the vital union between truth and devotion. They were endeavouring to make a philosophy of the popular religion : but Diocletian, though a man of culture, was not a Platonist He most likely knew no more of this connexion than Pontius Pilate 1 Lact. mort. 10: nee amplius quic- Maximian by name. We do not know quam contra legem fecit. where the iegion of N^^ ^ but 2 It is perhaps worthy of notice that as it was probably in the East, it all the martyrdoms before 303 of which would be under the superintendence we have any certain knowledge, took of the fanatical Galerius at the time place in Maxlmian's half of the empire. which Eusebius seems to indicate. The Passion of St Maurice refers to The Emperor's Morality. 49 knew. And he had probably been taught very little of the inner significance of the Christian faith. But the moral power of Christianity could not but be seen, and to such an advantage the great monarch was neither blind nor indifferent. His own private character was such, that not even the most slanderous of Church writers has aspersed it. Even if he winked at the murders of Carus and Numerian, the crime was insignificant in comparison with those of Constantine the Great, — and many another lauded Christian sovereign. He chose as the model of his life, not a sentimental Platonist, but a stern Stoic : he was often heard to say that he longed to attain that severity towards himself, that clemency towards others, which had distinguished the philo sophic Antonine \ And this determined morality is shewn in all his public actions. On one occasion we find him shocked with the dissolute character of the public games. "The cultivation of the virtues," says Victor, "was promoted both by the advancement of more respectable men, and negatively by the punishment of every scandalous officer." In the very inauguration of his reign this character had taken the world aback : Aristobulus, the Prefect of the Praetorium, and Ceionius the Prefect of the City, were rewarded for their fidelity to Carinus, by being confirmed in their office under his foe and successor "". The marriage-edict of 295 might (with a few words altered) have had Bishop Theonas for its draughts man. " The immortal gods," it runs, " will be (as heretofore) propitious and gracious to the Roman name, if we take heed 1 Jul. Cap. Ant. Phil. 19: saepe nee Plato esse possit, si reuertatur in dicitis uos uita et dementia tales esse uitam. cupere qualis fuit Marcus. The writer ' Tillemont, Emp. IX. 10. adds ingenuously: etiamsi philosophia M. 4 50 Moral Attractions of Christianity. that all our subjects lead a pious, peaceable, and virtuous life. The majesty of Rome has attained to such sublimity (under favour of all the gods) only by this means, that all her statutes have been clenched by their tone of rational piety and their careful observance of purity1." Even the ill-judged edict on the regulation of prices is dictated by the interests of public morals. "Avarice," the preamble says, "is becoming ram pant. It is regarded almost as a religious cult among the un scrupulous robbers of the day 2. Since mere human kindness is not strong enough to check the tide, it behoves us, who are the parents of the human race, to make a legal standard of exchange. And whereas it is extremely rare to find spon taneous beneficence in the present condition of men, and whereas fear is always seen to be the most righteous instructor of moral duties, it is our pleasure that any person, daring to extort money contrary to the forms of this statute, be liable to the punishment of death." The Emperor who had this over-mastering desire to restore public morality, could not but be attracted to the religion which made his confidential ser vants so diligent and upright. And there was another reason for his favouring Christi anity, perhaps stronger yet. Gibbon has pointed out with great sagacity what a magnificent strength there lay in the organisation of the Church. The Hierarchy expected and received, from all Christian men, a perfect and devoted obedi ence. The laity were subject to their Priests, the Priests to their Bishops, these to the Exarchs, and these again to the Patriarchs. There was as yet no higher gradation. But that keen-eyed statesman must have observed that here was the 1 See the APPendlx- ligio apud imfrobos latrones aestimatur. 2 The words are : uelut quaedam re- Cf. Colossians iii. 5. Religious Organisation needed. 51 very thing he most needed. If he could only oblige the Church, he might assume a more than papal supremacy over that weighty section of his subjects who saw in their Prelates the vicegerents of the Almighty. The worldliest politicians cannot afford to ignore the power of religion. Diocletian's administration and control over his subjects would be more than doubly secure if in each dioecesis, besides his Vicarius, he had the zealous services of an Exarch, in each prouincia both a Proconsul and an Archbishop, in each parochia both a Curator and a Bishop. Unless from Christianity, government could get but little aid from religion. Paganism was with out any organisation at all. Pagans could not say with Ter tullian : Corpus sumus de conscientia religionis, et disciplinae unitate, et spei foedere1. Paganism had no rites of admission, and no excommunication. It knew nothing of continuity in the successions of its ministers, and little of the jurisdiction of a hierarchy. The only distinction which it recognised between one flamen and another was such — perhaps it may yet be invented in modern Rome — as there would be between a priest of the Blessed Virgin and a priest of the numen of the Pope. And, as we have seen, Paganism in its popular phase was assiduously not inculcating the morality of Diocletian But the machinery of the Church was as perfect as the informing Spirit of God could make it : and its one sworn foe was sin. The Emperor, as he sat on his palace-roof and watched half Nicomedia thronging up the opposite hill to hear good Bishop Anthimus preach, must have often thought how to turn this mysterious power to the best interests of his empire. We shall see more clearly in the following chapter, how 1 Tert. apol. 39. 4—2 52 Importance • of Diocletian's Judgment. very deeply the Church had commended itself to the great Augustus. The inquiry is one of no small interest. We have shown already how Christianity had been growing in stature and in favour with men, by reason of its minute adaptation to their spiritual cravings in that unsettled time. We have remarked how the power of its Truth had been gathering in the weightiest thinkers of the age. It ought to make some difference in the attitude of men towards the faith through all after-time, when it is seen that the most subtle statesman that had sat on the Roman throne since Octavian, and the most earnest since Marcus, constituted himself the protector of the Church. CHAPTER III. MOTIVES OF THE PERSECUTION. But when whole Rome became Christian, when they all embraced the Gospel, and made Laws in defence thereof, if it be held that the Church and Common weal of Rome did then remain as before ; there is no way how this could be possible. Hooker. The two old Emperors celebrated their triumph in the sum mer of the year 302. Peace was established everywhere, and not only peace, but a much rarer thing in the Roman Empire, good order. There seemed good reason indeed for rejoicing and thanksgiving. Diocletian returned to his Asiatic capital, full of hopeful anticipation of accomplishing a happy retreat in the following year. But the events of that winter marred the whole prospect, and overthrew the work of Diocletian's life, until at last it was restored by the masterly policy of Constantine the Great. Gaius Galerius Valerius Maximianus was a native of that district on the south bank of the Danube, called New Dacia, or sometimes Aurelian's Dacia, where his mother had taken refuge from the inroads of the fierce Carpi who harassed her old home in Wallachia. His youth was spent in pasturing cattle 54 Birth, Education, and on his native plains ; and by the malice of fortune the remi niscence stuck to him in his surname, Armentarius. When he came afterwards into notoriety, with a burlesque exaggera tion of that principle on which Diocletian and his colleague had assumed the awful names of Jovius and Herculius, he suffered it to be reported that his mother had had intercourse with the great God of War, the father of Romulus, and that his own birth was the result1. It was one of the many sad misfortunes of Valeria, Diocletian's daughter, to be condemned to the honours of his bed, and to be tossed, like the Sibyl's sweet sop to Cerberus, as a check to his turbulent ambition. This man was, like most barbarians, brave and warlike, and owed his position entirely to these military gifts. There can be no doubt that Galerius was a very able general indeed, fully worthy of the office of Aurelian and Carus to which he succeeded. He possessed also those other fine qualities, with out which ('tis said) no man can be a good commander — fidelity and obedience. No other moral virtues can easily be ascribed to him. Some of his recorded sayings and actions seem to show a sort of coarse but cunning humorousness : which supports what Victor says of him in the fortieth chapter of the Caesars. He was so handsomely endowed (we are there told) with natural gifts, that his powers would have been esteemed quite remarkable, if only they had been lodged in a less uneducated breast, and if his wit had not been so broad and so constantly offensive. The worthy his- i Lact. mortes 9. The Christian It is curious, but (I suppose) irrele- writer is indignant with him for mak- vant, that one Galerius Maximus was ing so light of his mother's honour. the proconsul who sentenced St Cyprian, The lady appears to have been misled while Galerius Caesar is known in that by the god's appearing under the guise region as Maximus: see Act. S. Maxi- of a dragon : Aur. epit. xl. 17. mil- quoted aWi p_ ^ Character of Galerius. 55 torian regrets that Galerius had not followed the example of the Persian Cyrus, and studied learning, grace, and, above all, a pleasant manner, without which, says he, the advantages of nature are but a sorry and despicable sight1. We might expect a Dacian giant to be lecherous and drunken2. But even Lactantius hardly indulges us with an account of these peccadilloes. The fierce lusts which charac terised Herculius were not the chief characteristics of Galerius. They were almost lost to sight in the fright begotten by his unheard-of savagery. Even according to one of his most lenient critics, his notions of justice were of the rough and ready sort, not of the philosophical complexion3. The terror of his character was increased by his imposing stature and bulk4. Finally he was as superstitious as he was ignorant5. Galerius had been, from his childhood up, indoctrinated with the most fanatical form of the prevailing nature-worship. His mother was an abandoned devotee of the Phrygian 1 Aur. Vict. 1. c. ; adeo miri naturae pretty character, as probe moratus ; and offidis, ut ea si a doctis pectoribus profi- that the Church writers seem not to ciscerentur neque insulsitate offenderent, consider these Emperors as neighbours haud dubie praedpua haberentur. quare against whom it is a sin to bear false compertum est eruditionem, elegantiam, witness, especially as Galerius was at comitatem praesertim, prindpibus neces- deadly feud with Constantine. sarias esse, cum sine his naturae bona 3 Aur. epit. xl. 15 : inculta agresti- quasi incompta, aut etiam horrida que iustitia; yet the same account despectui sint : contraque ea Persarum makes him satis laudabilis. regi Cyro aeternam gloriam parauerint. i Lact. mortes 9: status celsus, caro Victor is speaking of Constantius as ingens et in horrendam magnitudinem well, but it is plain that he is thinking diffusa et inflata. (So also all the chiefly of Galerius. authorities.) And again : et uerbis et 2 Anon. Valesii c. 1 1. Some of the actibus et aspectu terrori omnibus ac Byzantines tell horrid tales of his evil formidini fuit. life. Mr Hunziker thinks he cannot 5 Mr Hunziker tries to prove, or have been a drunkard, because Maxi- rather asserts, that he was a Neopla- minus was. In justice we must state tonic philosopher,— an attempt which I that Eutropius, a. -i, gives him a very cannot but consider both blind and halt. 56 " The Evil Beast" and his Dam. goddess of the hills. It was doubtless in the midst of the pious ecstasies, which such a religion promoted, that she had received the attentions of her scaly admirer; the horrid orgies supply us with the rationale both of the fact, and of the woman's delusion with regard to it. Romula (that was her name) had conceived a bitter hatred against the Christians, because they fasted and prayed whenever she invited them to join the entertainments, which, when she grew rich, she frequently provided for the inhabitants of her village. If there had been any tendency in Galerius to take the same view of Christianity as Diocletian took, his mother was at hand to rouse him to a more zealous heathendom. But there was little need of such an extrinsic stimulus1. The Evil Beast — to use Lactantius' favourite synonym for Galerius — now presented himself in the court of his father- in-law at Nicomedia on a mischievous errand. The whole winter between the years 302 and 303 was spent in trying to persuade or alarm Diocletian into the accursed work of perse cution. At first, for a long while, the deliberations were con ducted in perfect secrecy2. No one was admitted to their counsels. All Nicomedia was on tiptoe, thinking that they were discussing high matters of state, as indeed they were. The great politician resolutely refused to do anything of the sort. In vain the ex-neatherd stormed and blustered. In 1 Lact. mort. 1 1 : cuius furoris hanc what follows, and that the furor is not causam fuisse cognoui. He probably Diocletian's but his son-in-law's. overrates the lady's influence. By » Lact. mort. 1 1 : habito inter se per hasty reading, Hunziker, p. 151, mis- totam hiemem consilio, cum nemo ad- takes this clause to mean that the fail- mitteretur et omnes de summa statu rei- ure of the omens (which had just been publicae tractari arbitrarentur, diu senex narrated) was the sole cause of Diocle- furori eius repugnauit. Several of the tian's persecution! A second glance German critics ask slily, how, if no one would have shewn that hanc refers to was admitted, Lactantius knew what Galerius insists upon a Persecution. 57 vain he pleaded that Diocletian had already once made a little crusade against the Cross1. The old prince pointed out that a Christian persecution would shake the whole earth: that if it could possibly be avoided, it was a pity to shed blood: this Maximian might perhaps be as ignorant of history as his namesake in the West2, but Diocletian, who was a historical student, knew well that nothing was more agreeable to this very peculiar people than to shed their blood sooner than yield to the reasonable commands of pious Emperors3. But the Caesar was the younger and the stronger man: and a determination to do has always an advantage over the determination not to do. At length Diocletian broke down so far as to offer to forbid the profession of the faith within the walls of his palace and under the eagles of his legions. He was sure it was a mistaken policy. It was certainly dis tasteful to himself. The army would suffer greatly by the loss. Diocletian would have to part with servants to whom he was much attached. Still if the matter went no further than this, it would require no alteration of existing law. Even the Christians, though they might think it hard, could not call it a persecution; for no one was to be tortured or killed, only peaceably expelled from their posts. The gods, if they did indeed feel jealous of Christianity, would be satisfied with they were discussing. It was easy 2 Cf. the Panegyric (!) quoted by enough to see, from the results of the Gibbon, vol. n. p. 116. conference. 3 Lact. mort. 1 1 : ostendens quam 1 Lact. mort. 10: quia iam principi- perniciosutn esset inquietari orbem terrae, urn fecerat. The words follow imme- fundi sanguinem multorum: i/los liben- diately after the account of the occur- ter mori solere. The words represent rence mentioned on p. 42. But we may exactly what we should suppose that well doubt whether Galerius knew of Diocletian actually would urge. that occurrence at all. 58 Advisers called in. this official purification of the state. Would not this content Galerius? But no. That zealot, encouraged at gaining one decided step, was determined to execute now his full design1. Before long he had carried another point, though Diocletian fought manfully inch by inch. He persuaded the old man not to rely solely upon his own profound wisdom, but to take the advice of confidential friends2. A few dignified generals and a few civilians of high position were accordingly called in to aid in the deliberations. Among these was an able man named Hierocles, who had raised himself from a juge de pays to be President of Bithy nia, and in that capacity left a name long remembered, and not loved, among the confessors of that province3. But Hie- 1 Lact. mort. 1 1 : satis esse si palati nes tantum ac milites ab ea religione prohiberet: nee tamen defilectere potuit praecipitis hominis insaniam. placuit ergo amicorum sententiam experiri. 2 Our author makes this the occasion of an ungenerous — and at any rate a misplaced — attack upon the Emperor. "He was," says Lactantius, "s> man of such subtle wickedness, that when ever he had determined to do anything good, he did it without consulting any one, that he alone might have the praise ; but when the design was an evil one, he knew that it must meet with reprehension, and therefore sum moned a number of councillors to his assistance, in order that all his own faults might be laid to the charge of others." It must be owned that this statement gathers colour from several other passages. Eutr. ix. 26 says he was one who seueritatem suam aliena inuidia udlet explere. In x. 1 again he speaks of his suspecta prudentia. Suidas, who says of him (s. v.) va/raii o-K\i}pdv -wpa^iv irCpois dvariBels, is of course not an independent witness. There may possibly be some foundation for the libel, but we must remember how easy the accusation was to frame, and that Eutropius hated Diocletian for political reasons with little less than the odium theologicum of Lactantius. — Here, at any rate, the charge is absurd and inconsistent. Diocletian, accord ing to Lactantius, most earnestly resists the invitation to persecute, — and then calls in a, council to cloke his own bloody eagerness. At the same time this helps to prove that his reluctance is historical : Lactantius could never have invented a phenomenon which he was so put about to explain. 3 Lact. mort. 16: ex uicario praesi- dem. Lactantius evidently means to imply that Hierocles had been pro moted very rapidly. Therefore it is Hierocles the Platonist. 59 rocles1 had another claim, besides his high office, to sit on a council which affected the Christians. He was well known as a controversialist, and either had written, or was intending to write, an ingenious polemical work upon the subject. From the violent invective with which Lactantius cudgels the author, we should have concluded that the book was a clever one, even if he had not expressly mentioned its biting, incisive character2. Many of the arguments were not urged for the first time, nor for the last. Somehow he had obtained a copy of the Scriptures, and he set himself to work to show up all the dis crepancies and contradictions to be found there. He discovered so many, and displayed such an intimate knowledge of the sacred writings, as to suggest a doubt whether he were not obvious that he cannot mean here, as usual, a uicarius praefecti, an office of very great dignity, for which see Wie- tersheim Volkerwanderung vol. III. p. 90. For the change from uicarius to praeses would have been a fall from the style and rank of Spectabilis to that of a mere Clarissimus. In the Acts of St Marcellus the praeses (or procurator) of Tingitana speaks of the uicarius as dominus meus. Ducange gives (s. v. § 2) : qui nice comitis aut alterius iudicis par tes exequitur in pagis uel minoribus oppidis. — I am inclined to think that Lactantius means to say that Hierocles was only a uicariusaX the time of the con ference, and was rewarded for his good advice with a presidency by the time that Donatus fell under his jurisdiction. A passage in the Institutes, v. 11, seems to favour this : non enim honor ille aut prouectio dignitatis fuit. The expression in the same work v. 2 : qui erat turn e numero iudicum,is indecisive either way. 1 There can be no reasonable doubt of the identity ofthe nameless judge in the Institutes with the Hierocles of the Deaths : see Tillemont, Mem. Eccl. vol. XIII. p. 333 : but his identification with the Praefectus Augustalis of Alexandria in the latter part of the persecution is much more suspicious. Of course he must not be confounded with the witty philosopher of the next century. The following account of his work is taken only from Lactantius; for I must own to not having read the book in which Eusebius endeavours to refute him. 2 Lact. inst. v. 2 : mordacius scripsit. The words about the scriptural argu ment are as follows : ita fa/sitatem scrip turae sacrae arguere conatus est, tamquam sibi esset tota contraria ; nam quaedam capita, quae repugnare sibi uidebantur, exposuit, adeo. multa, adeo intima enu- merans, ut aliquando ex eadem disci- plinafuisse uideatur. 60 His Book, " The Truth-lover." himself an apostate from the evangelical faith. He did not acknowledge (as many other pagans did) the truth of the Gospel miracles — asserting that the Apostles were the wilful promoters of a forgery, without seeing (as Lactantius observes with great justice) how inconsistent this view was with his own hearty admission that they were unlearned and ignorant men. But granting the miracles, argumenti causa, he proceeded to shew that they were not a conclusive proof of divinity1. To support this modern-seeming argument, he entered into an elaborate comparison of the life of the Redeemer with that of Apollonius of Tyana, making it plain that the works of the Greek were much the weightier ; — and yet, he said, Apollonius had been too modest to court, and had never received, those divine honours to which he had so much more claim than Christ. Of the constructive part of the work Lactantius tells us little; but we can guess what it was like. The exaltation of the great wonder-worker is enough to stamp Hierocles as a Neoplatonist, for Apollonius was the great hero of that subtle school. But for this point we are not left to conjecture alone. The epilogue of the book contained a recommenda tion of the peculiar monotheism taught at Alexandria. Jupi ter took a high rank among the semi-personal powers by which the will (if will there was) of the Supreme Being was accom plished2. The author of the Divine Institutes boasts that 1 Hier. ap. Lact. inst. v. 3 : nos sa- all, is not strictly a pantheistic concep- pientiores esse, qui mirabilibus factis non tion, inasmuch as it resides in the uni- statim fidem diuinitatis adiunximus. verse but is not actually identified with 2 Cf. Burckhardt Zeit Constantius p. it. Lact. 1. c. ; prosecutus summi dei 249. The old gods appear sometimes laudes, quem regem, quem maximum, mere allegorical personifications of the quem opificem rerum, quem fontem bo- powers of nature, sometimes as active norum, quem parentem omnium, quem personal "demons." The Supreme Be- factorem altoremque uiuentium confesses ing, which embraces and includes them es, ademisti loui tuo regnum, eumqut Its amicable Tone. 61 Hierocles himself had made the lords of Olympus slaves to the true God. And in fact we may almost say that he had something of the sort in view. He was sincerely anxious to find some common ground with Christianity. His treatise, which bore the name of Philalethes, had no other intention than to win the Christian philosophers peaceably to what its author thought the truth1. Lactantius himself confesses that Hierocles was very anxious to avoid the appearance of an attack. He even adopted the apologetic style, and as Ter tullian dedicates one of his apologies to the heathen, Ad, not Contra Nationes, so this book by the President of Bithynia was dedicated Ad Christianos"". But in spite of the friendliness of his book, there was no doubt which way the President would vote. It was one of the first religious principles of the new Platonics to worship the divine Being according to ancestral custom3, and the Church was not yet considered to have won the rights of prescription. Hierocles, who had the same intense desire summa potestate depulsum in ministro- philosopher's duty to deliver the simple rum numerum redegisti. epilogus itaque from the devices of the deceivers and te tuus arguit stultitiae uanitatis erroris. bring them back to the true worship of affirmas enim deos esse : et illos tamen the gods. This and some other details subicis, et mandpas d deo cuius religi- make me think that Hierocles' Phila- onem conaris euertere. lethes was published before the persecu- 1 He says (1. c.) : ausus est libros suos tion began. Lactantius says that the nefarios ac dei hostes tpiKah-rfieis anno- other writer was unanimously con- lare. demned for his want of generosity in 2 Lact. inst. v. 2 : non contra Christi- attacking the Christians at that trying anos, ne inimice insectari uideretur, sed time ; but he does not associate Hiero- ad Christianos, ut humane ac benigne cles in the condemnation. Neander I. consutere putaretur. This is said in 236 treats the Philalethes throughout order to contrast Hierocles with another with far less courtesy than it deserves. writer, who, to curry favour with the 3 Cf. the passage in Porphyry's letter persecuting party, tres libros euomuit to his wife quoted by Neander 1. 233, contra religionem nomenque Christi- where his version of -ndrpia needs a anum, on the ground that it was the slight but important modification. 62 The Councillors give bad Counsel. to spread the blessings of truth which characterised Queen Mary I. of England , would not refuse to call attention to the excellencies of his preaching by the pillory and the gridiron. We may even gather from the way in which Lactantius speaks of him as the author of the persecution, that he had gone out of his way to bring it about, and had joined his reasoning with the less intellectual influences of Romula to urge Galerius on1. It is perhaps hardly probable that Constantine was a member ofthe conference: but if so, his enmity with Galerius, as well as his own personal feelings, doubtless ranged him on the side of the wiser Emperor. If Diocletian had had the courage to invite the attendance of his Grand Chamberlain or of the revered Bishop of Nicomedia, perhaps he might have won the day: but as all the council were Pagans and some of them Pagans of that frenzied zeal which so often betokens a dying faith, the judgment went against us. Those who were not themselves superstitious thought it more prudent to side with the Emperor who was to suc ceed, than with the Emperor who was to retire, within the year2. Diocletian, disappointed to find his sagacious policy de feated by fanaticism and self-interest, still refused to give his 1 Lact. inst. v. 2 : auctor in primis uisus esset, shows how far from bloody- faciendae persecutionis ftiit ; mortes 16 : mindedness Hierocles was: he only auctor et consiliarius ad persecutionem wanted to obtain conversions. faciendam fuit, where auctor certainly * Lact. mort. 1 1 : quidam proprio implies some share in the agitation be- aduersus Christianos odio inimicos deo- fore he became a consiliarius. rum et hostes religionum puhlicarum The passage in inst. V. 1 1 : uidi ego tollendos esse censuerunt; el qui aliter in Bithynia praesidem gaudio mirabiliter sentiebant, intellecta hominis uoluntate, datum, quod unus qui per biennium uel timentes uel gratificari uolentes, in magna idrtute restiter'at postremo cedere eandem sententiam congruerunt. Diocletian at last yields. 63 consent. But the intensity of the struggle had shaken his self- confidence. He was exhausted. After all, these men might possibly be right. In desperation of support from men, he once more thought of seeking it from heaven. If the oracle of Apollo, the Sun-god, at Miletus, should respond that it was better not to persecute (and surely he would, if he were a wise divinity), the triumph over Galerius would be complete: superstition would be met on its own ground. A soothsayer was accordingly despatched to put the tremendous question. But, whatever the feelings of Apollo himself may have been, the feelings of his prophet or prophetess were distinctly on the side of the old religion1. The old Emperor could hold out no longer. To refuse to act upon the oracle, after he had con sulted it, would have signified not only the recantation of the least uncertain article in Diocletian's eclectic creed, but also the abandonment of the state religion, the disestablishment of a faith which was still the faith of the majority : and it required a firmer seat even than his own to take so vast a step. Utterly wearied out, and with a heavy and foreboding heart, though shaken in his own mind and probably half per suaded by arguments and oracles2, he at last deferred to Galerius' wishes, only with the express and expressive reserve that no blood was to be shed in the transaction3. Such is, without doubt, the true account of the origin of 1 It ought, however, to be stated that upon the earth : see Eus. uit. Const. the Milesian Apollo spoke without the II. 50. intervention of men, from a cave's * Lact. mort. 1 1 : traductus est itaque mouth. His answer on the present a propodto. occasion was a choice example of the 3 Id. ib. ; hanc moderationem tenere perplexing tj/evSouevos argument : it was conatus est; earn rem sine sanguine impossible, he said, for him to speak transigi. the truth, because of the righteous men 64 Lactantius' Prejudices. the Persecution of Diocletian. But as this is an essay, not a history, we are forced to leave the clear calm atmosphere of simple narrative, and come down into the clamours of the battle of criticism. This natural and intelligible story has suffered unspeakably by the varied barbarities of wrangling historians. For there is a certain class of critics, to whom (it would seem) the only value of contemporary evidence is that it suggests an opposite view. To such writers the fact that Lactantius records the reluctance of Diocletian to persecute the Church, is all but a proof that his heart was set upon the bloody business. There is a kind of disease (if we may so speak) known among German authors by the name of Ten- dens1, of which many critics have so morbid a horror, that they appear (as men are said to do in time of epidemics) to have contracted the sickness themselves through the mere reaction of their fear. Now the plague-spot of Tendenz (sad to say) appears very decidedly upon Lactantius ; and the consequence is that his account is now entirely shunned, or else pitiably mutilated, even in those parts which are quite unaffected by the disease. It will be found (I trust) that in this essay sufficient care has been taken to make due allowance for the bias of the original authorities ; but in the case which we are now considering, it is not Lactantius' theological prejudice which makes him assert Diocletian's hatred of the thought of persecuting. Nay, as we have already seen, the author of the "Deaths ofthe Persecutors" is interested to paint Diocletian as odious in his personal character, and as hostile to the Church, as he can possibly make him. He records most grudgingly the old Emperor's successive resistances, — how he is torn along from point to point, grasping at everything in 1 Cf. Hunziker, p. 121. His Likelihood of correct Knowledge. 65 the way that may strengthen his position: and at last with cruel sagacity he ascribes his conduct to that most repulsive trait which his enemies affected to find in his character, of using other men's vices to conceal his own1. If then in this case we take off all that is due to Lactantius' malevolent bias, we have, as a residuum, the historical fact that the persecution of Diocletian was wrung from him, after a stubborn and pro tracted resistance, by the violence and arguments of Galerius. There is every reason to suppose that the author of the Mortes was as perfectly informed as anyone could well be upon such a matter. Lactantius2 was living in Nicomedia at the time. From the number of Christian servants and officers in the household, it is probable that the Church in the city knew a vast deal of what was going on within that secluded palace. But there is some ground for thinking that Lactan tius had a special connexion with the court. It would appear that Diocletian, who was a patron of letters, was desirous of founding good schools in his new capital, and turning his eyes towards Africa — at that time the great home of Latin litera ture — was attracted by what he heard of the pure Ciceronian eloquence of Arnobius' young disciple, and summoned him from Sicca to fill one of the literary chairs3. This official 1 Here I have trie pleasure of agree- beschrdnken, doss Diokletian, indem er ing with Dr Bernhardt, who opposes the sich veranlasst glaubte, zu strengen Mass- Mortes everywhere, through thick and regeln zu greifen, einige Male hierin thin. On p. ii of his pamphlet, Dio- seinem eignen Urtheile dch nicht allein kletian in seinem Verhaltnisse zu den iibei-liess, sondem Andere zu Rathe zog. Christen, he says : Eine solche Darstel- The explanation is quite just. lung kann ich nicht anders ais gehdssig 2 It seems so perfectly obvious that nennen; ist die Angabe richtig so kann Lactantius was the author, that I do man darin mit demselben Rechte Diokle- not enter upon the proof. dan's wdse Mdssigung bewundern. Of 3 Lact. inst. v. 2 : ego cum in Bi- the parallel in Eutropius he says : Man thynia oratorios litteras accitus docerem. ist wohl berechtigt, diese Notiz darauf zu Cf. Hier. de uir. illustr. 80. Arnobii M. 5 66 His Connexion with Constantine. position doubtless gave him more or less opportunity of learn ing the news of his imperial benefactor; but it also led the way to a connexion with one who was more intimate with Diocletian's views and purposes than any other living man. Constantine the Great had been residing, from the time when he was quite a boy, in the court of Nicomedia: and even when the old Emperor travelled in the East, Constantine was the indispensable companion of his journeys. All this while he was learning at leisure the arts of government from the lips and conduct of the greatest master of them1. It must have been during these years in the Bithynian capital that the acquaintance was formed between the philosopher and the politician, which led to the subsequent appointment of Lac tantius as literary instructor to Crispus, the eldest son of Constantine. When we take into consideration all these points of contact with the imperial centre, it is difficult to imagine a position more favourable for finding out the motives of the persecution, than the position of Lactantius. In his representation of the attitudes of Galerius and Diocletian towards the persecution, he may indeed be misled by hatred, but hardly by ignorance. discipulus, sub Diocletiano principe accitus again ch. xix. I: ijSr} 5' apa e'/c 7rai5os cum Flauio grammatico. St Jerome ewl tov veavlav 8ia/3as Tip.ijs ttjs -irpurris does not say ab, but the word accitus irap' avroU t)£iovto • ohv aiirov Kal r}p,iU certainly seems to imply it ; cf. Tille- lyvufnev, to HaXaio-Tivuv Siepxopsvov mont. Mem. Eccl. xvi. 341, 342. Idvos civ Tip irpeo-puTtpcp tChi fiaaihlwv. 1 Eust. uit. Const. 1. xii. 2 : ,ufVos Cf. also 11. Ii. 1; Lact. Mort. 18: Se tovtois Kuvo-TavTivos, -rrah dpri vkos sanctissimus adulescens : . . . eratque tunc d-naKos lipaios t' avBovi lovXois, old tis praesens, iam pridcm u, Diocletiano avros (kuvos 6 tov Qeov Bepdiroiv, rvpav- factus tribunus ordinis primi. The vina~s eiprjUpevo-ev io-rlais. This is taken words in Zonar. xii. 33 D seem to cor- from a very neat comparison of Con- - roborate these facts, though they are stantine with Moses, brought up in the slightly mistaken: tovtov ... 0 irarrip house of the persecutor Pharaoh, and /leipdniov ovra Tif VaXeptipds 6/J.rjpelav learning all the Egyptian wisdom. So itaptaxtro. Confirmations of his Account. 67 The very scanty notices which we find elsewhere confirm fully the account given in the Mortes. Eusebius, who at the time when his eighth book was \vritten had no special sources of information, but represents the current opinion of the day, is perfectly aware that Galerius was present at Nicomedia at the time ofthe outbreak of the persecution1. The statement that the Milesian Apollo was consulted, is corroborated by a no less important authority than Constantine himself; and that not in a speech made up for him by Eusebius, but in an edict issued officially to all the provinces of the realm2. And this is not all. Again and again the Bishop of Caesarea ascribes unreservedly the origin of the persecution to Galerius3. His testimony is all the more valuable because he does not ex patiate upon the fact, but records it simply as being what everyone knew already. And furthermore his expressions about the part taken by Galerius belong to very different epochs of his life. That which he wrote as a studious young clergyman at Caesarea or in Egypt, he repeated with the same simple assurance after he had become intimate with the 1 Eus. hist. eccl. vin. $ : Sveiv iirnra- /uev tov 5iiayp,ov Kardp^a;. Mr Hunzi- pbvriiiv nard ttjv avT-rjv iroXiv j3aoi\eoiv, ker, pp. 126, 127, discusses carefully the 2 ap. Eus. uit. Const. 50, 51. He relative dates of these works of Euse- thinks fit to take a very solemn oath bius. It seems quite certain that the about the statement. 8th book was written long before the * Eus. VIII. xvi. 2 : rip 8' avBhrri gth, the 10th and (of course) the " Life tuv KaK&v iire%iobo-qs Kal -irpuirooTaT-ri of Constantine " much later still. I ttjs tov iravros Siinyp.ov Kaidas iirixoXov- cannot regard the little Appendix of fiivr/s; and in the Appendix, sect. 1: Book 8 as spurious : I have little doubt tovtov 8-r) X070S ?xet irpdrav alriov that it was added by the author in a ttjs tov diwyp.ov Karao-TTJvai ovp-ipopas, later edition of the. work. — This consen- and again, sect. 4 : ov Sr) Kal dpxvyov sus against Galerius is in no wise due to rov iravros tipapiev yeyovivai Siuyiiov ; Constantinian partisanship : an animus uita Const. I. lvi. : t6v irpwroo-TdT-nv of that kind would make the reference tuv Kaxuv, 6'o-tis irori T)viKetvo%, Se-itXarip much more explicit. pido-Tiyi -irXriyirra; and ch. lviii. 1 : d 5—2 68 No Contradictions of it extant. Emperor who was in the secret. And though we can set little historical value on the fact that Ruffinus translates him without modifying, it is more important to notice that as late as the middle of the eleventh century, when the name of Diocletian was as indissolubly connected with the persecution as it is now, Cedrenus, though he fancies that Diocletian's persecution had been raging for a long while past, introduces an entirely new contest, in the year 303, under the auspices of Galerius1. And this is positively all the evidence that we can glean from the original authorities. There is not a single witness in all antiquity who can be summoned to prove that the war against the Christians originated with the great Augustus2. Diocletian's own voice, alas! can no longer be heard; for an 1 Cedr. vol. I. p. 47 (Bonn 1838) : Tip ir{ (th AioKXrjTiavov...6 TaXXiptos Siuyfiov Kara tuv X.piG-Tiavuv ijyeiptv, (This exasperating writer confounds Maximians and Maximins, and consul ship-dates with yearsof the reign, without any suspicion of the confusion he has made, yet he has preserved a good deal of curious information.) A very impor tant corroboration is to be found in the Acts of St Agape (Ruin. p. 348) ch. 2 : cum igitur persecutio u Maximiano im- peratore aduersus Christianos illata esset : as the scene is at Thessalonica, Hercu lius cannot be meant. Cf. also Prud. peristepli. x. 31; cf. Niceph. Greg. xxv. 36. Greg. Naz. or. III. p. 93 (Paris, 1630) seems to take the other view : p.rjre Aio- tcXrjTiavos 6 irpuros ivv^pioas X/utr- riavois p/qre 6 tovtov iK8e£dp,evos Kal virepfidXXuv ~M.a%ipnav6s p.rJTe Ha&pivos 6 /i€r' iKeivovs Kal virep eKeivovs Slukt7}S : but this does not refer to the authorship of the persecution; it merely means that Diocletian's reign came first in point of time. I believe I do not exaggerate when I say that on the whole the Fathers of the subsequent age, of the East as well as of the West, more often refer to the persecution as the work of Maximian (i. e. Herculius) than as that of Diocle tian : see e. g. Athan. (at Alexandria) ad sol. uit. ag. p. 853 A (Paris, 1627), ro irpurov, ore ytyove Kal eirl Mal;ip,iav$ rip irdinripKuvo-TavTtov 8iuyp,6s ; Hosius (Spain) ap. Ath. ibid. p. 838; Hier. (Palestine) comm. in Naum, 6g ; Hilar. (Gaul) contra Constant. 7 and 8 (this may mean Galerius, but probably not) ; and most emphatically Orosius xxvi. (Spain). 2 Except posdbly Aur. Vict. Caess. xxxix. 45, ueterrimae religiones castis- sime seruatae. I have taken the trouble to glance through all the Byzantine his torians on the reign of Diocletian, but can find nothing in all their bewildering self-contradictions which throws any light upon the origin of the persecution. . Pomted Silence of Heathen Antiquity. 69 unkind fate has destroyed the preambles of the three edicts which are traced to him1. There is not an inscription2, not even a coin3 which tells us anything of the mighty conflict. And the total failure of archaeological assistance is of a piece with the striking literary phenomena. A strange and ominous silence reigns, with regard to this crowning topic, among all the heathen writers. Zosimus indeed and Ammian are unfor tunately both wanting in this part ; but the former, at any rate, if we may judge from his usual manner of dealing with the Christian religion, had said but little on the subject4. Eutro- pius and the two Victors seem as though the very name of the Christians was unknown to them. The charming series of the Lives of the Emperors unhappily stops short at Nume- rian's death. Vopiscus had proposed to write a history of the Such passages as Malal. 310 are per fectly vague, and to be explained (if it is needed) in the same manner as the passage of St Gregory quoted in the last note. 1 Galerius ap. Lact. mort. 34, Eus. hist. eccl. VIII. xvii. 3, speaks for him self, but not for Diocletian. What would we not give for a copy of Domitius' careful digest of the penal laws against us ! See Lact. div. inst. 1 r. 2 De Rossi finds but one Christian in scription at Rome which can be tortured so as to refer to the persecution (No. 30). Mr King has pointed out to me, in the Museo Borbonico, plate liv., an ex quisite head in wax, which, having been found with a truncated skeleton, may perhaps have done duty for the natural head of a martyr under Diocletian, a coin of his lying in the tomb : but even if there were not several ifs, the discovery could elucidate little except the high state of the art. 3 The coins of Diocletian and Max imian inscribed loui Fulgeratori, and those bearing Hercules with the Hydra, have usually been made to refer to Christianity, but without any real ground. The Hydra is but one of a whole series of Hercules' labours on the coinage of Maximian. 4 Burckhardt, p. y\, ingeniously con jectures that Zosimus had said too much, and was accordingly mutilated by the Christians; he compares the mutilation by the pagans, for an opposite reason, of Cicero's de Natura Deorum. ¦ He does not say the same of Ammian, though this is a far less improbable case. Zosi mus is so shy of speaking directly on the religious question, that he barely notices even Julian's declaration of his sentiments and consequent unpopularity, and hastens on to political matters ; III. 9. 70 Style of Pagan Allusions to Christianity. tetrarchy in a more ambitious style than he had before at tempted, but it is uncertain whether he ever began the work1. And we have to lament in vain the inestimable loss of the me moirs published by Eusthenius, the private secretary of Diocle tian 2. But for our special purpose the loss is perhaps not great. The persecutions of Decius and Valerian pass entirely unno ticed by the pagan authors. Vopiscus has but three scornful notices of the triumphant religion, and of these, two are merely introduced as good stories. To those who cared for the old religion the whole subject was sore. A stinging imputation, a bit of scandalous chit-chat, the oblique thrust of a sarcastic ion mot from Hadrian or Aurelian, declamatory lamentations over the decline of Rome since the cessation of the secular games — these are the usual ways in which the enemies of Christianity betray their feeling with regard to its encroach ments3. However much satisfaction they might feel in thinking of the past sufferings of the churchmen, a direct history of the persecutions is the very last thing they would have been likely to write. Mobs, judges, emperors, had done their worst ; and yet the sect was spreading more rapidly than ever. Fear and jealousy and wounded pride suggested that the wisest course was to say nothing, and pretend that there was nothing to be said. But in spite of the formidable consensus of antient autho rity, almost all our modern reconstructors of history have seen fit to ascribe the persecution to the old Augustus. All, in deed, are willing to admit that Galerius took most delight in the work, and would gladly have dealt more violently 1 Vop. Prob. I. Lampridius is an exception : he records 2 Vop. Carin. 18. some most valuable (even if doubtful) 3 See (e.g.) Vop. Aur. 20, Saturn. 7, pieces of information, to flatter the and 8; Zosim. ii. 7, ii. 29, iv. 2. Aelius Christian prince whom he addresses. Neander s Theory. ji than his father-in-law, but they see so many reasons why the Christian faith ought to have been put down for the benefit of the empire, that they conceive it impossible for Diocletian to have neglected so to do. Among these many reasons which are adduced, there is none, perhaps, more weighty than that which is drawn from the Roman ideal of the state, and the very peculiar relation in which politics stood to religion1. It is argued, and with per fect justice, that the Church and the old Roman Empire were utterly incompatible, and must in course of time come into collision with each other. Neander with his usual excellent judgment has discerned many cogent reasons, and Mr Hun ziker does well to follow him3. It is not necessary in this 1 This reason is brought forward more prominently by Neander, I. p. 196, Baur, Christenthum der III. ersten Jahr- hunderte, p. 431, and by Hunziker pp. 138, 152, than by any other writers. Neander admits, however, that Dio cletian would never have come to the point without Galerius. ' Neander I. pp. 1 1 7 — 124. See espe cially p. 117 : "The idea of the state was the highest idea of ethics, and within that was included all actual realisation of the highest good :— hence the development of all other goods pertaining to humanity was made de pendent on this. Thus the religious element also was subordinated to the political. There were none but state religions and national gods. It was first and only Christianity that could overcome this principle of antiquity, release men from the bondage of the world, subvert particularism and the all subjecting force of the political ele ment by its own generalizing Theism, by the awakened consciousness of the oneness of God's image in all, by the idea of the kingdom of God as the highest good, comprehending all other goods in itself, which was substituted in place of the state as the realisation of the highest good, whereby the state was necessitated to recognise a higher power over itself. Looked at from this point of view, which was the one actu ally taken by the antient world, a defec tion from the religion of the state could not appear otherwise than as a crime against the state." Cf. Hunziker, p. 143 : Die Eigenthiimlichkeit Hires Be- kenntnisses brachte ja mit sich, dass sie nicht ill den Synkretismus der heid- nischen Religionen eingingeit ; die Gbtter der Heiden galten ihmu ais base Da- monen. Das Christenthum musste ent- wcder herrschen, oder es musste vernich- tct werden, oder ignorirt sein konnen, da esjedes gleichberechtigte friedliche Zusani- menleben mit item Heidcnthum ausschloss ; and on p. 146 : 1 in romischen Reichewarcn j 2 Antagonism of Church dnd State. place to follow out these causes of contention in detail. The State claimed to be supreme over all religions, and in fact to make them a part of its own machinery. The Holy Catholic Church believed, and still believes, that there is a law higher than the law Of the State. Christianity is absolute. The State's ideal of religion was a syncretism (to use a word the German authors love) of national and partial religions : if the deities of a newly conquered nation were willing to take a seat in the Pantheon, the seats were free to all-comers ; if not, that religion could not be tolerated. The Holy Catholic Church refused this abominable proposal, for Christ had no concord with Belial. Christianity is universal1. The State, holding that all religions were on an equality, could suffer no contest between one deity and another, no crying down of any deities which it had taken under its protection. The Holy Catholic Church was charged with the message of regeneration, and could not rest till men's souls were freed from the foul tyranny of these dumb and devilish idols. Christianity is aggressive. The State was morbidly sensitive of the forma tion of any societies which might give it trouble even locally. The Holy Catholic Church, while fully recognising the au thority of the Sovereign, thinks, or (alas!) thought, that the first allegiance which was owed to man was owed to her consecrated Pontiffs2. Christianity is corporate. For all these reasons, and many, many more, the Church inevitably die rcligiosen Culte im engsten Verbande Rdche aus. mit den staatlichen Einrichtungen ; der * The commonest periphrase for the Stoat uahmjene uiaer sdnen Schutzund Catholic religion in Eusebius, is i) ds sie dienten ihm ; oder aber sie wolltcn rov tuv o\uv 6eox evaepaa. nicht in den Staatsorganismus einfiigen 2 See the grand passage in Eusebius' und ihm unterordneu lassen, dann stL-ss sermon at the consecration of Tyre Ca- cr sie, sozvdt seine Macht ging, aus dan thedral, Hist. Eccl. X. iv. 23. Alteration of the Slate's Attitude. 73 must have clashed, and did clash again and again, with the old Roman State1. But it had no longer the old Roman State to deal with. It is entirely and utterly misleading to speak of the persecu tion of Diocletian as the climax of his work of restoration2. A tremendous change had come over the political aspect of the world since the death of Carus. Diocletian had deli berately, openly, ostentatiously, abandoned the old Roman ideal. In his masterly mode of meeting the wants of the empire, he had not hesitated to sacrifice almost everything which outwardly recalled the days of Augustus, or of that contemplative prince whom he was wont to claim as his exemplar. The greatest radical of his time, he knew that "a froward retention of custom is as turbu lent a thing as an innovation, and they that reverence too much old times, are but a scorn to the new3." He had taught the world explicitly that it was not a republic, but a great kingdom like the kingdoms of Xerxes and of Narseus. It was one of the cleverest of Galerius' indelicate satires, when he said that the empire ought no longer to be called the empire of Rome, but the empire of Dacia4. A compulsory attendance at sacred rites was surely not a more important 1 For much of what is contained in 4 Lact. mort. 27 : olim quidem ille, these sentences, I am indebted to a ut nomen imperatoris acceperat, hostem lecture of Professor Westcott's, which I se Romani nominis erat professus, cuius heard some years ago. titulum immutari uolebat, tit 7ion Ro- 2 Hunziker p. 153 : Dass dahin die manum imperium, sed Daciscum cog- Consequenz der Restauration Diocletians nominaretur. The saying shews such fiihren musste, liegt auf 'der Hand; es war a quick perception of the position of gleichsam der Abschluss seines Werks, die affairs, and such a barbarous want of Kr'onung des Gebdudes, wenn das letzte diplomatic reticence, that I feel it must mdchtigste Hinderniss eines geordne- really have been blurted out by Gale- ten rdmischen Staatsorganismus beseitigt rius ; at any rate Lactantius under- wurde. stands it too little to have invented it 3 Bacon, Essay XXIV. for him. 74 Dismissal of the "Romische Staatsidee." thing to retain than tliose old republican titles and institutions which were laid aside1. It had been found, that the apparent dismemberment of the Roman dominion into four several parts, under four several princes, was the means of uniting the nations more solidly than ever they had been united before. Why should the apparent dismemberment of the state, by winking at the Christians' abstinence from idol-temples, tend to any more unfavourable results ? Diocletian was too saga cious a person to suppose that a man must necessarily be a traitor because he objected to scatter incense before an Emperor's statue2. The man might be ridiculously super stitious, and provokingly obstinate,— for of course it is not pretended that Diocletian sympathized with scruples of con science—but he need not be a foe of the state. Christianity had been so long a time in the world, and (at any rate since Gallienus' days) in such an open conspicuous position, that a man like the Emperor could not fail to see that some of the best subjects in the realm and the best soldiers in the army were Christians. Diocletian was not the wise man that he is always taken for, if he had not learned by this time to repose as much confidence in those who would not worship his images, as Queen Elizabeth reposed, at the time of the Armada, in those who abjured her supremacy. He who had done more than any man that had ever lived to break down the old Roman system, was not a likely -person to attempt its partial restoration from the religious side3. 1 See Spanheim de Usu Numisma- the Codex Gregorianus, and laid it (I turn, diss. XII., quoted by Gibbon. hope) for ever. I felt it to be quite con- 2 Cf. the masterly passage in Tert. trary to all else that was known of Dio- apol. 28 36. cletian; and yet there seemed no way to 3 I may admit that the Manichean elude Neander's triumphant question on edict was always a hideous bugbear to p. 197 of vol. ii., and Baur's on p, 43!. me, until I conjured it up for myself in See below. Christianity already a State Religion. 75 And in point of fact, even if Diocletian had clung to the Roman state ideal, there was now nothing in Christianity that was contrary to it, for the state had altered its ideal on purpose. The Christian religion, like that of the Jews, had been allowed to establish itself on its own conditions. The cultus of the Prophet of Nazareth had been taken under the protection ofthe Roman government, and those who injured or interfered with it did so at their peril1. Neander himself has very sagaciously pointed out how different a thing it was to assail the Church now, from what it had been in the days of Decius and Valerian. The law of Gallienus had brought her within the magic circle. A harsh zealot like Aurelian had respected it. The old Roman notion, then, of the politics of religion did not influence Diocletian. But it is said that there were reasons more strictly conscientious, on account of which Dio cletian was bound to persecute our faith. He was, we are told, a deeply religious person; or, to put it in a less compli mentary light, he was completely abandoned to superstition 2. The statement contains a great appearance of truth; but it is necessary to make a thorough investigation of the nature of Diocletian's personal religion before we decide what bearing it had upon the persecution. In the first place, there is nothing whatever to shew that Diocletian 1 As we may see in the account of So also Richter, on p. 49 of his West- Aurelian's behaviour to the heretical rbmisches Rdch, where he makes Dio- Patriarch of Antioch. cletian quite silly about his superstition. 2 This is the cause alleged with the But it seems the stanchest supporter of greatest distinctness by Dr Bernhardt in this view (though he makes Diocletian his smaller work ; see especially pp. 48 less superstitious and more orthodox) is —62 : and apparently his views are not Prof. Vogel, whose work (alas !) I only to be altered in the Geschichte Roms, to know through the hostile account of it judge from p. 254 of the first instalment. in Wietersheim's Vblkerwanderung. 76 Did Diocletian's Personal Religion was one of the new Platonist school. Had this been the case, he must needs have persecuted, for liberty of con science was not a part of the philosophical creed. But no one has even attempted to prove that his religion was based, like Julian's, upon the grounds of philosophical truth. Though he was a man of some literary education, he had not the leisure, even if he had the mental fitness, for metaphysical speculation. The man was no theologian. In the second place, Diocletian exhibits no special devotion towards the old state gods of Rome. If he had been an extremely orthodox believer in the divinity of Juno, Neptune, and Vulcan, who (mark this) were still as much state gods as any, he could not have failed to feel an animosity against the Christians; for while to all the rest of the world these gods had died of old age and inaction, the Christians believed in them firmly, and called them devils. But Diocletian, though probably he always treated the regulation deities with a decent respect1, never discovered any zeal for their service. It is very easy indeed to see that his reverence, on many occasions shewn, for the powers of Jupiter, does not at all imply a devotion to the mythological person of that name2. Thirdly, Diocletian was no impulsive enthusiast. Nothing could be further from his prudent and stern self-discipline than the unbridled religious orgies of a Heliogabalus or a Maximinus Daza. His political instincts alone would have been enough to keep him from superstitions of such a kind. 1 Aur. Vict. Caess. xxxix. 45, ueter- Staatskirche zur Herrschaft, und musste rimae religiones castissime seruatae. consequent alle Religionsformen, welche 2 This is Vogel's especial mistake. sich ausschliessend zu ihr -verhielten, ver- He says on p. 29 (quoted by Wieters- tilgen. Wietersheim goes too far the heim, III. p. 166) : Er fiihrte nun im other way, in making Diocletian take up Namen Jupiters das rbmisch-griechi- the notion of a divine vicegerency sim- sche Volksheidenthum ais due heidnische ply from political grounds. impel him to a Christian Persecution ? y/ Yet Diocletian's religion was very real. The often quoted marriage edict shews how deeply its moral influences had penetrated him. His assumption of the name of Jovius was not like the assumption of the name Augustus, simply a political trick1. He had a firm belief in his own divine election and right to rule2. To him his royal robes were a faint typification of "the mantle of the Immortal Zeus3." It was under the column and effigy of Jove that Galerius received the purple; and under the same Diocletian himself laid it aside4. In the temple of the Capitoline Jove he had obliged Maximian, by an oath, that he would abdicate on the day that he had fixed6; and when that day arrived, it was into the hands of the giver, Jove, and not of Hercules, that Herculius rendered up his dignity6. In the privacy of Spalatro, Diodes worshipped still the chief of gods to whom his greatness had been due; in all that city-like residence there was no building that more attracted the eye than the octagonal temple of Jupiter7. And the few traces of Sun-worship which we find in Diocletian's life, are really only parts of the same cultus. While to more sensual minds the sun's hot beams were the 1 Though the name of Herculius be- Dr Richter makes it part of Diocle- stowed upon Maximian would certainly tian's scrupulous piety. He says : Er suggest that it was mere symbolism, war ein inniger und scrupid'dser Verehrer Aurelius Victor (Caess. xxxix. 18) sin- der Cotter ; er glaubte, die Kaiser hatten gles out this very point to mark the dn besonderes Numen im Olymp, und man's religion : huic postea cultu nu- Hire Macht, ihr beabsichtigter Jast gb'tt- minis Herculei cognomentum accessit, uti licher Nimbus auf Erden witrde da- Valerio Iouium. The resignation of durch verstdrkt, dass die Unterthanen Herculius to Jupiter is significant. dieses Numen fieissig anbetden. 2 I think this is all that is meant by 3 Malalas, xii. p. 310. the much talked of numen (no longer 4 Lact. mort. 19. the mere genius) of the Emperor. 5 Eum. paneg. IX. 15. One would have thought that such an 6 Incert. paneg. v. 12. assumption of divine titles (if really so 7 Gibbon, vol. ii. p. 179; Burckhardt, intended) was somewhat irreligious ; but p. 48. 78 fupiter, Sol, and Aesculapius. incentive to a hideous Baalism, to others his brightness and power were "the least debasing representative of the Great Supreme.1 " The Egyptian Serapis, to whom Diocletian had built a temple in Rome2, had done much to identify the Sun- god with the power which was adored under the name of Jove. It was to the Sun that Diocletian appealed upon the death of Numerian3, it was the Sun-god of Miletus that he consulted about the persecution of the Christians. In one delightful glimpse that we obtain of him after he had laid aside the cares of state, we see the naive pleasure with which he con templates the colossal bas-relief made to adorn a new temple of the Sun which he had erected in Pannonia4. And the only other special cult to which he was addicted, was connected most intimately with the same worship. As soon as the Sirmian sculptors had finished their bas-relief of the Sun-god, Diocletian bad them carve an effigy of Aesculapius5, destined, most probably, for that chapel of Aesculapius which stood in the palace of Salona, side by side with the temple of Jupiter". 1 Milman Hist. Chr. II. 174. Nie- himself predestined to kill Aper, (3) buhr (Rom. Hist. p. 320, Schmitz), men sometimes forget their principles at speaking of the Christianity of Philip critical moments. the Arabian, combats Eckhel's argu- 4 Passio ss. IV. coron. ch. 1 . ment drawn from the symbols on the 6 Ibid. ch. 4; cf. ch. 9, and Benn- coins, for he says, *' the emblems refer dorf s archaeological note about the tern- only to the god of the sun, whose ple of Aesculapius in the Roman Ther- worship was mixed up with Christi- . mae of Diocletian. amty. 6 Gibbon I.e. After a very careful 2 Burckhardt, p. 59 : but as Mr Burn search I can find no instance of Diocle- does not notice this temple, there is tian's personal devotion to any other perhaps some mistake : — Burckhardt deities. Other temples built by Dio- gives no reference. cletian besides these mentioned were, 3 Dr Bernhardt is in a great strait to to Isis and to the Nymphs at Rome reconcile Diocletian's fear of God with (Burckhardt I.e.), and to Apollo, Aescu- the hollowness of this oath : I suppose lapius, Saturn and Mars in the Thermae that I am too : but (1) Aper was the (Benndorf, p. 354); and at Antioch, to actual murderer, (2) Diocletian believed Olympian Zeus, Apollo, Hecate and Approximation to Christianity. 79 Jupiter, symbolized by the Sun, and Aesculapius — this is an exhaustive list of the forms which the Emperor's special devotion took. The objects of the adoration of Diocletian were, we see, the supreme all-seeing Power, both moral and natural Governor, which had set him to rule and restore the world, — and that wise and gentle hero, the son of Phoebus, who spent his life in healing the diseases of his brother-men, and found his death in raising the dead to life, and yet was received to divine honours by the deity which had exacted his destruction, — the most splendid approximation that polytheism ever made to the doctrine of the Atonement, the Resurrection, and the Ascension. Diocletian's creed was simply that earnest and righteous theism, lacking only conscious definition to make it a monotheism, which we find also in Constantius and others of his best heathen contemporaries. Had it still been possi ble to think that the Christians were atheists, we should have fancied him likely to persecute them. But the old grounds of this accusation were no more. The Christian Temples were among the public ornaments of the towns. The Priest, the Altar, the Sacrifice — however far from the Gentile conception of the terms — were well known to have a prominent position in our vocabulary. The Emperor was in at least as good a position as any other man, to know that we worship the Supreme Deity, even as he himself did. He was only "not yet a Christian." When we examine into the grounds on which Diocletian may be called superstitious, we find a good deal that seems to warrant the appellation1. He believed very firmly that Nemesis (Burckhardt , p. 60). These his own devotion. may not mean much, but the two 1 None of the German writers who within his own palace certainly express have touched upon this subject have 8o Diocletian's Belief in Revelation. the unseen powers were willing to reveal to men their designs. "He was a pryer into the future," says Victor, "and saw that destiny threatened the state with intestine misfortunes and a great crash1." "Perhaps," says Zcsimus more cautiously, "he even foresaw the confusion which was to overtake the empire, since he was incessantly engaged in claiming kinship with the divine power2." "His cowardice," says the bitter Church historian, "made him pry into things to come3." It would be hypercritical to point out, how the aim of the two first of these passages is to sneer at Constantine's reforms, and the aim of the third to make Diocletian contemptible: the thing spoken of was evidently characteristic of the man. We have seen before that his staff of soothsayers was always with him4. This lively communication between gods and men, was, he believed, carried on, not only through auguries, but through oracles. When our materials are so scanty we are obliged to refer repeatedly to the same thing: — but we need not here speak again of the embassy to the cave of Branchidae; it is more interesting to observe that his trust in oracles was so well known as to suggest part of the pious tactics of that good saint of Alexandria who was so anxious for the Emperor's seen, or hinted, any distinction 'between Kal ttj irepl rb Beiov &d irpo&Ketpevos Religiositdt and Aberglauben. — Lest any dyxiorela. I am not at all sure whether should suspect me of being biassed in I understand the last word, but at any describing Diocletian's partiality to the rate I have not weakened its force. faith, I have taken care to set down in 3 Lact. mort. 10: ut erat pro timore these paragraphs every single passage scrutator rerum futurarum. which shews his religious, or supersti- 4 Lact. mort. I.e. and ii. We may tious, views. perhaps be allowed to add to the list of 1 Aur. Vict. Caess. xxxix. 48 : nam- Diocletian's superstitions that he be- que imminentium scrutator, ubi fato in- lieved as firmly as Lactantius or Tertul- testinas clades et quasi fragorem quendam lian in the power of the sign of the impendere comperit status Romani. Cross, as we may conclude from the 2 Zos. ii. tous ydp Kal irporjSei tt\v story on p. 42. Kah<.t,owiav rd irpdyixara o-iyxvaiv, oTa Alleged Superstition. 81 soul. "Sometimes," he writes to Lucianus, "the librarian will talk of the Divine Writings, which Ptolemy Philadelphus thought it worth while to have translated into our own tongue : sometimes also the Gospel and the Epistles will be quoted, and quoted as Divine Oracles1!' Besides these more recog nised sources of secret knowledge, Diocletian is said to have paid great heed to prophecies and omens. Without being very rationalistic we have already suggested an elucidation of the wise woman's saying about Aper2: but even with such a clue to guide him to the meaning of the riddle we can hardly doubt that there was that within him which made the words seem to him a supernatural enuntiation of a destiny3. There were ample reasons to justify the choice of Maximian and Constantius for the associates of the throne, but it is possible that there may have been a further influence in the fact that Herculius' birthday was identical with his friend's; — it is possible that Diocletian was so free from jealousy as not to 1 S. Theonae epist. 7: diuinas scrip- pulpamento), used at the death of one or turns quas Ptolemaeus Philadelphus in more Emperors, shows what kind of linguam nostram traduci curauit, laud- Apri he had in view, _ contradicting abitur et interdum euangelhim apostolus- Vopiscus' statement (not made on his que pro diuinis oraculis. grandfather's authority) that Diocletian 2 See p. 5. There certainly is much took the prophecy literally. If the say- truth in this story, however we explain ing really was only, "Kill Arrius Aper, it: (1) Diocletian had related it to Vo- and you will be Emperor," Diocletian piscus' grandfather long before the pro- would see in it a true revelation from phecy was fulfilled; (2) though the pre- heaven of what he was to do; but the diction of the Druidess was little known mere vulgar belief in fortune-telling me satis uolgare), eveiy body knew would thus entirely disappear; for it Diocletian's remark on having accom- will be observed that none of the other plished it (iam illud notum est atque cases of this superstition recorded of '.turn). At the same time a strong Diocletian are at all credible. indication that Diocletian did not feel " Vopiscus (Carin. 18) certainly ex it very religiously is the fact that he pressed Diocletian's own views when he jested about it; and the jest itself (ego said: Diocletianum et Maximianum semper apros occido, sed alter utitur principes di dederunt. M. 6 82 Was his Superstition sufficient shrink from Constantius because a Druidess had foretold the future greatness of the house of Claudius1. There were other reasons why Galerius should take the name of Maximian: Octavian, as well as Diocletian, was a great believer in the power of names: but it is possible that, as Lactantius says, Diocletian partly changed his name for omen's sake, because of the fidelity of Herculius2. Nay, though we may be slow to believe, we must not be so dogmatic as positively to deny, a story told by a late and unknown author, that Diocletian's sleep at nights had been for some time troubled by an appa rition which imperiously bad him select a certain person — the name is not recorded — for his successor, and that at last the Emperor summoned the fellow to his presence and said, "If it must be so, take your purple and begone: and do not spoil your sovereign's slumbers any more3." This is a complete statement of the authority on which Diocletian is charged with religious superstition. Even if the 1 Paneg. Genethl. chaps, i, -i, 7, 19. complete. Malalas xii. p. 309 tells it to Diocletian observes days also in Lact. explain a spot at Alexandria called mort. 12. The Claudian prophecy is "Diocletian's Horse.'' When Diocle- mentioned by Pollio Claud. Goth. 10 tian took that city, lie gave orders that and by Vopiscus Aurel. 44. We are so much, blood should be shed as that not told that Diocletian laid any stress his horse might go knee-deep in it. As upon either the coincidence or the pro- he approached the gate, the charger phecy, indeed Pollio does not say that stumbled heavily over a corpse and he was aware of the prediction; and stained his knees with the gore. Dio- yet Burckhardt p. 49 and Bernhardt cletian took this for an omen, and or- p. 50 have no hesitation in saying that dered the carnage to be stopped. The these were the sole grounds on which grateful Alexandrians raised a statue to both Maximian and Constantius were the careless beast. The story might all chosen. be true except Diocletian's order to shed * Lact. mort. 18. the blood. I should add that a point is 3 Fragm. Anon. ap. Muller fragm. hist. made of a certain nervous fear of light- graec. vol. iv. 198, quoted by Burck- ning of which he is accused on the hardt. There is but one other story to strength of a forced construction of make the whole case against Diocletian Eus. Orat. Const, xxv. 2. to set him against Christianity ? 83 greatest possible strength be granted to these last doubtful items, — according to which a most profound statesman took important and wise political steps, not because they were wise, but on account of some trivial coincidence or dream or gipsy prediction, — the scaffolding will not bear the weight which is set upon it. Such superstition was not peculiar to the man, but common to the age, and the age was not at all pronounced against the Christians. And there were not wanting pre cedents of men upon the imperial throne, who had combined strong religious and superstitious instincts with a favourable attitude towards Christianity. Hadrian, loathsome and hypo critical man as he was, — the Louis XI. of pagan Rome — was a noted devotee of the old Roman and Greek worship, and set great store upon his office of Pontifex1. Not only was he careful to be initiated in the Eleusinian and other mysteries 2, but he paid great heed to oracles 3, and had himself learned the dark arts of forecasting the future 4. And yet we have still preserved to us a most important rescript of Hadrian's, which protects Christianity from popular violence and in formal accusations5. The Christian philosophers Quadratus and Aristides thought it no bad time to present Apologies to a heathen Emperor6. Nay, Hadrian's disposition towards Christianity was so well known, that, whether rightly or wrongly, men used to say that the temples void of idols, 1 Ael. Spart. Hadr. xxii. 10: sacra i Ael. Spart. Helius iii. 9: fuisse Romana diligentissime curauit, peregri- enim Hadrianum peritum matheseos, na contempsit: pontificis maximi officium Marius Maximus usque adeo demonstrat ut eum dicat cuncta de se scisse, sic ut 2 Aur. Vict. Caess. xiv. 4 ; Ael. Spart. omnium dierum usque ad horam mortis Hadr. xiii. 1, 2. futuros actus ante perscripserit. 3 Ael. Lampr. Heliog. vii. 8. His 5 ap. Eus. hist. eccl. IV. ix. belief in omens may be gathered from 6 Eus. hist. eccl. iv. iii. 1, 3. Ael. Spart. Hadr. xxvi. 6. 6—2 84 Imperial Precedents for mixing which he built in various places, were destined by him for the worship ofthe Saviour1. But the excellent Emperor Alexander was in all respects a man more like to Diocletian. He would only wear a robe of office which was kept in the temple of Jupiter; and the praetexta he refused to wear save in his capacity of pontiff2. Among his public works was the adornment of the temples of Isis and Serapis3. His belief in the powers of the soothsayers was conspicuous and im plicit. They were consulted even in such matters as the direction of the road up to the palace 4. He endowed pro fessorships of soothsaying and also of astrology 6. He him self was one of the greatest masters of the art 6. Yet the son of the Mamaea who had conversed with Origen7, did not content himself with permitting the existence of the Chris tians8. Once when some Christians had taken possession of a piece of open ground, the pastrycooks' company tried to wrest it from them ; but Alexander decided that it was better for God to be worshipped there under whatever form, than that it should be surrendered to the mercenary uses of pastrycooks 9. He was fond of praising the careful way in x Ael. Lampr. Alex, xliii. 6. Nean- professi ut docerent. haruspicinae quoque der decides too strongly against the ac- peritissimus fuit, orneoscopus magnus count : it at any rate shows the current td et Vascones Hispanorum et Pannoni- opinion about Hadrian. His sarcasms orum augures tdcerit. This notice of in Vop. Saturn. 8 prove nothing in the Pannonian augurs is interesting as show case of the man who canonized Anti- ing that probably Diocletian's was not nous. a Roman but a native superstition. 2 Ael. Lampr. Alex. xi. 8, 9. 1 Eus. hist. eccl. VI. xxi. 2. 3 Id. ib. xxxvi. 8. 8 Ael. Lampr. Alex. xxii. 4 : Christi- 4 Ael. Spart. Sev. xxiv. 5. anos esse passus est. This need not 6 Ael. Lampr. Alex. xliv. 4. mean that they became formally a religio 6 Id. ib. xxvii. 5 : matheseos peritus licita. et ita quidem ut ex eius iussu mathema- 9 Id. ib. xlix. 6 : cum Christiani quen- tici publice proposuerint Romae ac sint dam locum, qui publicus fuerat, occupas- Christianity with Heathen Superstition. 85 which the Church posted the names of all whom she destined for the Priesthood, so that any, who knew evil of them, might object \ He had picked up from some Christians the words of Christ, that we ought to do to others as we would that they should do to us, and had them ever on his lips2. And it is so well known, that we need hardly re peat the tale — that Lampridius found in the works of a contemporary of Alexander, a description of the lararium in which the pious Emperor said his morning prayers, where were ranged statues of " canonized princes, but only a selection of the best, — and some others of the most holy souls, among whom were Apollonius and Christ, Abraham and Orpheus, and others like them3." With examples like these before us, we can hardly think that Diocletian was bound, by such religion and such superstition as can be traced to him, to make a fierce and bloody onslaught on the Church 4. sent, contra popinarii dicer ent sibi eum ores, — in quis Apollonium et, quantum deberi, rescripdt melius esse ut quemam- scriptor suorum temporum dicit, Chris- modum cumque illk deus colatur quam turn Abraham et Orfeum et huiuscemodi popinariis dedatur. ceteros habebat, — rem diuinam faciebat, 1 Id. ib. xiv. 7: dicebatque graue esse, Eusebius (hist. eccl. VI. xxviii. i) testi- cum id Christiani et ludad facerent in fies to the number of believers belonging praedicandis sacerdotibus qui ordinandi to the house or family of Alexander. sunt,non fieri in proidnciarum rectoribus i Some writers, as Bernhardt p. 10 quibus d fortunae hominum committe- and Burckhardt p. 331, have dared to rentur et capita. hint, that we are to take in a plain and 2 Id. ib. Ii. 7 : clamabatque saepius literal sense the contrite confession of quod a quibusdam siue Iudads siue Eusebius (hist. eccl. VIII. i) concerning Christianis audierat et tenebat, idque per the declension of Christian piety, and praeconem, cum aliquem emendard, did that the persecution may be traced to iubebat quod tibi fieri non uis, alteri the lofty morality of Diocletian's re- nefeceris. ligion. I shall not be at the pains to 3 Id. ib. xxix. 2 : matutinis horis in point out, as Burckhardt afterwards larario sua, in quo et diuos principes does, that the sins which the Bishop (sed optimos electos) et animas sancti- there acknowledges, were not such as 86 The Church's Power challenges Opposition. It seems unreasonable, then, to suppose that Christianity, as a religious persuasion, would find itself in serious conflict either with Diocletian's personal faith, or with his political view of religion. The only real ground on which he can be thought to have leant to the persecution, was the great power of the Church as a corporation \ We have already noticed how the Bishops had acquired something, of princely state, and with it also something of tyrannical power. Even fifty years before, in the time of Decius, the chief Pastor of the Church in Rome was so great a magnate, that St Cyprian thinks the Emperor would have looked with less suspicion to attract the notice of a heathen moral ist. The old slanders so often refuted in earlier days, were never uttered now (see Eus. IV. vii. 14) : and least of all men would the master of St Lucian and St Dorotheus, the husband and the father of Christian Empresses, believe such foolish calumnies. Hunziker, p. 147, lays some little .stress upon the unworldly principles of Christians, which tended to make them bad or useless citizens. But on the contrary we read of many of our brethren in high offices of government. It was only a very few persons who, like Maximilian and Marcellus, used their private judgment to decide what Christianity allowed and so refused to serve in the army : such cases were easy and obvious to deal with. And if here and there a few enthusiasts withdrew from the world, and determined not to marry, it was only so much the worse (or the better) for them : the number of celibates in the state was not now, as in the first century from licentious reasons, and in the fifth from ascetic, a plague and bane. 1 Strangely enough, however, no one except the great Gibbon — and, I be lieve, Manso — has made this the chief ground. Gibbon does not commit himself to any particular view. He says (vol. II. p. 466): "Perhaps they represented, that the glorious work of the deliverance of the empire was left imperfect, as long as an independent people was permitted to subsist and multiply in the heart of the provinces. The Christians (it might speciously be alleged) renouncing the gods and the institutions of Rome, had constituted a distinct republic, which might yet be suppressed before it had acquired any military force ; but which was already governed by its own laws and magis trates, was possessed of a public trea sure, and was intimately connected in all its parts, by the frequent assemblies of the bishops, to whose decrees their numerous and opulent congregations yielded an implicit obedience." Yet he is inclined after all to think that Dio cletian rather yielded at last to personal solicitations than gave his intellectual consent to reasoned argument. " Staat im Staate." 87 on an attempt to establish a rival upon the throne, than on the appointment of a successor to the martyred Fabian \ If the excellent Anthimus had been as luxurious and arro gant as his Arian successor under Constantine, we might have wondered more at Diocletian's distaste for his murderous work. A paragraph in Dr Richter's Western Empire describes very powerfully this State within the State. " There seemed to be no corner left ", he says, " in the three civilised quarters of the earth, into which the autocrat's eye did not, through his organisation, penetrate, and where his glance was not supreme. And yet there was one region where the despot was powerless. In the teeth of the Emperor there had grown up a vast, well-ordered, enthusiastic, influential com munity, in which a common artisan or shopkeeper, if he were invested with one of its offices, had a power like a king's in the face of the impotent Emperor. As he was politically a subject, the Augustus or the Caesar could indeed trample him underfoot; yet, so long as the man lived an officer of that commonwealth, he laughed to scorn the power of the world ; and, when he died, another was there at hand, who stepped up into his place in precisely the same spirit. This power, which had extended its organisation through the provinces of Asia, Africa, and Europe, to the uttermost bounds of the Emperor's own despotic sway, — this perfectly independent State, in the midst of the most imperious of all States, — was the Christian Church2." But the very facts that made Christianity — or rather the corporate Church — such a formidable power to permit, made it also a most formidable power to attack. The 1 Cypr. epist. Iv. 9 : multo patientius Romae dei sacei'dotem. et iolerabilius audiret leuari aduersus 2 Westromische Reich, p. 46. se aemulum principem quam constitui 88 The State too weak to fight the Church. Church was not only fitly framed together — the most per fect of organisms, — and filled with an inexhaustible Life ; but she had attained outwardly to colossal proportions. There was no telling what the Christians might not do if they were attacked. We need do no more than point again to the edict of Gallienus. That edict was not coaxed from him by the submissive insignificance of the sect : it was wrung from him imperatively by the strength of that Body which all Valerian's persecution had been powerless to conquer. And it was precisely in this capacity, — as a f actio or society, rather than as a religio or cult, — that Gallienus had been forced to submit to its existence \ It was precisely in this capacity, as a company with its own bye-laws, that Aurelian, with all his bitter fear and hatred, had acknow ledged its inexpugnable position. And assuredly there had been no decay of strength in Diocletian's time. The im measurable hatred, which our ecclesiastical authors of the time disclose towards the persecuting Emperors, burned as fiercely (doubtless) in the breasts of almost all who pro fessed to venerate the commandment : " Bless them that persecute you." No prudent ruler would venture to rouse against himself so wide and deep an unpopularity. The old Augustus might well feel those fears, which Lactantius makes him utter when the deed was done2. It speaks volumes for one of three things, — the perfect grasp of the Emperors upon the administration, or the poor-heartedness of the Christians, or their profound obedience to the saying, 1 The point of Gallienus' circular let- recognised by the Pope and ihe Italian ter to the Bishops is the restoration of Bishops. Church property : and Aurelian's judg- 2 Lact. mort. 18: et minus tutum, ment was that the Church buildings at quod in tarn longo imperio multorum Antioch ought to belong to the party sibi odia quaesisset. Schisms not to be counted on. 89 " Resist not evil", — that we hear so little of mutinies in the army, and risings in the provinces. If the Passion of St Maurice be at all authentic, we have a solitary instance of the one1: and the prompt imprisonment of all the Bishops on the occasion of seditious attempts in Syria and Meli- tene (in which they probably had no hand) shows how keenly Diocletian expected and feared the other 2. It was not safe to reckon too much upon the fact that the camp of the Christians was sorely divided against itself3. Heresies and schisms had split it up, and perhaps still more the less disinterested rivalries of Catholics. But these divi sions were rather clerical than lay, and they were rather glaring than deep. When it came to a struggle between the Church and the world the differences vanished, and the Body proved itself to be One. In at any rate one case, a Bishop of the fast vanishing heresy of the Marcionites suffered at the same stake with a Catholic ascetic, and all but atoned for his error, in the eyes of the liberal Eusebius, in that purgatorial flame 4. 1 As all modern writers are agreed say on the subject when we come to that the Gaulish Bagaudae were not ¦ deal with Galerius' edict of toleration : Christians, I have not taken the trouble but we may mention here that Burck- to investigate the matter, though I feel hardt himself is wise enough to point out somewhat uneasy on the point. how much more politic it would be in 2 Eusebius (viii. vi. 8) implies that the heathen party to foment these la the Second Edict was the direct result mentable feuds. Hunziker sensibly ig- of these commotions. This is manifestly nores the suggestion. exaggerated : but probably it was more * Eus. mart. Pal. X. 2 : the poor man stringently enforced in consequence. is too severely .dealt with in the phrases 3 Burckhardt (p. 332) and Bernhardt iirio-Koiros tis etvai Sokuv, and £r)Xu p-iv, (p. 1 1 foil. ) who generally hunt in us if ero, evo-efldas dXX' ovti ye ttjs Kar couples— and Keim (in Baur's and Zel- i-rrlyvuoiv, and the crael apodosis o/tws ler's Theol. Jahrb. for 1852)— suggest b" ovv. An analogous case had occurred these divisions as the main cause of the in the persecution of Valerian, at Cae- persecution. We shall have more to sarea. Eus. hist. eccl. vn. xii. 90 Languid Support of the Nor could Diocletian hope to gain so much from the approbation of the pagan half of his subjects, as to counter balance the disaffection of the Christians. It is true that a strange revival was running through paganism, preparatory to its downfall, presenting a close parallel with the Ultra montane revival in modern Europe. It had (in the neo- platonic form) a fascinating attraction for persons of literary taste and gentle birth, coupled with an aspiring but confused intellect : and it had, in the gross forms of magic and of symbol worship (which bore a close relation to neoplatonism), charms for the ignorant poor — especially the women, — inasmuch as it made religion easy by materialising it. And yet how little, after all, the population was embittered against the Church by this revival is proved very clearly by the subsequent history. The proportion of judges (representing the educated classes) whom we find befriending the Christians, is very large. And only one (so far as I know) of the multi tude of Acts which we possess — the Acts of St Sabinus — brings in the rabble as the cause of persecution1; while the eye-witness of the martyrdoms of Palestine not once (if I mistake not) mentions the crowd as even joining in the work. Those days were in the dim forgotten background of history, when popular rage could hurry magistrates into cruelties towards the Christians 2. The Gentiles themselves, 1 And this, we must remember, took Philip of Heraclea, the people begin to place under very peculiar circumstances be divided when (not before) they see (see below, p. 2 1 2), and in the stronghold the punishment going on : but it is ex- of paganism, Rome. Even at Rome pressly stated that the loudest of the itself Maxentius actually stopped the persecuting party were Jews. persecution, and (according to Eusebius, 2 Dr Richter, without studying the hist. eccl. vm. xiv. 1) made feint to facts, has indulged in a good deal of be a Christian, in order to gain favour rhetoric about the "fury of the popu- with the populace. In the Acts of St lace against the atheists." Persecution by the Pagans. 91 we are told, in that district, censured Maximin's edict of 308 as low, oppressive, superfluous, and absurd : they thought it too much of a good thing1. Nay, at Alexandria, the very home of neoplatonism, the pagans themselves, with almost a modern indignation against intolerance, concealed the Christians in their houses, and sacrificed all rather than betray them2. There was not a man in all Alexandria, whose son or daughter, brother or bosom-friend, was not a Christian. It was not likely that they would join very heartily in the government measures against those who were so near and dear to them. There was not a trace of that social persecution which had formed so distressing a feature in the circumstances of the Church of France under Marcus. The fact is that the whole world had altered as much, since the days of Trajan, as the constitution. Christianity was a received religion, and half the world had embraced it. Though many of its doctrines were kept close, its prin ciples were perfectly well known. From those principles it was plain that persecution could never make men surrender it. The method had been tried, systematically and often ; and it had failed. It will be shewn presently, that Diocletian was well versed in the history of persecution. The Church 1 Eus. mart. Pal. IX. 3 : tuv re dirt- rip.uv tous 'XpioTiavois £-qTovp.{vovs, Kal ffruv iSvuv fiapdav tuv yivop,ivuv Kal iroXXdus diruXetrav avrol xpr)p,ara deirpu- iiodv irepiTTi\v rfi-q tt\v aroiriav Karapiep,- T-npluv Te iireipdoB-qaav, ha p.6vav tuv tpofie'vuv' irpoffKopr) yap Kal ijiopriKd ravra ipevyovruv p.rj yivuvrai irpodorai ' us Kal airois elvai itjialvero. The words are yap eavrois ttpiXarTov tovs irpotripdiyov- extremely vigorous. ras Kal KivSvvebeiv irpo avruv ifsovXeiovro. 2 S. Athanas. ad sol. uit. ag. p. 853 A The Patriarch was himself five years of (Paris 1627) : iyii 7oCi/ rJKOvo-a tuv age at the outbreak of the persecution. iraripuv Kal -triordv r)yovp,ai tov ixdvuv — The excessive latitudinarianism of that X670K, oti rd irpurov, ore yiyove Kal iirl dialectical city afforded a vast amuse- MaZifuavip tQ irdiririp Kuvo-ravHov Siay- ment to the Emperor Hadrian : see his juis, "EXXrives Hkpvtttov toi)s d5eX0oOs letter ap. Vop. Saturn. 8. 92 Diocletian's nahiral Clemency and might have been "stamped out" (to borrow a word from the history of contemporary Christianity) if earlier Emperors had only sought out all- the fanatics and burned them without scruple. But there were too many now. The whole world would be turned upside down1. Persecution was an ana chronism ; and Diocletian was not the man to commit anachronisms. The only plan now for subjugating the vigorous organisation of the Church, was to cajole it (when the opportunity should offer) by some such method as that chosen by Diocletian's subtle pupil, the first Christian Emperor. Diocletian's own private character and mental constitu tion, independently of these political and religious conside rations, was such as to set the historian on his guard against believing too readily, that he was the author of the hideous plot. Clemency was his favourite virtue2. This qual ity, which nature had implanted in him, was further recom mended by his clear views of political expediency3. While his stern treatment of the Alexandrians shews that he knew the limit, beyond which mercy becomes weakness and defeats itself by encouraging sedition, even his detractors are forced to sneer at — for they cannot deny — his mildness4. However carefully the edict might be worded, a disestablishment of Christianity must sooner or later lead to blood; and Lac- 1 Lact. mort. n : inquietari orbem Antonini dementiam nostram facile com- terrae. The words are put in Diocle- moult ; and'the Marriage Edict. tian's mouth. 3 Vop. Num. 15, quoted on p. 5 ; 2 Jul. Capit. M. Aurel. 19: saepe did- compare his strictures on Aurelian and tis uosuita et dementia tales esse cupere Maximian, p. 21, and his clemency to qualis fuit Marcus ; Lact. mort. 11 : Aristobulus. hanc moderationem tenere conatus est. 4 Eutr. x.i.Diocletianisuspedampru- Cf. the rescript in the Codex Gregori- dentiam, and Lact. mort. n, quoted anus xiv. 3 : qualitas precum Iulii above. Affectionateness on the Church's Side. 93 tantius paints the historical Diocletian, when he makes the Emperor loathe the prospect \ And in this particular case his distaste for bloodshed — ¦ and (it may be added) the nervous apprehensiveness of dangers which, in the harsh caricature of the Mortes, be comes timidity — were aided by a feeling still deeper and more personal. Diocletian was a man — if not of warm — yet of very strong and true affections. The unbroken love of those with whom he was connected, is as clearly marked in the recorded facts of his life, as in the portrait of him which Vopiscus draws2. He was able to extract from the rugged Maximian, all through their long friendship, a vene ration and loyalty which could only be maintained by some deep power of attachment within himself. Equally lasting, and equally cordial, was his connexion with the grandfather of Vopiscus, — the common comrade of Maximian and him self, and the confidant of his youthful hopes : and when Diocletian had retired to Salona, he kept the son of his old friend beside him, the confidant of his disappointment and regrets 3. His love for the clever and beautiful young son of Constantius was far stronger than the ungrateful youth deserved4. Can it be thought that the affectionate 1 Lact. mort. n : quam perniciosum 3 Vop. Num. 14: auus meus mihi essel fundi sanguinem multorum. retulit ab ipso Diocletiano compertum ;i$: 8 Vop. Num. 13 : amantem suorum. Maximiano conscio atque auo meo, cui His bitter foe Aurelius Victor xxxix. 46 hoc dictum a Dryade ipse retulerat ; and gives this statement the direct lie : Va- ipsum Diocletianum idem auus meus leno parum honesta in amicos fides dixisse dicebat, nullam aliam sibi causam erat, discordiarum sane metu ; dum cet. ; Id. Aurel. 43 : sed ego a patre meo enuntiationibus posse agitari quidem con- audiui Diocletianum principem iam pri- sortii putat. I cannot translate these uatum dixisse. last clauses, but I can confidently con- " Eus. uit. Const. I. xii. 2 and II. tradict them. xix. quoted above. We shall have 94 How then came he to yield? Diocletian was willing, of his own accord, to afflict, however lightly, the faith of those devoted and much-trusted servants, who were to him like children and he their father1? the faith of that beloved daughter, whose subsequent sorrows and ill-treatment brought the broken-hearted Emperor to his death2? We are at length approaching the end of this tedious yet not unnecessary discussion. But on glancing back over this true view of Diocletian's relation to the Christians, the student finds himself face to face with a very pertinent question. He sees that no antiquarian conservatism, no religious intolerance, can have impelled the Augustus to trouble the believers ; while political prudence, natural character, and domestic relations, all drew him in the very opposite direction. And yet Diocletian did become a perse cutor. He did give his consent, though a qualified consent, to the desires of Galerius. How came it to pass at last? What account can be given of the old Emperor's bending to the will of his inferior ? For twenty years he had been — not tolerating merely — but favouring and flattering the Church 3 : — ten years later on, the same policy was resumed occasion hereafter to mention the man- patientia; and 8: hilari semper ut dixi- ner in which Constantine requited his mus uoltu, faced nonnumquam. benefactor. 2 Lact. mort. 41, 42. 1 Eus. vui. i. 3, 4; and. vi. 1.: ttjs 3 Wietersheim V'dlkerwanderung III. avurdru irapa tois Seoirorais -i)^iup,{voi 167 well says, against Vogel's religious Tifirjs, yv-na'iuv re abrdis 8ia8io-ei t4kvuv theory of the persecution : Entscheidend ovXe.nrbp.aioi. Cf. Lact. mort. 15 ; and ist gerade dessen mehr ais achtzehnjdhriges specially S. Theon. ep. c. 2 : mandatum Verhalten gegen die Christen, das keines- principis.. .amore pariter et limore atque wegs dnpassw indifferentes, sondern gera- omni cum iocunditate perficite : nihil est dezu ein begiinstigendes war, wie die Bene- enim quod hominem magnis agitationibus fungvon ChristenzudenoberstenAemtern fatigatum ita recreat deut intimi serui- seines Hofes, und die Nachdcht gegen tori's conueniens iocunditas et benigna seine vom hddnischen Gottesdienste sich 'Twos Age that made the Breach" 95 and consummated in the way that Diocletian, in act if not in word, had suggested. What was it, that caused one of the most consequent and decided of men to suffer so extra ordinary an interruption in his own plans ? To us, the riddle has no perfect and satisfactory solution. We can only point out that Diocletian is not the sole in stance of a strong-minded man, who has been persuaded in old age to act against a lifelong principle1; — that all the arguments of false religion and false policy which modern critics have obtruded upon him, and which Diocletian had often before revolved and silenced in his own mind, were now urged upon him afresh with all the energy of Galerius, and all the learned subtlety of Hierocles; — that in an ill ausschliessende Gemahlin und Tochter beweisen. This has been far too much left out of sight. The persecution was emphatically not what Mr Hunziker thinks, — the crowning point to which Diocletian had been looking forward all his life, — but a sudden revolution and revulsion, the most direct abandonment of all Diocletian's former ways. His long, his positive, his energetic goodwill to the Church— coupled with Constan tine's faithful execution of the same policy — must make it quite apparent that the persecution of Diocletian was in violent contrast with that Emperor's own feelings and designs. 1 In precisely the same way the re generator ofthe modern English Church, John Wesley, one of the most self-willed and imperious of men, suffered himself to be dragged into a virtual recanta tion of one of his strongest principles. Having throughout bis life been a most scrupulous and exact defender of Angli can order, in his eighty-second year he was induced against his better judg ment, by the vain and ambitious Dr Coke, to perform an action which was virtually the foundation of a schism. See his most valuable Life by his own friend and physician, Dr Whitehead, vol. n. pp. 414 — 438. On p. 423 that author writes: "When he began the practice of ordaining to the ministry, his brother, Mr Charles, exclaimed, ' 'Twas age that made the breach, not he.' And if we add to this the influence that others had over him in this affair, it is perhaps the best apology that can be made for his conduct." The mental derangement which has been alleged by some authors, as the explanation of Wesley's conduct, is very far less sup ported by evidence in his case, than in that with which we are now comparing it : consult Mr Urlin's John Wesley's Plafe in Church History, p. 165. 96 Hidden Causes. moment he had taken counsel of that which he mistook. to be the voice of God, and could not but abide the con sequences. Many unknown forces may have combined in this direction. "Though we may suspect, it is not in our power to relate, the secret intrigues of the palace, the private views and resentments, the jealousy of women or eunuchs, and all those trifling but decisive causes which so often in fluence the fate of empires, and the counsels of the wisest monarchs1." But whatever the special arguments may have been which shook the great sovereign's purpose, the story we have related bears upon its face the stamp of truth. It makes a perfect picture ; — the aged statesman's long resist ance to an useless and impolitic measure, slowly and at last yielding to the fanatical importunity of his heir, who must some day have his will. The old man, wearied out, per suades himself, perhaps, that it is better to undertake the obnoxious work himself, than to leave it to be done, after his abdication or decease, by the Evil Beast. Galerius had now been Caesar more than eleven years : — a far longer time than pleased him2: — he felt now (no doubt) that he had a right to have some voice in the direction of affairs of state ; and he had had full time to become somewhat free and familiar with his father-in-law. Not that he now shows him any open mark of disrespect: such an exhibition is reserved for the next time of meeting, when he has learned satisfactorily that he possesses some ascendency over the will of Diocletian. That great man, whose nervous anxious temperament is so coarsely characterised by Lactantius when he speaks of it directly, but so exquisitely portrayed 1 Gibbon, vol. II. p. 466. 2 Lact. mort. 9 : quousque Caesar ? This was six years before. Fear of Galerius. 97 in his record of facts1, began to feel a strange sort of dread — surely no personal fear — as he conversed with this uncanny and uncircumspect barbarian, as though he were face to face with some great unknown danger : it was like the "running that could not be seen of skipping wild beasts." But among the arguments which Galerius and his con spirators used, there was one which had (no doubt) great weight, and which probably was the turning-point of the whole discussion. Burckhardt and Wietersheim" are con- 1 I dare to repeat what I have said before, — that Lactantius' misunderstand ing of his facts is a strong testimony to their authenticity. We understand all these timores in the light of Diocletian's nervous malady, though Lactantius does not connect them with it, and though PfarrerHunzikerdenies the sickness alto gether. I feel it a very weighty ratification of the view which I have put forward, that Niebuhr (History of Rome, vol. v. p. 348, Schmitz) accepts Lactantius' state ment that Diocletian was instigated to the persecution, in his old age, by Ga lerius, and treats it as quite contrary to Diocletian's own character. Dean Mil- man (Hist, of Christianity, vol. II. p. 213) ably describes the position: — "The cautious disposition of Diocletian, his deeper insight, perhaps, into the real nature of the struggle which would take place, and, possibly, the latent and de pressing influence of the malady which may then have been hanging over him, and which, a short time after, brought him to the brink of the grave ; these concurrent motives would induce him to shrink from violent measures ; to recom mend a more temporising policy ; and to M. consent, with difficult reluctance, to the final committal of the imperial authority in a contest in which the complete sub mission of the opposite party could only be expected by those who were alto gether ignorant of its strength." 2 Burckhardt p. 333 foil., Wieters heim vol. III. 163, 481. Both authors base their argument mainly on the negative evidence, that no other suffi cient cause has been adduced, — with which I heartily agree. On the positive side, Burckhardt presses the doubtful inscription of Clunia (see below, p. 217); magnifies the order of Diocletian concerning the Christians in the army (Lact. mort. 10), confusing it with the action of Veturius, and wrenching it away from its context ; and dwells on the risings in the East. The fact that the first edict aims only at degrading the Christians seems to him to point in the same direction; — as showing (I suppose) that the ground of the persecu tion was not simply religious. The strongest point is that the eunuchs of the palace were so terribly tortured . die Kaiser glaubten offenbar einem Com- plot! aitf der Spur zu sein ; and the two 7 98 Pretended Plot. vinced that the entire persecution arose out of the discovery of a definite plot, formed by the brethren against their heathen masters. There is no trace of the actual existence of such a plot ; and of all mad and useless projects it would have been the maddest and most useless. But the hostility of Diocletian's advisers undoubtedly invented the project for them1. It is unknown what form their calumnies and perjuries assumed. Perhaps they asserted that pastorals and circular letters of the Bishops had been intercepted con taining ominous words about the overthrow of Babylon2. Perhaps news had been brought to them, that some power ful general or governor in Melitene or Syria had been paying suspicious compliments to the faith which (in those parts) was the popular faith. The special jealousy of Diocletian's son-in-law may have insinuated, that the young Constantine, who was in a state of dangerous favour with the army, had been seen engaged in deep and secret con versations with the Christian eunuchs. Or Galerius may have worked upon the imagination of the Augustus, by re presenting that, though the lenient Diocletian might be personally safe, his own renowned dislike for the enemies conflagrations. The author also hints at Theonas' epistle, he might have found the conspiracy with Constantine; and some support in it; for I believe the (of all extraordinary things) twists poor passage in the eighth chapter, beginning Bishop Theonas' letter into the same si ad Augustam accesserit princeps, to be design ! It will be observed how these a warning to the Christian eunuchs not suggestions have been utilised more sa- to display too openly their familiarity tisfactorily in the text. Wietersheim, with the Empress who was their sister who is much more moderate, brings in the faith. nothing new to bear upon the point, x It was at any rate brought forward save that from Lact. mort. 15 ad init. he on the occasion of the fire. thinks the Christians had been plowing 2 Inscr. Clun. ; rempublicam eucrte- with Diocletian's heifer. If he had not bant. decided against Burckhardt's use of Diocletian' s own Retrospect. 99 of the gods had marked him out for a special vengeance1. Possibly, even, they may have stung Jovius to the quick by a covert hint that he was falling a prey to the masterly proselytising powers of his major-domo2. Certain it is, that, in the end, the reluctant but enfeebled Emperor gave way, partly overwearied, partly convinced. Many years afterwards the great recluse was reviewing, to the father of Vopiscus, his experiences of government. There was nothing, he said, so difficult as to govern well. " A little cabal of four or five" — such were his words — "are apt to get together, and lay their heads together to deceive their sovereign. They speak what is plausible enough. The Emperor, immured in his own palace, is ignorant of the true state of the case. He knows so much as they are pleased to tell him, and (perforce) no more." Again and again the old man insisted : — "No matter how well disposed, how discriminating, — the best of Emperors is sold5!' There is but one recorded occasion in Diocletian's life, to which this bitter reminiscence can refer. It is the occasion of the persecution4. 1 Lact. mort. 14: contestaus fugere se hoc tantum scire quod illi locuntur : facit ne uiuus arderet. indices quos fieri non oportet: amouet a 2 Theon. ep. 1 : non ergo, mi Luciane, republica quos decebat optinere. quid te iactari aut puto aut uolo, quod multi multa ? ut Diocletianus ipse dicebat, ex palalio per te ad agnitionem ueritatis bonus cautus optimus uenditur imperator. peruenerunt. haec Diocletiani uerba sunt. 3 Vop. Aurel. xliii. 2: sedegoapalre 4 A few more scruples of Mr Hunziker meo audiui Diocletianum principem iam and Dr Bernhardt are, I think, not too priuatum dixisse nihil esse difficilius big to pass the sieve and fall into a foot- quam bene imperare. colligunt se quat- note. tuor uel quinque atque unum consilium (1) "Could Galerius have come to addecipiendum imperatorem capiunt: die- Nicomedia for the whole winter inci- unl, quod probandum sit: imperator, qtd dentally, or unbidden ? To have come domi clausus est, ucra non nouit. cogitur unbidden, is inconceivable, according to IOO Small Scruples. the subordination of Diocletian's Cae sars : incidentally, — a living together of the Augustus and his Caesar for any length of time, without special reasons, would be an isolated case in the reign of Diocletian " (Hunziker p. 157). But perhaps Galerius had been invited for some other business, or had asked leave to come and consult on this very topic : and of course he would stay till it was settled. (2) "Diocletian's relation to his col leagues was of such a kind as to pre clude the possibility of such an influence as Lactantius speaks of" (Bernhardt p. 26; cf. Burckhardt p. 329). To this (as well as to a great deal else which we find brought forward in these discussions) we can but reply that there is too much of what Mr Arnold calls rigour and vigour in these theories of the Herrscheridee, Staatddee, and so on. (3) A much more important question : — ' ' Must not Diocletian have secured the assent of his co-Augustus before beginning the persecution ? " (Hunziker P- 157)- Perhaps Galerius had already secured it, in order to strengthen his case with Diocletian. Or they may have sent and learned his views in the course of their long deliberation. Or they may easily have taken it for granted that he would approve of any proposal that was cruel. Or perhaps Maximian may have spoken wistfully about it on the occasion of the triumph the year before. CHAPTER IV. DIOCLETIAN'S TWO EDICTS OF PERSECUTION. oiiSi tis dvBpuiruv kpyd^erai iv tppecrlv elSiiis es rfXos eiV ayaBiv ylyverai eire KaKbv • iroXXdKi ydp Sok^uv 8r)ireiv KaKov ioBXdv ^BrjKev, Kai re Sokuv Brjo-eiv iaBXov IBriKe KaKov. oxiSi tu dvBpuiruv irapayiyverai Sao-' i&iXrjaiv, to~xei ydp xaX€7rVs irdpar* dfjnjxavtijs ' dvBpuiroi Se p,draia vopigop.ev elSores oiiSiv 6eol Se Kara o-ipirepov irdvra TeXovci vbov. Theognis. BIGOTRY and violence, then, had at last triumphed over statecraft and old age. Diocletian had weighed the dangers of an attack upon us, against those of a quarrel with the Beast, and chose the former. So long as he himself was in power, he could moderate a persecution : but he never could be certain of the issue, if the hot-headed Galerius took a deadly grudge. All that now remained was to fix the day, and to frame the edict. With bitter irony the two princes agreed upon the 23rd of February, the cheerful festival of the god Terminus, — Galerius, designing to indi cate the extermination of our deathless creed, — Diocletian, riddling grimly that the last day of his Golden Age was come. 102 Nicomedia Cathedral destroyed. In the dim dawn of this auspicious day, the Prefect of the Praetorium of the East, the highest subject of the realm, presented himself at the door of the Cathedral Church of Nicomedia, attended by a train of officers military and civile — commandants of the different garrisons around, tri bunes of the various legions, and masters of the exchequer ready to gather into the fiscus whatever treasure might be found1. The portals were not yet open, so they broke them in. Search was made for the effigy of the Deity, partly that it might be publicly destroyed, partly to strip it of its jewels2. But the only objects of veneration to be found were the Bibles and Missals, which the Readers, in their security, had left as usual in the building. These they burnt, and proceeded to loot and ransack the rest of the Church. The two Emperors sat watching the scene from the roof of the palace. It was observed that they were discussing some question with regard to the fate of the proud fane, and found it hard to reach an agreement3. But at length the order went forth for its destruction. The 1 Lact. mort. 1 2 : praefectus cum du- denounced them. Pagans must have cibus et tribunis et rationalibus. Du- known pretty well what the inside of a cange (s. v. dux) : sub Constantino M., Church was like ; indeed it would raise qui orparriyov iv eKdaru tottu rd^iv a curious question how they were to be iirdxe, inquit Zosimus lib. -t. The word kept out. In the course of the century rationalis (KaBoXmos) is the later name they were expressly permitted even to for a procurator. assist at the Mass of the catechumens, 2 Lactantius' words quaeritur dei si- — in company with Jews and persons mulacrum seem intended sarcastically, possessed with devils (Cone. IV. Carth. and Dr Milner, in his pious and amiable can. 84). history, is very indignant with the offi- 3 Lactantius says the question was, cers for thinking to find such a thing. whether it should be burnt, or destroyed And yet there must have been some otherwise. As it was in a quarter such ornaments occasionally, at any rate where there were many other fine build- in the more material West, for only two ings which might catch fire, this can years later the Council of Elvira (305) hardly have been the cause of the debate. The First Edict. 103 Jovian guards were marched, in fighting order, to the spot, with axes and hammers ; and in a few hours had defiled that high dwellingplace, even to the ground1. This was the first act of the persecution. In what an agonised sickening suspense the Christians of the metropolis, and Lactantius among them, must have waited to know what was to follow this unexplained and ominous attack. With what sinking of heart those faithful servants in the palace must have set themselves to do their work, for the glory of God, as Bishop Theonas had bidden them. Was it come to this ? After twenty years of affectionate inter course had their master turned into a Decius ? It was not till the next day (for some cause or another2) that the eluci dation came. The Imperial Edict realised their worst fears. Christianity was no longer a possible religion. I. All Churches were to be instantly levelled with their foundations. II. All copies of the Sacred Books were to be committed to the flames. III. (1) All Christian men who held any official position, were (not only to be stripped of their dignities, but) to be reduced to the condition of those who had no civil rights whatever; — to whom consequently torture (illegal for citi zens) might be applied ; — who might be sued at law, as saulted, plundered, have their wives defiled, without the barest possibility of legal defence or redress. (2) All Christian men who were not state officers, but lived 1 templum illud editissimum paucis they might have time to make their pre- horis solo adaequarunt. cautions, before they became legally 2 Perhaps Diocletian wanted to give liable to punishment. them warning what was in the air, that 104 It gives no Reasons. quietly at home in households of their own, and all who were free servants either in the palace, or in other great houses, were to . lose (not only, like the former class, all their rights as citizens, but) even the innate right of free dom itself, and to submit without a murmur to the dictates of a slave-owner1. Such were the terms in -which Diocletian announced his changed attitude towards the Church. Alas, neither of our historians has preserved to us a copy of the preamble. Are we to suppose that they were so engrossed with the edict's tremendous consequences, as to pay little heed to its alleged antecedents ? Or are we to suppose — for they generally give the edicts in extenso — that Diocletian felt no great concern to display to the world the reasons, which he himself saw to be so little cogent, and preferred to state his conclusions only, in the curtest, most businesslike form2? The question may at least be asked. But whatever the preamble may have resembled, and whose hand soever drew it up, the provisions of the new law can owe their origin to none but the great Emperor. His crafty insight and foresight are perspicuous throughout the whole, as well as his careful moderation. 1 Lact. mort. 13 ; Eus. hist. eccl. vm. Lactantius speaks of the reasons for the ii. 4; and mart. Pal./'./. I banish into persecution in the palace, and Eusebius of my Appendix the dry verification of the the reasons for the imprisonment of the details ofthe edict,— which have puzzled Bishops. Yet even if Diocletian did put everybody from Ruffinus downwards. forth a preamble, it would probably not 2 This is but a guess of my own, yet contain his own view, but the representa- I admit I am incline-d to it. Lactantius tions to which for one cause or another gives us full edicts in chaps. 34 and 48 ; he had been compelled to defer. It tells and Eus. in vm. 17 ; ix. 1, 7, 9, 10; against my guess that all the documents x. 5, etc. It cannot be that they were above referred to are documents of toler- ashamed to state the grounds alleged, for ation, not of persecution. Prohibition of Synaxis. 105 I. The clause which stood first in the edict was both new and old. The principle which dictated it was as old as the days of Pliny. It was a commonplace of such documents to forbid all conventicles. This was so well understood as the first thought in a persecution of the Christians, that Dio nysius of Alexandria tells of a prefect who omitted as su perfluous to order him not to hold meetings, though the edict under which Dionysius was arraigned laid great stress upon the point: the judge desired to strike more at the root, and ordered the Patriarch to cease to be a Christian. He nevertheless took care to banish him to a part of the country where he might have no opportunity of gathering an assembly1. And naturally so. For an assembly of the brethren was not merely a fortuitous rencontre of persons, as spectators of a religious ceremony. The heathens knew that they administered to each other at such times a sacra- mentum, which bound them, man to man, in bonds stronger than of iron. The very name, by which such congregations went, connoted deliberations for the common weal like those which had been held on the Athenian Pnyx. Of small use it would have been to proscribe the faith and yet suffer the excitable Christians to meet together and listen to the fiery declamations of their Bishops. But though this old and obvious thought lay underneath the first clause, as a thing unnecessary to mention, the form 1 apud Eus. hist. eccl. VII. xi. 3, to be the reason of the destruction of ovk dirk p.01 irpor]yovp.ivus- p.r) abvaye- the Churches, not only from the inci- irepiTTOv ydp i)v avrip tovto Kal rb reXev- dental notice in the Acts of St Philip rato** iirl to irpurov dvarpixovn. The (nusquam colligere), but from the express prefect in question was afterwards (for statement of Maximian, in his edict ap. a short time) the Emperor Aemilian. Eus. hist. eccl. ix. x. 8 : ras o-vvbSovs The crushing of the assemblies is seen tuv xpioriavwv i^-Qpr)o6ai, 106 Importance of Church Fabrics. was new. The ecclesiastical buildings had never before been honoured with the notice of an imperial edict. From their increased size and splendour they had acquired a novel im portance. Unless the Christians should be bold enough (as they were at Heraclea, the capital of Thrace) to meet out of doors in the porticoes of their basilicas, they would find no place which would contain such vast multitudes, as had been wont to gather in the Churches. And not only would the conventicles be stopped, or rendered less dangerous. The pride of the great corporation would be humbled by the loss. Such of the heathens as took any interest in the persecution would be gratified by their humiliation. For these sumptuous temples, of which there were more than forty in the city of Rome alone1, were the ever visible proof of the overwhelming power of Christianity. An idolatrous religion knows of nothing but externals2 : and the pagans might almost fancy, when the Churches were pulled down, that the Catholic religion itself was at an end 3. II. But the second main division of the edict was en tirely new. Nothing of the sort had ever before been dreamt of4. Not only were the Christians to have no holy buildings 1 Optat. Milev. ii. p. 59 (Paris 1679): imin's edict in Eus. hist. eccl. IX. x. ir, non enim grex aut populus appellandi that the Churches, and the ground on fuerant pauci, qui, inter quadraginta et which they were built, were (by the quod excurrit basilicas, locum ubi colli- edict) to become the property of the gerent non habebant ! Milman (Hist. Emperor, — were to be confiscated. All Christianity, vol. II. p. 210 note) sup- other Church property had the same poses that this implies a falling off from fate : but apparently the Emperors gave the number in the time of Decius : away a good deal to different towns, and but Optatus only speaks of basilical to private persons, or sold it. The Churches. proceeding in many ways resembles 2 See the magnificent answer of St King Henry's and King Edward's treat- Philip of Heraclea, below, p. 178. ment of the English Church property. 3 We find from comparison of Max- 4 That is to say, in Roman persecu- Crusade against Service Books. 107 for their religious gatherings, but supposing they should contrive, in spite of these precautions, to assemble, it was determined that the assemblies henceforth should lack that which had been hitherto their staple and their core. All sacred writings, of whatever kind, were to be burnt, by diligent search. There would henceforth be no Bibles from which the lessons were read on Sundays, no service-books with which the Priests might celebrate the holy mysteries1. The demolition of the fabrics put an end to the Church's public prominence : if only all the books were destroyed along with the other ministeria of the sanctuary, the Church's public worship, — her public Offices, — would be at a standstill too. Without her public functions, which had dared to bor row their name from the political liturgies of the old Greek constitutions, it might well be thought that the whole life of this extraordinary f actio would cease. This clever thrust was evidently the work of one who had studied the exoteric phenomena of our faith with an intelligent ignorance. Of any distinction between Bible and Prayer-book, such as is familiar with us, he had never heard. Whether the Divine Oracles, the common name in those days for the holy Scrip tures, were to us something after the fashion of pagan oracles or Sibylline books, in what way we consulted them or learnt from them, all this was a mystery to the author of the edict. He had not thought of the use of Holy Writ in the secret life of Christian souls. But he was a keen tions. Canon Robertson points out the clearly implied by the close connexion in resemblance to the persecution under which they appear with the holy vessels Antiochus Epiphanes : see I. Mace. i. in the Passion of St Philip, and also in 56, 57. the Gesta apud Zenophilum appended to 1 That it was chiefly as ministeria St Austin's works against the Donatists, that they were to be delivered up seems or to St Optatus. io8 Possible Philosophical Influence. enough observer to have found that, somehow or other, a literature was mixed up with the Church's life. Doubtless it was the liturgical use of books that had evoked this section of the edict. And yet though the blow was blindly aimed, the powers of hell directed the hand that struck it, knowing well enough where the vitals lay. " Ils dtaient bien guides," says a French evangelical writer, in telling how the soldiers at Nicomedia looked for an idol, and found but the Scriptures, "ils etaient bien guides par l'instinct de la haine : la Parole divine n'etait elle pas le vrai fondement de l'Eglise1 ? " Or was it really an open-eyed attack upon the Christian faith ? Hierocles, who had been a member of the privy council which passed the persecution, knew the Scriptures by heart, like any Christian. He had proved them from internal evidence to be fictions and forgeries, the work of crafty but uneducated deceivers. He had shown that every page was full of the grossest self-contradictions. They were, therefore, utterly opposed to that simple and majestic Truth for which he felt so noble a devotion. Had he urged upon Diocletian, that such monstrous deceptions ought not to be tolerated ? that in spite of their palpable fraudulence and falsehood, they had gained a tremendous power over the hearts of Christians, and were constantly successful in adding new converts to the Church ? Did he plead that it was the duty of princes, of those, especially, who acknow ledged Jove as the bestower of their majesty, to befriend truth and to crush error? Did he venture to recall to Diocletian's mind how, after the reduction of Alexandria, he had made a point of collecting all the books of alchemy 1 M. de Pressense, Histoire des trois premiers sidles, vol. I. p. 288. Contemporary Strictures. 109 (which had become popular in that city) and had consigned them to the fire, in the righteous purpose of delivering the Egyptians from these vain and impious pursuits1? We are bound to take the author of the Philalethes at his word, and believe that he was seriously anxious for the truth. To destroy the writings of opponents, need not necessarily argue a dishonest, or even timorous faith. But, even at that date, there were men who could point out that such methods argue a shortsighted faith. Arnobius speaks with remarkable freedom on the point. After showing that Cicero condemns the common anthropomorphic beliefs as strongly as he does himself, he pursues : " I know that there are not a few who shrink and flee from his books upon theology — who will not for a moment lend their ears to arguments which refute what is prejudiced in their own opinions. I hear others going about with in dignant whispers and saying that there ought to be an act of the senate passed, for the annihilation of these writings which corroborate the Christian religion, and overpower antient authority. No no. If you believe that you have any well seasoned proofs to adduce concerning your gods, convince Cicero of his mistake ; confute him ; rebut him ; show that what he says is inconsiderate and irreverent. For to spirit away a literature, and to wish to suppress the reading of what has been once published, this is not to defend the gods, but to show dread of the investigation of truth2." 1 Gibbon vol. II. p. 137. sed ueritatis testificationem timerc. See 2 Am. iii. 7, Reifferscheid : nam in- also the remarkable passages in iv. 18 tcrcipere scripta et publicum uelle sub- and 36. mergere lectionem, non est deos defendere 1 1 o Desire to encourage Schisms. But the question of truth and falsehood, though it might influence some of the councillors, was not what moved Dio cletian. With him it was entirely a question of politics, not of philosophy or of religion. The destruction of all that out wardly embodied Christianity was the object he had in view, the breaking down of that powerful organisation, which (they told him) was conspiring to overthrow the state. But it is quite possible that one so keen-sighted as he was had, even in the burning of the books, an intention that went further even than the consummation of what was implied in the fall of the buildings. Diocletian doubtless knew that there existed divisions among his Christian subjects. He had read how one of his predecessors upon the throne had been called in to decide in an angry dispute between two con tending parties of them. If a believing servant had been set over the library by this time, it could easily be ima gined that the Emperor might ask him how the difference, which Aurelian settled, had arisen: the servant would tell him that it arose from differing interpretations of the Scriptures. But there is no need of the help of much imagi nation : — we may' be sure that the observant Augustus knew that the Scriptures were the repertories of Christian doctrine. It is perfectly conceivable that he hoped, by destroying this source of doctrine, to break the great society into frac tions, which might be pitted against each other1. At any rate this thought, that the government might profit by the mutual hatred of Christian sects, was familiar to later princes. And if this were Diocletian's design, it was fulfilled, — though in the form of schism, not of heresy. The Word of God 1 This thought was suggested by Burckhardt p. 340. Striking Origin of Clause III. in indeed endured, as it will endure for ever ; but over the very preservation of it in the days of persecution, was stirred the fiercest and bloodiest war between fellow-Christians in all the Church's history, until the time came when Christian men assumed the place of Diocletian, and mas sacred their brethren for refusing to be Traditors. This kind of persecution, which dissolved the confederacy of the Catholics, while it left their lives and persons safe, could hardly be distasteful to the cautious old Emperor. And it was worthy of his genius. It was far the shrewdest thing that had ever yet been done to vex the Church. There are only two things in that century (at any rate) that can be compared with it : — Maximin's forgery of the Acts of Pilate, and (the work of an Emperor who was once a Clergyman) Julian's prohibition of Church schools1. III. And now we come to a really most remarkable and important fact, and one which, though very apparent, has never before been pointed out. When we examine that division of the First Edict of Diocletian, which concerns the persons of the Christians, we find that it is closely modelled upon the edict issued, in the year 258, by the Emperor Valerian. That is to say (the fact is extremely significant) with regard to the civil status of Christianity, the new decree only repealed the happy enactments of Gallienus, and returned to the state of the law which that prince's father had bequeathed to him2. 1 See the eloquent outburst in the the author shows the effect which the midst of Neander's cold clear criticism, persecution and the schism had in vol. I. p. 203. For an example of the making more conscious the difference way in which all things work together between the ' Scriptures of the Law ' for the Church's good, see Dr Westcott's and uncanonical books. Canon p. 407 foil. (ed. 1S75), where 2 I repeat that this, so far as I know, 1 1 2 Epochs in the History of Persecution. In order to appreciate the full meaning of this striking phenomenon, we only need to glance at the three great moments in the history of persecution. Neander has rightly indicated that the first of these is the famous rescript of Trajan to Pliny1. Until that time, it had been tacitly assumed that Christianity was illegal : but Trajan, perhaps without being fully conscious of the fearful significance of his act, made it illegal by an express declaration. His letter was intended to be an act of mercy, for he designed to put a stop to the informal irregular attacks which were so distressing to the Christians, and forbad them to be sought for. But the real effect of his decision was to awaken the consciousness that Christianity was legally a crime : no judge thenceforth could refuse (like Gallio) to hear a case or dare to acquit a person against whom this heinous charge was proved. The credit of indicating the second great moment belongs to one in whom such criticisms are rare, to Tillemont2. Between Trajan's time and Decius' time, that is to say under Marcus, Severus, and Maximinus, the persecutions, however fierce, had only risen out of local causes, and had not proceeded directly from the Emperors, but had merely received their sanction or en couragement. But the persecution of Decius was not a concession to popular clamour, nor was it local. It was instituted by imperial proclamations publicly posted in every town in the empire. The avowed object was the has never been noticed before : every doubtedly a forgery. — Since writing the reader will feel at once its immense above, I find that Baur (Christenthum importance. der drei ersten Jahrhunderte p. 428) has 1 Neander vol. I. p. 137. expressed himself on the persecution of 2 Tillemont vol. vnr. 130. The Edict Decius in almost the same terms as I of Decius, published in 1664, is un- have used. Valerians Edict the great Epoch. 1 1 3 entire and clean eradication of our faith. It was the first unhesitating recognition by old conservative Rome that the Church was her deadliest foe. And the third and greatest moment of all was Valerian's edict. Valerian's edict, the terms of which are preserved to us in the last letter but one of its most distinguished victim, Cyprian, was the first enactment which defined the profes sion of Christianity as a statutable offence by positive penal ties. Till the date of its issue, the persecutions, however horrible, had been desultory and ill defined. Even the tremendous effort of Decius had been but an assault — a spasmodic attempt to kill the Church at a blow. All that could be said of Christianity in TertuUian's time was, Non licet esse uos1. Believers by Trajan's order, if they were stiffnecked, were "to be punished," but at the discretion of the magistrates. Trajan distinctly renounced as hopeless any attempt at universal systematic legislation2. Valerian's decree therefore is (what even Neander fails to notice) the great epoch in the history of Roman persecutions. By Valerian's statute the penalties of Christianity were codified in an elaborate and invariable table. That stern and thoughtful Emperor determined not only to make a strenu ous push on the instant, but to lay down the law for pos terity. His action was prospective, as well as retrospective. Christianity was to be regularly cropped down, wherever and whenever it began to show. All illustrious persons, senators and Roman knights, were to forfeit their rank and even the right of possessing property : that is to say, they 1 Tert. apol. 4. formam habeat, constitui potest : conqui- 2 Plin. ep. X. 98 : neque enim in rendi non sunt : si deferantur et argu- uniuersum aliquid, quod quasi certam antur, puniendi sunt. M. 8 114 Terms of Valerian's Edict. were rendered infames. If after this degradation they per severed in their religion, they were to die. Ladies of the same rank (a more shocking proviso still) were to suffer the same spoliation, and go penniless into exile. Free Caesariani, or members of the imperial household, if they professed the faith, nay, if they had ever done so in former days (so unforgiving was the persecution) lost their freedom, became chattels of the Emperor's private treasury, and were distributed in chained gangs to work on the Emperor's domains1. Now, here we have the third section of Diocletian's First Edict almost word for word. There is the same distinction between dignified personages and private folks. There is the same scale of penalties in the case of each. Either class, both under Valerian and under Diocletian, falls through two grades, illustrious men being deprived not only of rank, but of citizenship, persons of humbler position, not only of citizenship, but of liberty. When, then, this great statesman is at last, with extreme reluctance, compelled to an unwise struggle with the Church, he is resolved at least to follow a legal precedent. He plans 1 S. Cypr. ep. Ixxx, Hartel : quae centur et uincti in Caesarianas posses- autem sunt in uero ita se habent, re- siones descripti mittantur. subiecit etiam scripsisse Valerianum ad senatum (that Valerianus imperator orationi suae ex- is, the curia of Carthage) ut episcopi ct emplum litterarum quas ad praesides presbyteri et diacones in continenti anim- prouinciarum de nobis fecit : quas lit- aduertantur, senatores uero et egregii uiri ter as cotidie speramus tienire : sed et et equites Romani dignitate amissa etiam huic persecutioni cotidie insistunt prae- bonis spolientur et, si ademptis facultatibus feed in urbe, ut d qui dbi oblati fuerint christiani [esse] perseuerauerint, capite animaduertantur et bona eorumfisco uin- quoque muUentur, matronae ademptis dicentur. I quote a little further than is bonis in exilium relegentur, Caesariani necessary in order to show what became autem quicumque uel prius confessi fue- of the property of attainted persons. In rant uel nunc confessi fuerint confis- both cases it passed to the crown. Diocletiaris Action strictly Legal. 1 1 5 no novel mode of warfare. He contents himself with re scinding the decrees which had tolerated Christianity. But mark ; — in making Christianity once more a religio non licita he does not leave the position of the Christians vague and undefined. He takes his stand upon the ground prepared by the good sense and ability of one of his best predeces sors. These inoffensive creatures are not to be exposed to the tender mercies of provincial governors to be done with as they list ; they are to be protected by being treated, as Valerian treated them, on a known and intelligible sys tem. Once more, Diocletian's design is not to punish men for being Christians already. He intends rather to deter men from joining the j "actio in the future, by making mem bership in the factio entail the loss of all the privileges and honours of a citizen. Let it be well observed (for otherwise Diocletian's persecution cannot possibly be under stood) that we have nothing here of the nature of an on slaught. The Churches, with all that pertains to the public meetings, are abolished ; and Churchmanship is made to involve a civil degradation ; and that is positively all. How very peculiar in this respect was the nature of Diocletian's persecution will be further seen from one more observation. There can be no doubt that Diocletian had Valerian's edict before him when he penned his own. But the points in which he followed his model are (as is gene rally the case with great men) less instructive than the points in which he varied. First of all, the husband of Prisca omitted entirely the cruel clause which related to the ladies1. Secondly, the manifest inequality of Vale- 1 In the very touching Acts of SS. which suit this period better than any Nicander and Marcian (Ruinart p. 484), other, the wife of one of the soldiers 8—2 1 1 6 Striking Divergences between Valerian & Diocletian. rian's special proviso against the members of his own household was removed. It had been based on a want of logical principle. If the Church was to be thoroughly dis couraged, the end could not be gained by merely visiting the great men and the Caesarians : the scope of the clause must needs be extended to all that influential middle-class which constituted the bulk of the society. May we not also be allowed to think, that the kind-hearted Emperor was loth to signal out for a grievous punishment the staff of domestic retainers, who had been his familiar and attached attendants ? The plan which Diocletian adopted was both more logical, and less invidious. But a more notable cir cumstance is the new meaning which this comparison of Valerian's law infuses into the words of Lactantius, that Diocletian "attempted to preserve such moderation, as to order no blood to be shed in the transactions". Valerian had particularly ordered the shedding of blood, in case the Christian nobles persisted in their obstinacy. Diocletian saw that for all political purposes the degradation was quite suf ficient. One other passage in the document which lay before the Emperor, was clean cut out in his new edition. It was a passage which we have as yet not mentioned, — though truly a passage of some little interest. It represents to us the whole contrast between Diocletian's original idea of the per secution, and the ideas which other Roman sovereigns had entertained, that he made no allusion whatsoever to that clause in which Valerian had commanded, that every Clergy man who could be caught, — whether Bishop, Priest, or asks whether the orders under which her he has certainly not received any direc- husband is to die, affect her also. The tions of the sort : de mulieribus quidein gentle and kindly Praeses answers that hoc mihi minime est iniunctum. The Patron Saint of England ? 117 Deacon, — should be executed at a moment's notice, on the spot : in continenti animaduertantur. Such then, was the mild first edict issued under Diocletian against the faith. Amidst all the panic and consternation of the Church of Nicomedia, there was at least one spirit undaunted. A certain gentleman of that city — according to the story that Eusebius knew, one who had held some of the most distinguished offices of state1 — with a faulty but pardonable indignation, strode to the place where the proclamation was exhibited, tore the placard from the wall, and rent it in pieces. The Nicomedians had not forgotten the lofty announcements that had been made but lately at the time of the triumph. " Look here ", cried the Christian with bitter laughter : " more triumphs over the Goths and the Sarmatians ! " He was immediately arrested. He had deserved his fate, and he bore it bravely. He was burnt, or fairly roasted, says Lactantius, for defiant high treason 2. But this edict was not nearly strong enough to content Galerius. The thirst of his fanatical zeal was not to be slaked by the blood of a few casual victims, who, like this spirited gentleman at Nicomedia, happened to add treason to Christianity. He longed for the reinforcement of Vale rian's law complete, with its wholesale destruction. This 1 Eus. hist. eccl. VIII. v. I. If this by censuring the deed, though, as an were the case he would hardly be eyewitness, he might reasonably have anonymous : — as he really is, for though been carried away by his enthusiasm. most of the old martyrologies call him Eusebius' admiration knows no bounds, John, there is a very grave doubt whe- and gives Gibbon (vol. ii. p. 470) a ther this gentleman of Nicomedia was hold which he uses not sparingly. It not St George, our own patron Saint. will be observed that St George — or 2 Lact. mort. 13: legitime coetus. Lac- John — did not die as a martyr of the tantius proves his superior good sense persecution. 1 1 8 An unlucky Fire breaks out. expurgated, emasculated edition of it gave no encourage ment to the detection and spying out of Christians. Gale rius did not see the good of burning the Bibles : he wanted to burn the men. And as luck would have It, a circumstance took place which stirred Diocletian also to severer measures. While he was incessantly pestering the old man, to induce him to take further steps, suddenly part of the palace, which was vast enough to accommodate two whole courts, was found to be in flames. The origin of the fire was a mystery at the time, and we may suppose will ever be so. Con stantine, who was himself living with Diocletian when it occurred, describes the fire long years after as a divine judgment, and caused by lightning1. Lactantius, without the slightest hesitation, asserts that it was a neatly calculated plan of the Caesar's making : and It must be owned that his case is a good one 2. But of course the whole weight of suspicion now fell upon the Christians. The palace was full of them ; and they might now at any moment be 1 Orat. ad sanct. coet. xxv. 2 : XaXei in the story of the thunderstorm. Tlie NiK0/«5S«a, oi5 ffiuirutri Si Kal ol lo-ropr]- speaker's object is to show that this fire aavres, &v Kal abrSs uv rvyxdvu; iSr)- was a 'judgment' for the poor old ovto pivroi rd patrLXeia Kal b oTkos abrov Emperor's wickedness : even if he had iirivep.op.ivov OK-qTrrov vep-opiv-qs re obpa- known that it was the doing of Gale- vlas 0X0765. Eusebius himself says he rius, he would not have said so, as it does not know how it arose, hist. eccl. would not have suited his immediate VIII. vi. 6 : owe 618' Sir us iv tois Kard purpose. tt]v T$iKop.r)5tiav §ao-iKdois irvpnaids iv I. The case against the Christians airrais 8i] rais i]p.ipais dtpddo-qs r)v KaB' stands thus : inrbvoiav \pevSrj irpds tuv i)p,iTipuv iirixei- (1) They were in a state of great pro- pijBijvai Xbyov SiaSoBhros. vocation. 2 Lact. mort. 14. The question lies (2) The two excuses, so confidently really, I think, between Galerius and given, by Lactantius and Constantine the Christians— unless it was a simple (though the latter is, on the face of it, a accident : for Constantine's account is make-up) undermine each other. so embellished that I entirely disbelieve (3) It was the common report of the Who set it alight f 119 made to exchange the refinements of a sumptuous court for the quarries of Sirmium, or the mines of Thebais. They might well be exasperated. They might well think this an excellent opportunity for a demonstration : — it was not often that two Emperors could be burned in the same house. Those who accused the Christians did not stop to consider how contrary to all Christian principle was the idea of saving their freedom (for their lives were not in question), by causing the deaths, not only of the two princes, but of a vast and unoffending household. Galerius, who perhaps knew better than any man their innocence, time, and had reached even to Caesarea. But it may be answered (1) that the Christians were unlikely, both from their principles and theirworld- ly prudence, to do such a thing ; although Mr Hunziker, the Protestant Minister at Unterstrass, delights to depict the Catho lics of Nicomedia as both Jesuits, who thoughtmurder legitimate foragood end, and fools, who thought that Diocletian would be frightened and take the fire as an omen of displeasure from the gods ; (2) that Constantine's testimony is not of a character to invalidate that of Lactantius ; and, granted (for argument's sake) that Lactantius' account is but a guess, may he not, with his fine histori cal sense, have guessed right ? (3) that it was the only natural thing that the Christians should be suspected. We can hardly use the ingenious argu ment of Dean Milman, that if the fire had been kindled by a Christian, he would probably have been a fanatic who would have openly gloried in his deed (see Hist. Chr. vol. iv. p. 220), because we have no proof that he did not do so. II. The arguments against Galerius would be these. (1) Even Mr Hunziker allows that it is quite in keeping with the very con sistent character of the Caesar portrayed in the Mortes. (2) The fortnight's inaction against the Christians clearly shows that nothing was proved (at any rate to Diocletian's satisfaction) that incriminated them, although everybody in the household was tortured. (3) None of Galerius' retainers were put to the test — this is (I think) quite probably true, for the two reasons given in the text. (4) Galerius' sudden departure is dou bly suspicious : he desired thereby both to frighten Diocletian, and to avoid the risk of discovery. There is one other solution which is ex tremely probable, I think, namely, that the first fire was a natural accident, and suggested to Galerius (or possibly to the Christians) the desirableness of an arti ficial one. C20 Galerius accuses the Christians. was of course loudest in his accusations. He had been assuring Diocletian all the winter that a plot was hatching among his favourite Christians. What further need of proof had he ? The Christians had torn down the edict, expressly stating that they stood to the Roman empire in the same relation as the Sarmatians and Goths : and now they had set fire to his house. But the wise Diocletian did not let himself be hurried into destroying his favourite old servants on a mere suspicion. The whole of Diocletian's immense familia, whether they were Christians or not (a fact to be noticed), were subjected to torture to see if the cause of the fire could be ascertained. The number of the defendants was so great, that all the magistrates in the place were called in, and special commissions issued, so as to get the work done as speedily as possible. Diocletian himself safc constantly. Galerius sat as constantly at his side, and plied him with passionate eagerness. Nothing of great consequence was found out. Galerius never offered to put his own household to the test. As the fire most probably broke out in the part of the palace inhabited by the chief Emperor, the omission went unsuspected, especially as we may be sure there were none of our brethren in Galerius' quarter. The evidence against the Christians was so little satisfactory, that in spite of Galerius' zeal Diocletian would take no further proceedings against them \ A fortnight passed by, and things seemed settling down, when a second conflagration was discovered, — happily in time to prevent much mischief. But it was enough for Galerius' 1 I use with (I feel confident) abetter die ganze Untersuchung kdne Aenderung context Pfarrer Huaziker's decision (p. der Ansicht... nach dch zog. 172) dass alle gerichtilcken Verhdre, dass The Second Fire convinces Diocletian. 121 purpose1. A terrific explosion occurred. Midwinter as it was, Galerius gathered his household together, took leave of his father-in-law, protesting with curses that (however Dio cletian might feel) he was afraid of being burned alive by these Christians, and started, like a hurricane, for his Danu- bian province. Diocletian trembled for the unity of the empire, and forced himself to make one more concession to the will of his formidable heir. Emperor as he was, he was weak that day : these sons of Zeruiah were too hard for him 2. Yet it is impossible to doubt that Diocletian was now thoroughly convinced of the guilt of the Christians, and that the next step in the persecution was not so entirely a con cession to Galerius as the first had been. Where arguments had failed to persuade, accident or ruse met with a perfect success. Diocletian seems to have set himself to the investi gation of the causes of the second fire with a determined prejudice. He was fully bent upon wringing the secret out of his Christian servants. This second time it Would appear that none of the heathen domestics were put to the test. So powerfully was the Emperor's mind impressed with a belief in a Christian conspiracy that, in the first paroxysm of his nervous agitation, his suspicions fell upon those who were most dear to him. The Brethren (as they called themselves) always had a secret understanding, a sort of freemasonry, with one another. If there was any thing toward, the Empress herself (sickening thought !) was bound by her religion to take part in it, hating even 1 Mr Hunziker mentions the second our theories to make us so dainty about fire only in a little footnote on p. 169, plain facts. and dismisses it as a very dubious oc- 2 II. Sam. iii. 39. The histories pre- currence: but we ought hardly to allow sent a real parallel, and an instructive one. 122 The Empresses abjure the Cross. house and husband for the kingdom's sake. And besides, there was that poor barren woman, the wife whom Galerius loved so little, living apart from her husband in the great house which Diocletian had built for her at Nicomedia. What wonder if she should wish to be delivered from the spouse, who disliked her, and hated her creed beyond all bounds ? Who could tell what secret meetings and dire sacramenta had been held in the dreary grandeur of that palace ? And so Diocletian began his work of putting down the Christian plot with his daughter Valeria, and his wife Prisca. These unfortunate ladies, unused as yet to pain or hardship, might perhaps have been martyrs, but not proto- martyrs. They suddenly found themselves suspected of the most hideous and unnatural plot, on the ground of their adopted religion. In their terror they either renounced their faith, or disclaimed their inclinations, and (though with reluctance) sacrificed1. Those potent chamberlains, who had been the prop of the palace, — Dorotheus, Gorgonius, and others2 — were the next in that sad precedency. They proved more staunch. They had been faithful all their lives: if now they would only touch the sacrifice, or swear by the gods, it would still be possible to believe them innocent : but they refused. Diocletian became angry at their refusal. An Empress and 1 Lact. mort. 15 : etprimam omnium bat. It would seem as if Lucian was filiam Valeriam coniugemque Priscam dead before this time, both from the sacrifido pollui coegit. The 45th Canon fact that he is unmentioned in Eusebius, of the Council of Illiberis, two years and also because Dorotheus seems, by later, does not withhold from catechu- the notices of him, to be in the office mens the august title of ' Christians.' which Lucian held, of praepositus cubi- 2 Eus. hist. eccl. vin. vi., Lact. mort. culariorum (robs dp,tjii toV AupoOeov /3a- 1 5 : potentissimi quondam eunuchi ne- oiXiKobs TaiSas, Eus. 1. c. ; and VIII. cati, per quos palatium et ipse ante consta- i. 4). The Chamberlains are executed. 123 her daughter had yielded ; who were these that they should disobey ? They were now, since the First Edict, his slaves. Yield they must. Confess the secret they should. A page named Peter was taken and scourged, naked, in the market-place ; but it was of no avail. They rubbed salt and vinegar into his torn and numbed wounds, to restore the circulation and the pain, and enable him to confess : but the young eunuch was true to his name, and stood as firm as a rock 1. A fire was then brought, and a gridiron ; and what was left of his much-mutilated frame was applied piecemeal to the burning. At last he succumbed, — his body, not his spirit, — and passed away victoriously. Diocletian seems by this time to have had enough and too much of such atrocities. Dorotheus and Gorgonius, and several others, were strangled quietly2. And so the palace was purified from all that was best within it, and Diocletian was confirmed in the belief that he was checking the beginning of a rebellion 3. 1 Eus. hist. eccl. VII. vi. 4 : toiovtov edict was for refusal to abandon the tuv pao-ikiKuv evbs to paprbpiov iratSuv, books. Their death was entirely a pri- af«w dis ivrus ttjs irpoo-nyopias • Ylirpos vate matter. Peter died actually under ydp iKaXeiTo. torture ; he was not executed at all. 2 Eusebius tells us the poor creatures And the tortures were not applied to suffered as dreadfully before they died, him as a punishment for his Christianity, as Peter did : but he is in profound ig- but in the investigation of the causes of norance with regard to the sequence of the second fire. The others were put events at Nicomedia, and his account is to death because their positive refusal entirely rhetorical. to sacrifice was construed into an ac- 3 It is very necessary to observe that knowledgment of guilt : it is even pos- these heroes were not, properly speak- sible that some, in their agonies, may ing, martyrs of the persecution at all. have confessed the crime, whether They certainly did not die under the guilty or not guilty. Torture had be- terms of the bloodless First Edict,— ac- come legal for them, since by the First cording to which the worst that befell Edict they had fallen into the position them was slavery : the only way in of slaves. Eusebius joins the martyr- which men could possibly die under that dom of Bishop Anthimus of Nicomedia 124 Rising of Eugenius at Antioch. There were other circumstances which led him also to the same conclusion. It was quite certain that the East was in an uneasy state: This had been one of the weightiest pleas which the fierce Caesar and his partisans had urged all through the winter. And now there came the undoubted news that some one had made an attempt in Syria to raise himself to the height ofthe throne1. In all probability the rising was of no greater conse quence than this : — There were five hundred soldiers, — who may or may not have been Christian men, — engaged in dredging the entrance to the harbour of Seleucia, the port of Antioch. These men grew tired of their hard work, just as the soldiers of Probus had grown tired of planting vine yards in Pannonia ; and, following their precedent, threatened the life of Eugenius their captain. However, they left him one hope of escape : he was to be saved on condition of his establishing himself as an independent sovereign. It so happened that there was no garrison then in the immense and powerful city of Antioch ; and- Eugenius believed that he was popular there. Accordingly, he suffered himself to be taken thither by his little band of drunken desperadoes, robed in a purple mantle that had been borrowed for the occasion from the temple of some god, and entering the town towards evening, settled himself in the imperial palace. No sooner, however, was he observed, than the good citizens of Antioch rose en foule, — women and men alike, — and with such weapons as are used to repel the unexpected intru- very closely with these occurrences, but els p.aKpov Si iripuv Kard rr\v MeXiTivrjv it is evidently a mistake, arising from ovtu KaXovfiivrjv xd>pav, Kal aS irdXtv his desire to mention the martyrdom dXXuv dp,ipl tijv "Zvplav iiri(pvr)vai rr) and not knowing where else to place it. paoiXdq. ireireipap.ivuv. He mentions 1 Eus. hist. eccl. vm. vi. i . ovk the Second Edict as the consequence. Diocletian s Dread of Christian Connivance. 125 sions of a burglar, easily overmastered the poor besotted knaves. Before midnight was come, there was not a man of them — except a few who had run away — that was not either dead or a prisoner. And so ended the reign of Eugenius1. Such is the account given some eighty or ninety years afterwards by the orator Libanius to Theodosius. But Diocletian appears not to have treated the matter with the same levity. All the chief officers of Antioch, and of her port, were put to death, it is said, without any trial, and without being heard in their own defence. The fact that two near ancestors of that pagan orator were among the delinquents who were punished, is indeed a reason for acquitting the Church of Antioch of all complicity ; but at the same time it gives cause to think that Libanius has much understated the importance of the revolt : and the very severe visitation -which fell upon the city shews that in Diocletian's opinion, the East was in a most inflammable state, and needed the letting of a little blood to cool it. And in a country where the Christians were so many, there was every fear lest, disaffected as they must now be2, they 1 This account is only abridged from particular time, except as giving some that which is given by Tillemont, Em- support to the statement of Eusebius, pereurs vol. ix. pp. 73, 74 : I have not for there is no date, or hint of a date, consulted the original. The references in the works of Libanius. The con- to Libanius (ed. Reiske) are given by nexion of the passages is first due to the Burckhardt as p. 323 foil., pp. 644, 660 researches of Valesius. foil. This author adds that the Antio- 2 We do not know for certain how chenes showed themselves weak ; and long a time elapsed between the publi- it is he who first indicates that the cation of the First Edict and the fire, punishment of the pagan family of Liba- or between the second fire and the Se- nius is against the theory of a Christian cond Edict: the Second Edict may conspiracy. There is in fact no reason, come anywhere between February and for even ascribing the little affair to this November, 303. 126 Steps taken on the Armenian Frontier would cast in their lot with the first insurrection that took place. And Syria was not the only part of the empire which seemed likely to be embroiled in this manner. It is said that at the very same time, a claimant had arisen in that borderland of Cappadocia and Armenia, which went by the name of Melitene. No mention has yet been discovered of any rebellion in that quarter, which can be made to serve the elucidation of this history as conveniently as the rebellion of Eugenius does. The fact however, though ob scure, is quite indubitable. And here, there is far more reason for suspecting a connexion with Christianity, than in the case of the mutiny at Antioch. The statement in Eusebius, that a rebellion was attempted in Melitene, is confirmed by comparison with a writer, who would be of no weight by himself, but in conjunction with a better authority, becomes of very great importance. Simeon the Metaphrast assures us that word was brought to Diocletian and Maxi mian — by which name Galerius must be understood — that the whole of Greater Armenia and Cappadocia was up against them, and that the inhabitants with one consent were waiting the signal for revolt, because of their unalter able attachment to the faith of Christ : — that Diocletian was so perturbed by the news, that after consulting with Gale rius for a considerable time, having in the end called a council of his greatest nobles, and sat with them three successive days from dawn to dusk, he at last determined to recall the officers who commanded in those two districts, as incompetent to deal with the crisis, and sent out in stead two able and upright Greeks, — one of whom, named Lysias, he put in command of the frontier garrisons,— according to Simeon Metaphrastes. 127 while to the other, Agricola, were committed absolute powers over the whole civil administration of that region, and both the limitanei of Lysias and the soldiers in the more inland cities were placed at his disposal \ The following story gives to an attentive reader some notion of the extent to which Christianity was thought to be inculpated in these seditions. Lysias had received in junctions to make a conscription of all proper men in Cappadocia, — doubtless with a view to meeting the emer gency which was expected. Among others who were put down upon his list was a man called Hiero, in the prime of life, who had a farm near Tyana. The soldiers who were sent to fetch this man, found him working on his property, with his labourers about him. When Hiero saw them coming, he knew what their business was; and feeling by no means 1 Sim. Metaphr. martyrium S. Hie- hand, but follow the best authorities in ronis (in Surius, Nov. 7) c. 1.: cum essel placing him early in the tenth century. eis nuntiatum, quod omnis Armeniorum His learning was as great as his piety regio et Cappadocum facit contra impro- and his credulity, so that it is just possi- bum eorum decretum et redstil eorum Me that the introductions to these two iussis, postquam satis longo tempore con- martyrdoms may have been elaborately sultarunt : and in the martyrdom of St concocted out of Eusebius' hint and Eustratius (Surius Dec. 13) c. 2: quod Lactantius' account of the deliberations tota magna Armenia et Cappadocia il- which preceded the persecution. But it lorum edicto repugnarent et iam unani- is far more likely that the information mes spectarent omnes ad defedionem, im- was derived from a more direct inde- mutabilem habentes animum in Domi- pendent source, which is now either lost num. . .propter haec fuit conturbatus Cae- or latent in some Armenian monastery. sar Diodetianus, et cum omnes suos ac- We should never believe this author, cerduisset proceres et tribus diebus a mane unless (as Gibbon says in a parallel case) usque ad uesperam cum eis consultasset our assent were extorted from us by the cet. The author of these documents is inherent probability of the facts re- one of the most perplexing problems in corded : but here, at any rate in the first the historyofliterature (see Glass's article document mentioned, all the narration in Herzog's Real-Encyclopddie). I can- seems ofthe most trustworthy character not pretend to settle his date out of possible. 128 A curious Incident in Melitene. inclined to leave his farm and go to serve — possibly against friends of his own who were thinking of insurrection — he detached the handle of the pickaxe which he was using from the blade, and laid it lustily about the intruders' ears and shoulders. Having thus gained a momentary advantage, he, and eighteen men who were with him, betook themselves to a cave hard by, and prepared for a siege. The attempt, however, was so hopeless that Cyriac, the brother of Hiero, had little difficulty in persuading him to surrender before he compromised himself further in the eyes ofthe law; and Hiero, with some of his kinsmen, took leave of his blind old mother, and set out obediently for the town of Melitene. So far we have not so much as heard that he was a Christian; but as soon as he reached the headquarters of Lysias, he suddenly found himself in prison along with one and thirty other men who were all Christians. These persons seem all to have been guilty of much the same crimes as himself. With these brethren he made a compact that none of them would sacrifice, if they were required to do so; but the next day when he was brought up before Lysias, that officer required nothing of the sort; but only asked whether he was the fellow that had wounded the recruiting sergeant's men. Hiero confessed his deed. The commandant, wishing to make an example of these sturdy malcontents, ordered his hand to be cut off at the wrist1. The others were well lashed with 1 In the curious will, by which Hiero house at Bardesane, in which to lay the disposed of his property, he left the hand up. It adds greatly to the his- amputated hand to his mother, on the torical worth of the story, that the understanding that she should write to affecting scene where the old blind the Magnificentissimus Rusticius, who woman receives her martyred son's was Curator Rd Publicae in the impor- hand is not spoiled by her recovering tant city of Ancyra, and ask him for a her sight. The communication with Christianity a Synonym for Conspiracy. 1 2 9 the cat; and they were all thrust again into their jail. One of Hiero's kinsmen, who had come with him from Tyana, contrived to get out by bribing the commentariensis or warder, but the others either would not or could not escape. Four days later, all these prisoners were brought again before Lysias. Though the indictment against them was one of contumacy and treasonable conduct, not of Christianity, the two things are now treated as synonymous. The rebels were .not asked whether they were Christians: it was assumed that they were so, from the fact of their being rebellious. They were ordered to disarm the suspi cion of a conspiracy by sacrificing. This they refused to do, and were accordingly beheaded for conspiracy. An incident like this adds greatly to our understanding of the state of affairs which elicited Diocletian's Second Edict1. We see that even early in the winter there were the dignitary in Galatia certainly allows lum cum ipso pariter conuenticulo con- a suspicion of some previous communi- cremauit. cations between them, which may have II. Eus. hist. eccl. VIII. xi. i : rfi-r\ been semi-political : and another person -youi* oK-nv xpiariavuv irbXiv aSravSpov of high rank, a. Senatorius called Chry- dpqil rijv Qpvylav iv KbKXu irepifiaXovTes saphius, purchases the martyr's head of birXirai, irvp re iupdfavres KariipXe^av the avaricious judge. There are very avrobs apa vrprims Kal yvvai£i, tov suspicious secret messages also in the Xpitrrdv iiri^oupivovs • on Si] iravSiop,d martyrdom of St Eustratius, which con- irdvres ol ttjv ttoXiv olKOvvres, Xoyio-Tt)s re cern not only the laity but the clergy avrbs Kal arpaT-qyos avv tois iv riXei also. 7raVi Kal oXip S-qpip, Xpianavobs o-tpds 1 I have no ' hesitation in referring opoXoyovvres, ovS' oiruonovv tois irpoo- to this same period the episode, which rdrrovo-iv elSuXoXarpdv iireiBdpxovv. has caused a good deal of discussion, of Whatever the ddails ,of the transac- the town in Phrygia which is said to tion were, there can be no doubt, from have been destroyed. The authorities the concurrence of two such different are: authorities, that there was such a town I. Lact. inst. div. v. ii: aliqui ad so destroyed. It will be seen in the occidendum praecipites extiteruni, sicut last note that the chief magistrate of the unus in Phrygia, qui uniuersum popu- capital of Galatia was a Christian ; M. 9 130 Dangerous Nearness of Christian Armenia. troubles in Melitene. As the population consisted of Chris tians almost to a man, any disturbances that took place there, even if the occasion was something quite secular, were sure to be caused by Christians. Galerius would greedily seize upon the fact. Though there was probably no organised conspiracy before Agricola and Lysias were sent out, it is most likely that the arrival of the new governors, with their suspicious vigilance, and bearing the First Edict in their hands, caused a real explosion. The Christians saw how strong they were, at least numerically, upon the spot ; and knowing that the Church was spread even beyond the Pillars of Hercules, they might be excused for miscalcu lating the support they were likely to receive. And more than this. The neighbouring kingdom of Armenia, under the influence of St Gregory the Illuminator, had just ac cepted Christianity as its established religion. Tiridates the King, who had formerly been an officer in the Roman army, and had greatly distinguished himself in the war with Persia, by which Galerius had set him upon the throne of his fathers, was either already baptized, or very soon to be there is no reason why the rationalis Church building but the whole town and the dux— civil and military autho- and populace were consumed. Gibbon rities-of a town over the border of points out that Ruffinus adds: etiam Phrygia should not have been so too, cum optio uolentibus daretur : but good and it would go hard but, between Dr Milner in loco shews sensibly enough them, they could incite the whole that they were permitted to retire on Christian population and garrison to condition of sacrificing. This perfectly resist the First Edict. Lactantius does tallies with Eusebius' statement that not say (as Gibbon II. 476 affirms) that they were burned just because (on Sii) the people were burnt in the Church, they were Christians :- it is but another and that that was the total extent of the case of Christianity being considered conflagration : his meaning undoubtedly synonymous with wilful rebellion during is, that the severity of the First Edict these troubles in the East. was overpassed, and that not only the Inflammability of the East. 1 3 1 baptized. His sister, Chosrouduchta, had been for many years a professed Virgin of the Church. A Christian adven turer might easily entertain hopes of friendly countenance from the King who was his brother Christian, against the persecutors of their common faith. And so the tale was told to Diocletian at Nicomedia that the East, which he had long known to be in a ferment, had broken out. The thoughtful old Emperor did not lay all the blame at the doors of the Church, as is shewn by his punishment of the Gentile magistrates of Antioch. But he was convinced that his own chamberlains had turned against him since the promulgation of the edict against Christianity. It was at least a curious coincidence that these tumults had gathered head just at the moment when that edict became known in the Christian East1. So much for the wisdom of persecution ! This was all that came of making Christianity illegal ! It had just called into array the discontents, which it had been intended to cow. And Diocletian had known all along that this would be the result. Yet there was no time to spend in useless regrets. Decided measures must be taken. Unless the mutinous spirit were promptly quelled, it would spread like wildfire over the whole world. The fanatics of Syria and Palestine would be ablaze in a moment. The turbulent Alexandria would forget the lessons it had cost so much to teach her. In 1 Mr Hunziker (p. 174) is, I find, unbestimmten Geriichten weit vorzuzie- within an ace of being right here : his hende Quelle durchaus den Eindruck, only mistake lies in believing that there dass wir es hier allerdings mit den christ- were no troubles in Melitene till the lichen Kreisen zu thun haben, dass aber arrival of the First Edict. He says : diese Unruhen nicht zu dnem bestimmt Fiir die Unruhen in Melitene wenigstens im Auge gehaltenen Zweck erregt, sondei'n gibt die dlteste einhdmische und darum die natiirliche Folge des ersten Edicts demferne stehenden Eusebius mit seinen waren. Q— 2 132 One Step onwards. Africa, all Maximian's work would be undone, for the wild Moors of Barbary were ready to seize the first occasion of revolt. Perhaps the Bagaudae, who were already sus pected of Christian leanings, would take up arms again in Gaul ; and while the troops were drawn away to suppress them, certainly the girdle of forts along the Rhine and Danube would be too weak to keep the hordes of Teutons back. It was not as if the Christians were like a local nation, upon whom an Emperor could set his heel at once and crush them : they ran through all peoples, nations and languages, like the veins through a' man's body; and they had an old saying, that if one member suffer, all the members suffer with it. And the worst feature of all was, that the rebellion had begun in the East, where it was quite certain — if it were allowed time — to attract the notice and support of the chafing Shah of Persia. Alas, Diocletian had begun the persecution with a hope that he would not be obliged to make any personal attacks. He had passed what was really neither more nor less than a Tests Act, to exclude persons who openly professed a certain cultus, and were members of a certain confraternity, from certain rights of burghership. There was nothing in the First Edict to constitute a persecution. No attempt would be made to enforce its action so far as the persons were concerned, except where some special conduct should demand it. But Diocletian found that its consequences led to a full-grown persecution. It was too late to revoke the First Edict. There was nothing to be done but to go forward into the fray. And yet even the next step was as moderate as it was judicious and bold. That most momentous step which he next took was Incarceration of the entire Clergy. 133 the issue of an order founded on that chapter of the great statute of Valerian which he had at first omitted: but in the re-enactment it was subject still to the one unalterable saving clause which Diocletian had resolved upon from the beginning. No blood was to be shed in the transaction : but the Clergy were the object of the decree. Valerian had ordered that all Bishops, Priests and Deacons, should be executed on the spot where they were taken : Diocletian's Second Edict went forth, enjoining that all over the world the officers of the Church — from Marcelline of Rome and Cyril of Antioch, to the simplest Readers who crouched under their thrones — were to be immediately seized and cast into prison1. They were not even to be allowed the option of recantation. Apparently not a word was said about proposing to them the test of sacrifice. If they were Clergymen, that was enough : they were to be kept in durance, at the good pleasure of the sovereign, as hostages 1 Eus. hist. eccl. viii. ii. 5: Kai rj batione ad confessionem. damnati cum piv irpuTT) KaB' r)puv ypatpl) Toiavr-q ns omnibus suis deducebantur. Lactantius i)v • per' ov iroXti Si iripuv iiriipoiT-n- does not indeed speak directly of any advTuv ypappdruv irpoaerdTTero robs special document containing this order, tuv iKKX-qoiuv irpoiSpovs iravras tovs but he evidently has it in mind : the Kara irdvra rbirov irpura piv Seapdis fifteenth chapter gives a rapid survey of irapaSlSoo-ffai k. t. X. The same words the whole course of the persecution at are repeated with one unimportant va- Nicomedia, from 303 to 311, without riation in mart. Pal. i. t. In hist. eccl. any dates being introduced to break up vm. vi. 8, as the consequence of the the unity of the persecution. The words seditions in Syria and Melitene, it is sine ulla probatione certainly confirm stated that robs iravraxbo-e tuv iiacXritnuv what we gather independently from Eu- irpoeoruTas elpKrais Kal Setrpois ivdpai sebius and the Acts of the Martyrs, that irpoo-Taypa itjioira flaaiXiKov. The sequel the opportunity of sacrificing was not shows that a very liberal construction offered yet ; and the words ad confes- must be put on the word irpoeo-Turas. sionem shew incidentally that martyr- So too Lact. mort. 15: comprehensi dom was not at all intended. presbytcri ac ministri, ct sine ulla pro- 134 Diocletian's wise Policy for the quietness of the Catholic Church. Thus everything stood as it did before the reign of Gallienus: and except that no bloodwas to be shed, the desires of Galerius were fulfilled. Diocletian's marked anxiety to prevent bloodshed must not be set down to any great warmth of sympathy with the Christians, or any special softness of heart. He was out of temper with the Christians; and though he was not naturally a cruel man at all, — far from it,— yet neither was he a sentimental man. Several occasions have been spoken of already in this work, on which the soldier who hewed Aper down did not scruple to use the sword when policy recommended its use. His firm resolution not to use it against the Christians, was the result of careful study of former persecutions. He thought he saw where Decius and Valerian had failed. With regard, indeed, to the special case of these Clergymen, it would have completely defeated his purpose to put them to death. What he wanted was to check any attempt at a general Christian rebellion by holding a terror over their leaders. If he should destroy the Bishops, he would not only be committing a great outrage upon many innocent persons ; he would be committing a still grosser blunder of diplomacy : — he would lose his hostages. But not the special case alone called for a different mode of handling. That coarse plan of slaughtering Christians right and left was proved by experiment to be unsuccessful altogether. Lactantius well touches this point, when he puts into the mouth of the Emperor the words : " As a rule, they are only too happy to die1." Diocletian 1 Lact. mort. 1 1 : illas libenter mori solere. in not beheading them. 135 did not exactly wish to deny the Christians a pleasure, but he knew well enough that one martyr makes more, — that there would be endless trouble given by the honours which the Christians would lavish on the remains and graves of the dead1, and that the sight of life-blood would rouse the fanaticisms, equally deplorable, both of Pagans and of Christians, and so make the return to the ways of peace more hopeless than ever. Even before the Second Edict was issued, Diocletian had witnessed with his own eyes one case in point, which must have had a peculiarly revolting effect upon his affectionate nature. The bodies of his own poor eunuchs, who had been killed on suspicion of the arson, had been buried with reverence and care, as became men who had been faithful till (as Diocletian supposed) the last days of their life. But the brethren had found where they were laid. Such wild exciting scenes had taken place over their tombs, — such prosternations and nightly watches, — that, for the sake of public peace and decorum, the Emperor had been forced to have the poor creatures' bones dug up again and thrown into the bay2. This was the inevitable result of killing Christian men. On the other hand, the votaries 1 A good description of these enthu- paulisper hue illabere siastic meetings may be found inciden- Christi fauorem deferens. tally in the splendid invocation of St 2 Eus. hist. eccl. VIII. vi. 7: robs Vincent in Prudentius peri steph. v. Si ye fiairiXiKobs pera Bdvarov iraiSas, yrj 138 foil. : perd rijs irpoa-nKobo-ns K-nSdas irapaSo- per te per ilium carcerem Bivras, abBis ii virapxrjs dvopb^avres honoris augmentum tui,... ivairoppixpai BaXdoari Kal avrobs ipovro per quem trementes posted bdv ol yevopitrpivoi Seoirbrai, us av pr) exosculamur lectulum,... & pvi)pao-iv diroKeipivous irpooKvvoiiv si rite sollemnem diem rives Beobs Sr/ avrobs dis ye tporro Xoyi- ueneramur ore et pectore, Qpevoi. Lactantius alludes to the same si sub tuorum gaudio incident with his usual sourness (inst. uestigiorum sternimur, div. v. n) : non tanlum arius hominum 136 Contrast with Valerians Policy. of the Crucified would soon grow tired of letting themselves be imprisoned and disgraced, when, they found that nothing further came of it. The name of Confessor, however much it might be honoured when the persecution was over, was but lightly esteemed, while the name of Martyr could be had for the asking1. The Emperor Valerian, in an earlier decree which he fulminated against the Church, had endeavoured to put Christianity down without bloodshed 2. The method which he adopted was the separation of the Bishops from their flocks by a perpetual banishment. His experiment was a failure, for the simple reason that, so long as the Bishops were only in exile, an epistolary correspondence could be kept up ; and also because little pains was taken to subject the Priests to the same treatment, so that they were still left to keep the enthusiasm and faith of the Church alive. Diocletian's aim was not quite the same as Valerian's; for though he was bent upon weakening the Church, and even demolishing it so far as its outward presentment was con cerned, his measure against the Clergy wears every appear- dissipat, sed et ossa ipsa comminuit, et the nobler title. in cineres furit, ne quis extet sepulturae 2 This earlier edict was in the year locus ; quad uero id affectent, qui deum 257. Pontius the Deacon in his Life confitentur, ut ad eorum sepulcra ueni- of St Cyprian, his master, expresses a atur, ac non ut ipsi ad ileum perueniant : very lively contempt for this kind of he calls the author of the deed uera punishment : the great Prelate, who bestia, and haec tanta belua. The same was interned at Curubis, found it a very charge of lipsanolatry was laid against pleasant retreat, and was quite able to us as early as the days of St Polycarp. administer his diocese from the spot : 1 Eus. hist. eccl. v. iii. 3 : iKeivoi see Ruinart p. 182. The Priests were ¦qSri paprvpes, ous ev ttj opoXoyla Xpiorbs supposed to share the same fate, as we ¦itflutrev dvaXriipBrivai iirio-ippayiadpevos ' see from the first portion of the Acts of avruv Sid rr]s i£68ov ti)v paprvplav, St Cyprian, which were published r/peU 8i opbXoyoi phpioi Kal raireivol.— within the Saint's own lifetime (S. Vet we may question which is really Cypr. epist. lxxvii. 2, Hartel). The Coup de Grace. 137 ance of being only a temporary measure of precaution1. He did not mean all Clergymen henceforward to be liable to special .penalties, as Valerian had : he meant to put them out of the way of abetting a present conspiracy. In this design he hoped to succeed, not by banishing, but by casting into the strict surveillance of a prison, not Bishops only, but all those who were in Holy Orders, even down to the Readers and Exorcists. Christian hopes of rebellion would be crushed by so tremendous an exhibition of imperial power ; while Christian aspirations after martyrdom would be cooled by the positive refusal of gratification. And yet Diocletian was not wholly wise. This tem porising shift was well suited, indeed, for the immediate purpose; but it could not permanently cripple the great Body. There were only two ways to prevent the Church from doing mischief in the end : — the one was, to follow to its full consequences the policy on which he had acted towards her all through his reign: — the other was to cut and stab and burn and trample the life out of her altogether. And if the last great Emperor of Rome had been aware how nigh he was now to the innermost penetralia into which the corporate life of Christianity had been hunted back, he would have been glad (it may be) to take every Bishop in the world and put him to death. In all the persecutions, 1 Hunziker says quite justly (p. 174): Sie sind daher auch bios tempordrer Die verscharfende Massnahmen, welche Natur und stehen mit der Christenver- den Inhalt des zweiten Edicts bilden folgung nur in mittelbarem Zusammen- und die Kirchenvorsteher bestrafen . . . hang. In support of the statement that sind eine politische Vorsichts- und Straf- the Second Edict was only temporary, massregel des Kaisers, die durch die he rightly appeals to the Third Edict, Renitenz der Christen gegen die Ausfiih- that is to say, the amnesty at the Vicen- rung des ersten Edicts hen'orgerufen war. nalia. 138 The Pagan Half- View of the Episcopate. special stress was laid upon the punishment of Bishops : but the pagan world only knew of them — as of all else in our system — in their exterior and official capacity. They killed or banished them because they were heads, ringleaders, persons of influence. They knew nothing of them in their spiritual capacity. If Diocletian had been told how the Catholic and Apostolic Church teaches (that which she has received), that only by the laying on of the Apostles' hands is given the communicated Spirit, which is the Life of the Body, and that the severance of the episcopal suc cession is the severance of the historical bond between the Church and her Head, he would scarcely have been sorry to destroy the Bishops one and all, though they had num bered thousands. He had already, unwittingly, struck the two most telling blows. A third would have been the stroke of grace. He had destroyed the means of meeting to receive the Bread of Life. He had destroyed (he fondly hoped) the means of teaching the Word of Life. If by the annihi lation of the Apostolic Order he had destroyed also the means of propagating the Life, Paganism would have tri umphed gloriously, and the Church would have lain beneath his feet, a corpse. But our Redeemer has not founded a Church that is to die. Nay, it was written long before the days of Diocletian : " The fierceness of man shall turn to Thy praise, and the fierceness of them shalt Thou refrain : He shall refrain the spirit of princes, and is wonderful among the kings of the earth." CHAPTER V. THE EXECUTION OF THE TWO EDICTS. Armata pugnauit fides proprii cruoris prodiga, nam morte mortem diruit ac semet impendit sibi. Prudentius. It is impossible to trace with any precision the progress of the persecution. The First Edict, followed closely — some times (as it seems) accompanied — by the Second, crept slowly and fitfully from shore to shore, from city to city, like some hateful plague or cholera. Its movements, to us who watch them from afar, seem governed by no law. Many private and local causes tended to delay its publication1. In the capital of Thrace, near as it was to Nicomedia, the proconsul, whose wife was a Christian, did not make it known until Epiphany in the following year. In Africa and Numidia it was posted in the months of May or June. It reached Caesarea, where Eusebius lived, in the end of March; "when," as we are told with singular pathos, "the day of our Saviour's Passion was just drawing on2." At Alexandria, if we may unravel the confusion of the dates in the Chronicle, the sick- 1 Dr Newman's novelette Callista, gives a very natural picture of these the scene of which is laid in Africa in local causes of delay. the time of the Decian persecution, 2 Eus. hist. eccl. VIII, ii. 4. 140 The Intention of this Chapter. ening news arrived precisely in time to mar the blessed joy of Easter morning1. This section of my essay will be an attempt to arrange our materials so as to show how far the several details of the edicts were put in execution, and what different aspects this first part of the persecution wore in the several parts of the empire. The attempt, I fear, must almost necessarily prove a lame one. In the first place, our documents are but scanty. Lactantius, according to the purpose of his book, leaves the history of the persecution almost untouched, and treats only of the more striking events of state. The eighth book of Eusebius' Church History, for the purposes of a methodical review, is utterly worthless, from its exasperating lack of chronology : and though his monograph on the Martyrs of Palestine is, on the contrary, beautifully systematic, yet the scope is too narrow to give us a very complete picture of the condition of the Church, even within the horizon of Caesarea. The chief sources of information are the various genuine Acts of the Martyrs, — which are (of course) chargeable with the same defect : they describe the bearing and the sayings of men when brought to trial, but they too seldom illustrate the social life of Churchmen during the times of persecution, and the ways in which they escaped the violence of the storm. We have scarcely any Acts of the Confessors. There are hardly any accounts of private occurrences. And it must not be supposed that we can even calculate the total number of martyrdoms under Diocletian by adding up the list of these Acts which are preserved. On the one hand many of the legends are quite untrue. And on the other hand doubt- 1 Easter fell late,— April 18: Eu- day, agreeing with the Chron. Alex. sebius' Chronicle puts the edict on this and with Theodoret. The Difficulty of executing it. 141 less an immense share ofthe documents has perished accident ally : but in many cases it seems that the judges themselves forbad the official report to be entered on the books, — partly out of spite to the Christians, who used to pay the clerks to give them duplicate copies of the record, to be recited afterwards in Church1, — and partly because they were con scious that their cruelties were distinctly illegal, and feared to leave the full statement indelibly inscribed in the archives of their provinces2. And not only is the material scanty, but it is extremely perplexing. It is often difficult in the extreme to discover the true date of a martyrdom. Owing to the way in which the governors took upon themselves to alter the provisions of the law for better or for worse, or to delay its enforcement, a trial often turns upon points which at first sight seem to fix it as belonging to the earliest part of the persecution, while closer inspection proves it to belong to a later period. The legitimate working of an earlier edict is often crossed and hampered by the influence of later ones. And, we are often forced to suspend our critical judgment upon the worth of any given record, from our unfortunate lack of detailed archaeological knowledge on such matters as the extent of the powers of proconsuls and curators. The original papers have suffered so much in the process of later redactions that it is well nigh impossible to determine what is old and what is later fable3. 1 The brethren who sent the Acts of 2 Particularly the case with Dacian Tarachus to the Church of Iconium in Spain : consult the exordium of the say in their prefatory Epistle : quia Passio S. Vincenti Leuitae. Amobius, omnia scripta confesdonis eorum necesse in his first book, makes the same com- erat nos colligere, a quodam nomine plaint in Africa. Sebasto, uno de spiculatoribus, ducentis 3 Thus we are compelled to own denariis omnia ista transcripdmus. that the presence of miraculous occur- 142 The Caesar Constantius. As soon as Diocletian had finally made up his mind to persecute the Church, letters were despatched to his western* brethren, informing them of the terms of the edict1. Of all the lost documents of the period, there are none — not even the edicts themselves — which the historian mourns after so sadly, as the missives in which the venerable Augustus hinted to Constantius how far it behoved the letter of the law to live, and urged upon Maximian the propriety of ' transacting the business without blood.' I. It was pretty certain beforehand that Constantius would share, almost to a nicety, the feelings and the policy of Diocletian. He was the man after Diocletian's own heart. The crafty old Emperor had designed him to succeed to the primacy of the empire, above Galerius, wishing mind as far as possible to predominate over bluff force. Diocletian's scheme for the balance of government was to have in each moiety of the empire, a statesman and a soldier, shield and sword arms of the administration ; the statesmen to hold (as far as this could be secured) the first and third places, so that at each vicennial abdication, by the alternate precedency of East and West, a statesman might always be to the fore. On this principle Constantius, though Diocletian's own es- rences is not always a sign of later mented by the eye-witnesses them- falsification. Miracles are narrated, for selves. instance, with perfect good faith in the 1 Lact. mort. 15: etiam litterae ad account of St Theodotus of Ancyra, Maximianum atque Constantium com- which has not been tampered with at meauerant ut eadem facerent: eorum all since it left the hands of Nilus, sententia in tantis rebus expedata non the worthy shopkeeper-bishop's friend erat. Of course this statement has, of (Ruinart p. 303 etc. ). They appear itself, little weight, but I have already still more strikingly in the singularly expressed the reasons why we should quiet story of Tarachus, Probus, and believe it, p. 100. Andronicus (Ruinart, p. 392), supple- His natural Mildness. 143 pecial favourite, had been given to Maximian for his Caesar and his son. When the soldier Augustus began to wax very bloody (which could not be helped sometimes), the statesman Caesar might be able to mitigate the effects. Now Constantius was undoubtedly averse from the per secution. Both natural constitution and reflexion had made him merciful to all men. The judgment of the Church historians upon him might have been biassed by their gratitude to his son: but the heathen writers all give him the same character. "An uncommon man," says Eutro- pius, " with very marked regard for other people : the in habitants of Gaul not only loved but adored him, — and all the more because under his sway they had escaped the suspicious prudence of Diocletian as well as the bloody haste of Maximian1." Eumenius labours hard to make the cruelty of Constantine appear as politic as the gentleness of his father, with which he contrasts it3. Constantine himself declares that he abhorred the savage characters of Diocletian and the two Maximians, and says that his father alone attempted to act with the consideration of a civilised man3. It was plain therefore that persecution would imply nothing very brutal under Constantius. And in the par ticular case of Christianity, all his religious feelings were on the side of toleration, even more than' Diocletian's were. Although he was doubtless a heathen still4, Bishop 1 Eutr.x. 1 : uir egregius et praestantis- 3 apud Eus. Const. II. xlix: 'itrx°v simae ciuilitatis . . .hie non modo amabilis, tyuye robs irpb tovtov yevopivovs avro- sed etiam uenerabilis Gallis fuit, prae- Kpdropas Sid Tb tuv rpbiruv dypiov diro- cipue quod Diocletiani suspectam pru- KXr)povs, povos 8' 6 iraT-qp 6 ipbs rjpepo- dentiam et Maximiani sanguinariam r-nros ipya peTexeipli^ro. temeritatem imperio eius euaserant. i The Panegyrics speak repeatedly of 2 Paneg. IX, chapters v, vi, x. Constantius' reverence for the gods, 144 His Predilections for Christianity. Theonas' description of Diocletian, exactly fitted him: he was 'not yet enrolled' on the Church's lists. His son — a bad authority on the subject, it may be confessed — says that he " called upon the Father in all his acts with admirable devoutness1." Eusebius, whose exaggerations cer tainly overlie a stratum of fact, avers that he knew of only one universal God, and condemned "the polytheism of the atheists2." Like Diocletian, he had filled his house with Christian servants. Like as Diocletian's consort, Prisca, was almost, if not altogether, a Christian ; so, according to some accounts, Helena, the first wife of Constantius, was already a convert before the cold policy of Diocletian wrested their love-marriage apart3. A persecution had doubtless often been urged in the imperial councils by the two Maximians, and as often scouted by their more prudent colleagues. Constantius' knowledge of Diocletian's mind in the matter would show him that there must be some over whelming necessity in the present case, and so hinder him from rebelling altogether against the edict: while at the same time it would show him that a mere nominal perse- though this need not mean much, any 1 apud Eus. Const. II. xlix : perd more than in the case of Diocletian. BavpatTTrjs evXa^das iv irdaais rats Of course he must needs conform out- iavrov -irpd^ixi rbv irar^pa Beov iiriKa- wardly to the state religion as he was Xovpevos. not a converted Christian. At the 2 Eus. Const. I. xvii. 2. same time it is probable that his incli- 3 There is no real reason to believe nation to Christianity was more positive that Zosimus is right in denying the and conscious than Diocletian's. No validity of the marriage, although it suits particulars of his Pagan devotion are a few fathers (as Ambrose, de divers. recorded as with Diocletian; and he serm. III. p. 1236. Paris, 1603) to is not said to have cultivated augury : point their morals with the story. still he may well have done so, since The preponderance of even pagan the art was encouraged for centuries authority is against it. later by baptized Emperors. l\o Political Pressure- in Gaul. 145 cution would accord with the wishes of the supreme Augustus, as fully as with his own wise policy and gentle heart. And while Constantius was unlikely, from these private considerations, to press the law against Christianity beyond the least possible strictness, there was no public necessity in his quarter of the globe for carrying the matter farther. The Church was not so powerful in Gaul as it was in the East, nor were the Christians of that land so fiercely intolerant as those of Africa. There was little fear of an insurrection of the believers there : and the best way to prevent such a catastrophe was to dissever their interests from those of their Oriental brethren by not making them partakers of their sufferings. Some doubt has been entertained on the question whether Constantius did not hinder the persecution from being oecumenical, by refusing to take any part in the work at all. The ingenious Henry Dodwell, in his anxiety to reduce our estimation of the sufferings, and therefore of the vitality, of our faith, endeavoured to prove that Gaul, Spain, and even the most of Africa, were under the government of Constantius, and therefore quite exempt. The few martyr doms, as he counts them, which took place in Africa, were accomplished, he argues, not under the general edict, but by special local rescripts of Maximian. It is, however, an easy thing to prove a theory, if you may choose your facts. His indignant and orthodox opponent, Ruinart, goes too far the other way, and tries to show that even Gaul, at that time the acknowledged sanctuary of the world, was as fruitful of martyrdoms as any other country1. The fact is 1 Ruinart Acta Sincera, p. lix. foil. M. IO 146 Did he persecute at all? that Africa was not in any way subject to Constantius, any more than Italy was: that the connexion of even Mauritania Tingitana with the prefecture of Gaul rests on very slight foundations: and that Constantius was not himself Praefectus Praetorio of Gaul. Thus, though "all beyond the Alps" had been committed to the superin tendence of Constantius1, he bore no actual rule over any region except that in which his personal presence was required. Such was the nature of the Caesars' power : their jurisdiction was not separated from that of their Augusti by a line as strongly defined as that which bounded the East and West. They were rather the moveable repre sentatives of their several chiefs, stationed with absolute power wherever a temporary cause claimed the closer inspection of supreme authority. Constantius seems never to have visited any other portion of the prefecture of Gaul in which he was seated, besides France and the Rhenish frontier, and Britain. It is difficult to discover how far Constantius really par ticipated in the persecution, but that he did so is plain, not only from the fact that the edict was now the law of the land, to which he must needs conform ; but also some positive statements in ,the Acts of St Crispina, who died at Teveste in 304, prove that in Maximian's part of the empire, the name of the Caesar Constantius was officially quoted as countenancing the promulgation of the edict. There can be no doubt that he published this Test Act entire, but with the hearty acceptation of Diocletian's sav ing clause, that no blood was to be shed. In spite of the 1 This is the rather vague account by the place in Lact. quoted below, of Aurelius Victor: it needs correcting p. 151. tie destroys Buildings, but not Books. 147 counter-assertion of Eusebius, it is certain that all the Churches in Gaul, that were worth destroying, were de stroyed1: — these could be restored: but from the irreparable injury of God's truest temple, the human body, Constantius shrank2. Having thus observed the letter of the law, he did not proceed to the logical consequence of making all Christian assemblies penal : there is even some reason to think that he permitted — for a time, at least — the attend ance of Christian Chaplains in his own household, who celebrated the Divine Offices within the palace-walls3. No stress was laid upon the clause which prescribed the burning of the books. He did not attempt to wrest them out of private hands. Probably he made believe that the act. was satisfied by the destruction of those copies which were found among the ministeria of the demolished Churches. At any rate, when Constantius' son came into power, the African Donatists besought him that they might be tried by Galli- can Bishops, on the ground that these had never been exposed to the temptation to be traditors". With regard to the third clause of the First Edict, we may gather that Constantius at least published it, and took some steps — whatever they were — towards applying it, from the curious 1 Eus. h. e. VIII. xiii. 13; prJTe tuv fiatriXdois o-vyKpoTOvpiinjv irX-qBbv, rj avv- iKKX-naiuv robs oXkovs KaBeXuv. He rpsav Kdl Xeirovpyol Beov, ol ras virip guesses, and states the guess as a fact. fSatriXius diipicKeis i^eriXovv Xarpdas ore 2 The words belong to Lactantius : irapa rots iroXXdis obSi pixpi inXov p-j- nam Constantius, ne dissentire a maio- paros rb tuv Beopefiuv xpinia.Tl£ew ewe- rum praeceptis uideretur, conuenticula, x&j/jeiro yivos. id est parides qui restitui poterant, di- * Read their exaggerated letter con- rui passus est : uerum autem dei tern- tained in St Optatus i. 22: de genere plum, quod est in hominibus, incolume iusto es, cuius pater inter ceteros impera- seruauit (mort. 15). tores persecutionem non exercuit, et ab 3 Eus. Const. I. xvii. 3 : us pijSiv hoc facinore immunis est Gallia. diroSdv iKKXrjo-las Beov Ti)v IvSov iv avrois IO — 2 148 His Treatment of Christian Officials. story which Eusebius had got hold of. To all the officers of his household, and even to those who held provincial governments, says this author, Constantius offered the choice of sacrificing or being dismissed. Some of the persons concerned preferred their faith, and some their posts. In the sequel, the worthy prince discovered to them what he had privily intended by this device. He drove away from his palace those who had served their God so ill, judging that their loyalty to the Emperor would be as light; but the conscientious persons he settled in all the most confi dential offices in his house, declaring that no sums of money could be so valuable to him as these good men1. Even the Second Edict, ordering the arrest of the Clergymen, must have been promulgated by Constantius, because it alone explains the one martyrdom of that time, circumstantially related, to which the English Church can lay claim. A certain Priest, pursued by the Roman officials, made his way to the colony of Verulam, and boldly enter ing the camp, claimed shelter from a young heathen le gionary named Albanus. The young fellow was too good- natured to refuse, and kept him there for many days con cealed. Observing his guest perpetually performing his devotions, he began to make inquiries concerning our religion, which the Priest answered in such a manner, that after some patience the soldier became a convert. Meanwhile, it came to the ears of the governor, that Albanus was harbouring this person whom the law was trying to hunt down ; and he accordingly summoned him to answer for the misconduct. The novice (so runs the tale) presented himself before the judge, at the moment while the judge was sacrificing, clothed 1 Eus. Const. I. xvi. The Second Edict and Saint Alban. 149 in the Clergyman's caracalla, and was threatened with the same punishment as his friend should have borne. When he was asked his nationality, the young Roman soldier forgot his pride, and answered:. "Why do you ask? I am a Christian." To the question of his name, he replied : " My parents call me Alban; but I serve God." He was ordered for his unsoldierly contempt of discipline to be beaten first, and then beheaded. The sentence was executed that even ing, outside the city, across what was then a very rapid stream, on the slope of the pleasant hill, where now stands one of the stateliest of English Cathedrals in the city which bears his name1. II. Constantius was the only one of the four Emperors concerning whose conduct in the matter there could be any doubt. Roughly speaking, Lactantius' vigorous ex pression is correct : — " So the whole earth was agitated ; and, Gaul alone excepted, from the East even unto the West was felt the savagery of three most rancorous beasts2." Maximian was only too delighted to obey the law3. It is a strange but inexpugnable fact in psychology, that the sins of the flesh are always inwoven with the sin of cruelty. The Augustus of Milan was a most conspicuous example 1 I have shelled off the fabulous husk the ' streak of silver sea ' defended us of the story. Bede takes the account (as usual) from the capricious tyranny from Gildas, but tries in spite of his of Rome. master to make out a. great many 2 Lact. mort. 16 : uexabatur ergo martyrdoms for the Church of Eng- uniuersa terra, et praeter Gallias ab land, whereas Gildas accounted for the oriente usque ad occasum tres acerbissi- scanty number by saying that we re- mae bestiae saeuiebant. ceived the Gospel very coldly. The only 3 Lact. mort. 1 5 : senex Maximianus other contemporary British martyrs libens paruit per Italiam, homo non adeo named are two Clergymen of Caerleon, clemens. Julius and Aaron. The fact is that 150 Character and f urisdiction of Maximian. of the abominable alliance. His passions were so entirely beyond the control of his judgment, that not even the hostages, whom subject nations had placed beneath his care, were too sacred for his rapacious hands1. And by the innate kinship of wickedness, he was bloodthirsty beyond the run even of his savage countrymen. His cruelty was not, like the cruelty of Galerius, sprung from religious fanaticism, impelled by a revengeful hatred, employed with a strong and intelligent purpose. Maximian was cruel for cruelty's sake. Blood was his luxury. The intelligence that Diocletian had at last consented to a general persecu tion must have thrilled him with an intense delight ; for his vulture-like instinct told him that the business could never be transacted without a sumptuous feast of blood. The prefecture of Italy was his, including all from Regensburg and Vienna, to Nice and Cagliari and Malta. Here the edicts were thoroughly well worked. However African proconsuls might doubt about the application of the law, it was certain death to be sent on remand into that peninsula, as St Felix found to his satisfaction. Yet strange ly enough, we have fewer Acts extant from Italy itself than from any other land, save the immediate province of Constantius. I am inclined to think one partial reason of this phenomenon to be, that Christianity had not ab sorbed the whole population in Italy in the same way as it had in Africa. Thus in the year 304 one ofthe extremely rare notices of a popular outbreak — almost a riot — against 1 The accusation proceeds from Au- tate turns him with ridicule out of the relius Victor, not from the Churchmen, banquet of the gods, on account of his though the ecclesiastical writers quite coarse licentiousness. agree in the verdict. Julian the Apos- Christianity in Italy and Africa. 151 the Christians, occurs at Rome, and seems to accelerate, if not occasion, the publication of the last, worst edict before the. abdication ofthe two old Emperors1. But Maximian was lord of a finer Aceldama than Italy. Africa had far the largest tale of martyrs2. It lay entirely at the mercy of the rude Augustus8. The vast population had all but universally become Chris tian: and the Christians of Africa, from Tertullian down, were characterised, above all others, by a fiery zeal, which developed into obstinacy and wilfulness even in saints, — among sinners into frantic heresies and sanguinary schisms. When we reflect on the intolerable pride and murderous bigotry of the Donatists, we cannot wonder that so harsh a government as Maximian's found plenty of work for executioners. When St Austin's holy labours at last put an end to Donatism and to Manichaeanism, he had accom plished also the death of the Catholic Church of Africa : — when nothing was left to be fierce about, Christianity itself died out. Such were the persons among whom Florus in Numidia, and Anulinus at Carthage, were set to work to put the law in force. — Spain too, although she was un doubtedly in the same prefecture as Gaul, and therefore more or less subject to Constantius, added a goodly con tingent to the noble army. The town of Saragossa, alone, had the honour of furnishing eighteen in the course of two 1 Act. S. Sabini, Baron, ad ann. 301 : 2 This statement is borne out by see above, p. 90. The conquest of what even the distant Eusebius says Rome was, and will be again some hist. eccl. VIII. vi. 10 : pdXio-ra Kara day, the last and crowning victory of rrjv 'kcjipiKr)v Kal rb Mavpuv iBvos. the Church: cf. Lightfoot, Galatians, 3 Lact. mort. 8: cum ipsam imperii p. -l. It was natural that men should sedem tenerd Italiam, subiacerentque opu- there cling longest to that which was lentissimae prouinciae uel Africa uel connected with Rome's old glories. Hispania. 152' Dacianus, the Spanish Commissioner. years' persecution \ of whom one was the magnificent young Archdeacon, Saint Vincent. All these deaths may be traced to the cruel subserviency of one Dacianus, who was made president of the province — as it appears from the Acts — not by Constantius, but by Diocletian and Maximian. It would seem as though the officers of government were not appointed by the Caesars, but by the Augusti ; unless indeed we have here another case, like that of Lysias and Agricola in the East, of a special commissioner sent forth for the occasion. Yet, though Constantius was unable to hinder the appointment of this cruel man, these same Acts seem to hint at some difficulty, which Dacianus experienced in prosecuting the wishes of his lord Maximian. He is forced to bide his time, and seize an opportunity2. I conceive this difficulty to have been caused by the vigilant legality of Constantius the Caesar. The persecuting magistrate never dares to claim the authority of Constantius to support his violations of the edict: he only speaks of the orders of Maximian. And one of the men who had passed through Dacian's bloody hands alive, the great Hosius of Cordova, writing afterwards to the tyrannical Arian Emperor who was grandson both to Constantius and to Maximian, says: " I was a confessor even at the first, when persecution arose under your grandfather Maximian 3 :" — he leaves the other grandfather unmentioned. But the Caesar, notwithstanding 1 Prud. peri steph. iv.,— a poem in qui sceptra gestat Romula honour of them all together. seruire sanxit omnia 2 Act. S. Vine. c. -i, Ruinart p. 323: priscis deorum cultibus. cum saeuiendi in Christianos forte oc- 3 apud Athan. ad sol. uit. agent, p. casio cecidisset. Cf. Prud. peri steph. 838 (ed. Paris 1627): iyiu piv upoXb- V. 21 — 7i; etc. There is a God to whom Secundus the younger (to his uncle they will have to give account. the Primate). Do you hear what he Secundus (to them all) You and God says against you? He is prepared to must settle. Take your seats. draw back and make a schism, and not All. Thanks be to God. he alone but all the men whom you are 1 It was published here on the 5th accusing. I know that they mean to of June. of St Felix of Tibiura. 1 73 " What the Empetors have ordered comes before what you say. Give us. some books to be burned." "It is better," said the martyr, " for me to be burned myself than for the Divine Scriptures, for it is better to obey God than men." The mayor sent him away with the request that he would reconsider the matter alone1. But on the third day he had not changed his mind, and said that he should make precisely the same answer to the Proconsul. Accordingly, he was taken in chains to Carthage ; and brought one morning before daybreak before Anulinus, who asked him, "why he did not give up some spare or useless books2." But again Felix refused to take a helpful hint : " I have books," he said, "but I am not going to give them." Sixteen days more were passed in the deepest cell of the prison- house. On the sixteenth Anulinus sent for him at ten o'clock at night, and asked him the same question. His answer was the same: "I am not going to give them." Anulinus did not know what to do, and sent him in chains to the superior governor, the Prefect of the Praetorium. The Prefect, equally perplexed, put heavier chains upon him, and after a delay of nine days shipped him off "to the Emperors." They were four days on the sea, — he, in his enormous chain, tossed about in the hold of a transport ship among the horses' feet. His misery was so great that he neither ate nor drank all the way, until at last they 1 Here we seem to have the action The doubt has never been started be- of the First and Second Edicts follow- fore ; but there are very few undoubted ing one another in quick succession. traces of its working, and no direct Though a Bishop, Felix is not put in mention of its publication, anywhere chains till the 24th of June, which leaves but in the East. time for the Second Edict to have come. 2 quare scripturas superuacuas non Yet I must confess I am sceptical about reddis ? the oecumenicity of the Second Edict. 1 74 How Heathen Dignitaries spoke of the Bible, arrived at Agrigentum. Thenceforward, his captors courte ously entreated him, as Julius had entreated Paul. The brotherhood at Agrigentum were allowed to pay him the most emphatic respect. His passage through the old historic towns of Sicily, — Catania, Taormina, Messina, — was like a royal progress. From thence they crossed to Italy. At Venusia at length he found his liberty. The Prefect of Italy was determined to let him go, if the Bishop would suffer it. He ordered his heavy manacles to be struck off, and gently addressed him. " Felix," said he, " wherefore give you not up the Scriptures of the Lord ? or perhaps indeed you have none?" Not even the reverential tone in which the magis trate spoke of his beloved book could induce him to lie or to truckle. His answer was the same as ever : " I have, indeed, but I give them not." " Slay Felix with the sword," said the Prefect. Felix answered, " Thanks be to Thee, O Lord, who hast vouchsafed to deliver me." On the 30th of August he was led out to die. Then he spoke thus: " God, I thank Thee. I have lived fifty-six years in this world. I have preserved my virginity. I have kept the Gospels. I have preached the faith and the truth. 0 Jesu Christ, Lord God of heaven and earth, I bend my neck as an offering to Thee, who endurest unto everlasting, to whom is brightness and splendour for ever and ever. Amen." The simple Acts do not mar their period by adding that he was slain \ Such accounts as these are an abundant proof that a persecution of the Christian Church in the fourth century was absurdly ill-timed. The government had no longer to deal with a few persons belonging to an obscure sect, 1 Ruinart, p. 313. and how they spoke of the Bishops. 175 who kept aloof from the rest of the world and might be extinguished without anybody feeling it. Christianity had worked like leaven into the whole lump of society. One pagan officer, charged with the execution of the law, writes to the local ringleader of the corporation to be extinguished, and addresses him as Parens Carissimus! Another pagan officer, speaking of the man who in his neighbourhood was the chief priest of the obnoxious religion, styles him to his pagan colleague Episcopus Noster! In order to stimulate these magistrates to do their distasteful work, the blood thirsty Deus at Milan was forced to enact that any who let a sturdy recusant go scotfree, should lose his own head as the price of. mercy1. And yet African Christianity was not uprooted. III. When the student turns his eyes from Africa to the dominions of Galerius, he is at first sight perplexed at observing that there seems to have been some backward ness in the persecution there, during the whole of the year 303. Though the Acts of St Agape and St Chionia who re ceived the palm in 304 reveal that some steps had been taken in the previous year to destroy the books at Thessa lonica, in other places the edict was not published at all till January. In the second year of persecution a strange and sudden crowd of martyrdoms appear. The fact is easily explicable. The hideous presence of the Caesar in his own provinces was first felt in 304 : during all the first season he was in the East2. 1 So says St Augustine, breuic. coll. arius ad discrimen capitis peruenire, qui c. Don. ill. xv. 27 : quod illi auditum Secundum tradere nolentem impunitum quomodo illo dimisso renuntiare potuerint dimidsse prodebantur. sine suo exitio, non apparet: and again 2 Eus. mart. Pal. -i. xvii. 32 : et ordo et curator ct benefici- 176 Epiphany in the Realm of Galerius. Perhaps the loftiest of all the pieces of Christian literature evoked at the time of the great struggle, is the Passion of St Philip of Heraclea. It is the only record from this quarter of the empire which can with certainty be referred to the time before the Fourth Edict, and it is of some special interest as bringing out once more the laxity with which the go vernors treated that part of the edict which bespoke the levelling of the buildings ; and it again brings out the social complications by which the persecution was retarded. The city of Heraclea in Thrace, which lay in the general pre fecture of Galerius, was the seat of a Christian exarchate ; and this office was admirably filled towards the close of Diocletian's reign by one Philip, who suffered martyrdom in the second year of this persecution. When the edicts were promulgated in the town, the Prelate happened to be in the Cathedral, performing some Divine Office in the midst of a great congregation. The news was brought to him that persecution was afoot. His friends, who knew the cruelty of Galerius and were aware of the special edict against the Bishops, besought him to flee at once; but he refused to leave the Church, and stood calmly there, prophesying to the agitated brethren that the intentions of the tyrant would prove ineffectual. It was the eve of the Epiphany ; and from this circumstance the holy Bishop bade them draw lessons not of hope only, but of triumph and glory. "While the blessed Philip was still thus discoursing, came Aristomachus, the Stationarius1 of the city, by the President's order, to shut up the Church against the Christians, and seal it with 1 Ducange explains : Milites appari- magistratibus, quid ageretur. He does tores, et officiates praesidum, qui dispositi not notice the sense of inuenire=inuen- per prouincias certis locis denuntiabant tariare, but I think it is required here. Christians need no Temple. 177 wax and signet. The blessed Philip said : ' O man of a foolish and dreary creed, who thinkest that Almighty God dwelleth within walls rather than in the hearts of men, not retaining the words of holy Esaias, who said : Heaven is My Throne, earth the footstool of My Feet : what house will ye build Me ? ' The next day, the Stationarius, having made an inventory of all the vessels and appurtenances of the Church and also sealed it, departed. Then all we brethren, giving ourselves up to sorrow, perceived into what grief and how great straits our city was come. The blessed Philip began to ponder very earnestly, with Severus and Hermes and the rest, what the present need required should be done ; and leaning upon the door of the Lord's House suf fered not himself to go away anywhither else from the see that had been committed to him.1" The next days were spent in precautionary measures, to prevent any possible panic from proving contagious in the flock. "Afterward, when they had assembled in Heraclea to celebrate the Lord's Ordinance, the President Bassus (ar riving) found Philip with the rest standing by the portals of the Church. When he was sat down in the usual manner to administer justice, they were all brought in unto him, and he, said to Philip and the rest : ' Which of you is master of the Christians, or doctor of the Church ?' Philip answered : 'I am he whom thou seekest.' Bassus said : 'You have heard the law of the Emperor \ who commands the Christians nowhere to assemble, to the end that the men of this sect in all the world may either return to the sacrifices, or die. Therefore whatsoever vessels there are with you, of gold or 1 The MSS. have non alios paliabatur to non alio sepatiebatur. abscedere : I think we should correct it 2 i. e. Galerius. M. I2 178 Even Bibles unnecessary to the Faith. of silver or of whatsoever metal, or of skilful work, writings also whereby you either read or teach, fetch them that we may examine them with authority : else, if you shall think fit to demur, you shall be tortured until you do these things.' To these words holy Philip answered eloquently : ' If, as thou sayest, our torments give thee pleasure, our heart is ready to bear them : therefore that weak body, over which thou hast power, tear it in pieces with what cruelty thou wilt. Only ascribe not to thyself any power over my soul. But those vessels which thou demandest, whatsoever there are with us, thou shalt have them at once : for these things we easily despise when we are forced of you, for we worship not God with precious metal, but with fear, nor can the orna ment of the Church please Christ any better than the orna ment of the heart. But the Writings neither is it seemly for thee to receive, nor for me to give1.' "At these words of the holy martyr the President com manded the torturers to be brought in at once. Then entered Mucapor, a creature without a touch of nature in him and with no knowledge of human feeling. The President then ordered the priest Severus to be brought into court : and when he could not easily be found, he gave instructions for Philip to be maltreated. But as he was being visited with a long and grievous punishment, holy Hermes, who was standing close by, said : 'Though thou shouldest take at our hand all our Writings, dread inquisitor, so that there should appear no traces at all of this true tradition anywhere in the whole world,. yet our descendants, taking thought for the memory of their fathers, and for their own souls, will compose and write greater volumes, and will teach yet more 1 I fear now the tendency would be to reverse this order. Pagans reluctant to execute the Edict. 179 strenuously the fear that we ought to pay to Christ.' This said, he entered (but not till he had been scourged a great while), where all the vessels and the Scriptures lay hid. Then followed him Publius, the President's assessor, a man eager to thieve and in bondage to the love of robbery. So when this clever purloiner was taking off some of the vessels on the inventory, not knowing the punishment in store for him, when Hermes told him not to make the attempt, he bruised Hermes' face, and even stained it with not a little blood. When Bassus knew the case, and saw Hermes' face, he was wroth with Publius and ordered Hermes to be looked to. The vessels that were in the inventory, and all the Writings, he ordered to be given over to the police. Philip and the rest he ordered to be led, escorted by guards on either side, into the market-place, that the sight might do the people good and terrify all the rest who refused to obey. "And while these were going to the forum, the President gave all the Scriptures to the soldiers to carry. Then he started with great speed for the palace, desiring to strip the Churches of all the worshippers that were to be found any where. The roof also of the Lord's House itself was spoiled, all the ornamental tiles being thrown down. The men also who did the work were forced with the lash, to make them less backward to pull it down." The Bibles were all burned on a great bonfire in the forum1. The ensuing part of the story reveals the working of the second of the edicts which we are now tracing. While the flames of the burning volumes went up, the earnest Prelate addressed the pagans and the Jews (of whom there were large numbers in Thrace and Macedonia) in a long and 1 Ruinart, p. 364. 12 — 2 180 Aestheticism and True Worship. learned .sermon, warning them that the end of the world was drawing near, and that none but the righteous could be saved. Meanwhile the ministers of the heathen temples had entered the forum, with preparations for a feast in honour of the idols. Hermes the deacon saw what would follow, and told the Bishop that they were to be polluted with these meats. Philip answered, 'The Lord's will be done.' Presently Bassus came into the forum in state, attended by an immense throng of every age and sex. "Then, as is always the case with a rabble, some were greatly distressed at the affliction of the saints, others were inflamed with a great folly so that they said that all the servants of God ought to be forced to sacrifice1, — the Jews, however, were foremost, according to the account given in the Scriptures : ' they sacrificed unto devils, and not to God.' " At last the President said to Philip ; 'Offer a victim to the deity.' Philip replied, 'How can I, a Christian, worship stones ? ' Bassus said, ' It is quite proper to pay sacrifices to our Lords.' Philip answered, ' We are taught to obey our betters, and to pay homage to the Emperors, but not worship.' Bassus said, 'At any rate sacrifice to the tutelary of the city : you see how beautiful, how smiling she is, how affably she admits all the people to do her homage.' Philip replied, ' You naturally are pleased with what you worship ; but I cannot be led away from honouring Heaven by human art.' ' Surely,' said the Presi dent, ' you might feel some emotion at the sight of the Hercules before you, so colossal, yet so exquisite.' He only drew upon himself a keen harangue upon the vanity of stocks. Bassus, admiring his constancy, turned to Hermes ; but Hermes said, 'I never sacrifice: I am a Christian.' 1 Shewing plainly that the Fourth Edict was not yet published. Secret of the Judge's Lenity. 181 ' What is your rank ? ' asked the judge. ' I am a senator,' he said, ' and I follow my master in everything.' Bassus caught at the suggestion. ' If Philip will be induced to sacrifice, will you follow his authority ? ' Hermes answered, ' I should not follow him, — nor will he be persuaded.' The President said presently, ' Do but sacrifice, not to the gods, but to our Lords the Emperors : just say, All hail our sovereigns !' Hermes turned to the Bishop, and said, 'We are fast approaching life.' As they were being led from the court some rough soldiers, who were standing by, struck the aged Prelate so that he fell upon the floor. The humane Bassus, for form's sake, sent the holy culprits for a few days into the prison ; but soon gave them a comfortable residence in the house of a private man named Pancras, near the jail, where they were allowed to preach and hold service to their heart's content. They had already given up the ecclesias tical property in obedience to the First Edict ; — the Second Edict only ordered their incarceration ; and so they remained until Bassus' term of office expired, and a fiercer President arrived, appointed by Galerius, and armed with a new and bloodier decree. The lenity of Bassus is easily accounted for, when we hear that for many years past his wife had been a devoted disciple of the Church, and must again and again have received the Bread of Life at Philip's hands1. The very first thing in this splendid history which strikes the Christian reader is the wide difference of temper between these enlightened believers, and their more headstrong brethren in Numidia. Though St Philip and his brethren were 1 Act. S. Phil. c. 8 : haec res (Bassus' sibi reddita uincebatur, eo quod uxor supersession) fratres uehementer affecit. eiusDeo aliquanto iam tempore seruiebat. mitior enim uerat Bassus, et ratione 182 Holy Things and Hallowed Things. ready to die, and afterwards did die, in defence of the faith, they yet thought themselves at liberty in the end to give up even the Books. There was no hesitation whatever about abandoning the Chalices. About them there was nothing intrinsically holy : they were but hallowed, — like the gold of the Temple, or the gift on the Altar. This same distinction indeed was drawn even at Cirta. Two golden and six silver Chalices, as well as the less sacred ministeria, silver lamps and candlesticks and kettles, vestments of various sorts, even down to forty-seven pair of women's clogs and nineteen ploughmen's smocks, — all were readily tossed out upon the floor1. But even that poor traditor2 who afterwards (by a curious irony) helped to consecrate the first Donatist Bishop, even he would not willingly give up the sacred books. These were holy in themselves. The Scriptures are to us like a homely Shechinah ever present. There is scarcely anything so bold in all Christian literature as the superb liberality of thought which could dare to think of a new and greater Bible, when our present should be erased from the memory of the world. The erasure would only prove that He who gave the first revelation, now deemed the world ripe for a still fuller. Other traditors were poltroons: but Hermes, as much a traditor as any, soars above all calumny or criti cism, by the majestic loftiness of his conception. IV. While it is impossible to discover any special charac teristics in the persecution as it developed in the territory of Galerius, the persecution in the East is strongly marked with a political type. The ecclesiastical buildings were 1 See the Gesta apud Zenophilum. poor,— the primitive clothing-club. Patens for the Bread apparently were 2 The term traditor was applied to not invented at the time. The shoes those -who surrendered any kind of and so forth were for the benefit of the Church property. Unimportance of the Books in the East. 183 indeed destroyed, throughout the whole of Diocletian's dominion. Eusebius saw it done, as well as the books burned1. At any rate the larger Churches were so treated, notably the great metropolitan Church of Tyre, which made way for so magnificent a successor under Constantine2. Smaller Chapels, — the Martyria and Confessiones, — were oc casionally closed, and more or less carefully watched3. But though these provisions of Diocletian's law appear to have been exactly carried into execution, they are not (as in Africa) the central point of interest. No schism of Donatists. was formed in the East to perpetuate the memory of the burning of the books. The name of traditor found no Greek equivalent. The history of the oriental persecution hinges upon the third portion of the First Edict, and upon the Second Edict, — namely, upon that part of the law which was directed against the personnel of the Church. And here we are met full by the difficulty mentioned above, that we possess scarcely anything but accounts of those who died under the persecution ; which means, that in almost all the cases we know the regular working of the edicts was inter rupted, that the law was violated by either the persecutor or the persecuted ; either the governor exceeded his powers, or else the prisoner was guilty of treason. This latter case was particularly common. However, so far as we are able to judge, the law seems to have been fairly administered. One mode, in which some judges tried to ensure the forfeiture of all legal rights by Christians, was to keep small altars continually in the law- courts, and to insist upon all litigants performing sacrifices 1 Eus. hist. eccl. VIII. ii. I. 3 See the Acts of St Theodotus in the 2 Eus. hist. eccl. x. iv. Appendix. 184 Christian Officials made Infames. at them, before they could obtain justice : — going to claim legal redress was tantamount to going straight into the idol temples '. If we look for examples of persons in high office for feiting not only rank, but also all rights of citizenship, we have not far to go. Torture was illegal for Roman citizens, yet almost all the martyrs suffered torture before they died. Of St Philip of Heraclea and his two priests it was distinctly said, that they had 'alienated from themselves even the name and style of Romans.' And in that most important passage in Eusebius' Life of Constantine, which contains his florid rescript to the governors of Palestine", we find persons of distinction treated in three ways. Some had been simply banished, or with the further refinement of being banished into islands, — a most aristocratic form of penalty ; these favoured few seem to have incurred no civil disabilities. Some endured that temporary kind of infamia which was implied in becoming addicti of the local senates of colonies, of -which (in many cases) they themselves had once been ornaments0: all their lands and goods, as well as their personal labour, being for the time at the disposal of these bodies. Some had fared worse yet, for their civil rights had been entirely taken away, so that they could not be called possessors of a single denarius, and these led a most dejected life, digging or begging about the scenes of their past prosperity, without any hope of restoring it in the future by their industry. It mattered not to their 1 Lact. mort. 15: ne cui temere ius adiretur. dicerelur, arae in secretariis ac pro tri- * Eus. uit. Const. II. xxx. bunali positae, ut litigatores prius sacri- 3 Valesius, in commenting on the pas- ficarent atque ita causas suas diccrent: sage, misunderstands an ou for a pr). sic ergo ad iudices tamquam ad deos The word robruv represents KaraXbyuv. Private Christian Gentlemen made Slaves. 185 punishment whether their distinctions were military or civil, as will be seen by the story of the three Cilician nobles given below. Of course, with their other rights, they lost also that of bequeathing property : their children were as penni less as they. But what is even more important to notice will be found in the thirty-fourth chapter of the second book of Constan tine's Life. In our account of the edict, we have stated that all private Christians were to be reduced to slavery. This passage proves the point. It shews us clearly that some, who were not only of free but of illustrious origin ', were cast down below the level of infantes to downright slavery. The student must keep fast in his hand this clue :¦ — it was official position, not birth, which made the difference between this class and the former. They became slaves of the fiscus2, — the official property, that is, of the Emperor. If they were not wanted for the tilling of his fields, or the building of his sumptuous palaces, they were sold to any that would buy them. Many became involuntary operatives in large linen factories ; some in the service of baking companies. Others, whose looks suggested that refined and literary tastes had incapacitated them for coarse and menial work, were sent by their owners into those parts of the house, where the handmaids plied their tasks under the mistress's eye, to help in the spinning and the weaving. 1 Eus. uit. Const. II. xxx. I : rr)s makes it quite certain that Diocletian's tbyevelas rpbs §iav aTepbpevoi...ov8iv law was carefully adapted from Vale- avTois rijs irporipas iirapKeo-do-qs yevi- rian's : see p. 114. Perhaps the banish- oeus. Presently after, speaking of the ments also, of which (to our knowledge) Same persons, aitpvlSiov oUiTijv iavrbv Diocletian's law specifies nothing, were &vt' iXev&ipov yvobs. imposed after the precedent set by Va- 2 Id. ib. : olKirai toO rapielov. This, lerian in dealing with the Christian which has not been noticed before, ladies. 1 86 Scenes of Violence. In these cases we see clearly the law of 303 acting steadily and undisturbed. Eusebius gives us to understand that there were ' vast numbers ' of Christians, even of Clergymen, who helped to carry it regularly into effect, by obeying its commands and renouncing Christianity. But he gives us also, twice over', a vivid but not too highly- coloured picture of the way in which Satan tried to persuade himself that he was conquering, when he really failed. Naturally, it was a point of honour with the rulers to make as many yield as possible. Victory was sweeter than punish ment. Some of the scenes we find presented to us in the Epistles of St Cyprian were represented at Caesarea. Some times officious friends of the Christian culprit cried out that he had already sacrificed, and if he held his peace, the magistrates did not care to inquire further. At other times, men and women were dragged by violence to the altar, and the unholy thing was put in their hands ; and though they screamed their loathing and rejection of the act, they were judged by their unwilling deed, not by their free words. Or again the mangled frames of those, who had been tortured till they could not stand, were dragged along the ground to that side of the court where stood the miser able runagates. If any of these could gather voice to profess himself a Christian, the soldiers slapped him on the mouth and stopped the word from being uttered. Eusebius speaks of these things to exemplify the barbarity, as well as the folly, of the officers. In many cases, however, the motive ; may have been not so much the dislike of being beaten by ' the constancy of the confessors, as a real desire to save them from the miseries of a rigorous application of the law. 1 Eus. hist. eccl. vm. iii., mart. Pal. ii. A Christian cries out for a Monarchy. 1 8 7 Even for a man to carry a few scars upon his ribs, or to suffer some hours of torturous tension, was not so grave a thing as to die a slave in a foreign land, while his children begged about the streets. All the martyrdoms which Eusebius himself witnessed in this year are political, and may be attributed to the un- guardedness of the Christians themselves. The magistrates were undoubtedly on the alert to detect any signs of dis affection to the government1. Two Clergymen, Alphaeus and Zacchaeus, died at Caesarea for shocking the Proconsul by saying bluffly that they acknowledged but One God, and Jesus as the anointed Emperor2. A layman, Procopius, the first martyr whose death Eusebius saw with his eyes, when told to sacrifice to the gods, answered that there was but One God to whom it was right to offer sacrifice, — in the way He wished : then being urged at least to pour a health to the four Emperors, he replied with Homer's well-known political verses : "It is not good to have lords many : Let One be Lord, — One King." Of course the pagan judge could not see the superb turn which our faith put upon the passage, and perceived in it only a disapproval of Diocletian's admirable system. Anxious as he appears to have been to spare the Christians, he could not possibly spare the treasonable. Procopius' immediate death, by decapitation, shews that this was the view the 1 Burckhardt, p. 341 : dock kann whole empire is true only of the part. man sich auch des Gedankens nicht 2 Eus. mart. Pal. ii. 5 : Xpiarov /Seurt- erwehren, dass die Richter dnen poll- Xia 'li)tiovv,—§ao-iXebs of course now tischen Process vor dch zu haben glaub- being the Greek for Emperor. ten. What he says generally of the 1 88 A Deacon disappointed at the Stake. judge actually took1. In our deep sympathy with the suffer ings and glories of our own beloved brethren the martyrs, we sometimes lose sight of the sympathy we ought to feel towards the magistrates who sentenced them ; men, often not only honourable and loyal, but gentle and kindhearted, who endured with a patience which astounds us more than that of the martyrs, — inasmuch as it was grounded only on human not Divine strength, — insults and revilings and personal defiance at the mouths of the Christians, foolish allegorical answers to plain questions about name and birth place, sometimes long and exasperating sermons. The only other sentence of death recorded by Eusebius in the first year of the persecution (November 17, 303) is full of instruction. The terrible Galerius was superintending the work at Antioch. In his appalling presence, though there was no legal need as yet for men to sacrifice until they were accused, crowds of terrified believers streamed to the temples to put themselves at once beyond the reach of accusation. Romanus, a deacon and exorcist of Caesarea2, who happened to be on the spot, was stirred with indignation at the spectacle, and openly and loudly rebuked them for their sin. He was haled before the judge. That minister of justice, acting under the eye ofthe Caesar, felt called upon to go beyond the law, and sentenced him to the flames. Romanus was tied to the stake, and the faggots were piled round him. Everything was ready, but the judge had thought fit to send up to the palace for Galerius' confirmation of the sentence. The Deacon waxed impatient, and called out repeatedly: 'Where is my fire? where is my fire?' But 1 Eus- mart- Pal- i- ' • he had evaded the action of the Second ' Eus. mart. Pal. ii. i. Somehow Edict. Galerius cannot break Diocletiaris Law. 189 death was not a penalty under the statute of Diocletian. No edict having been yet issued to compel all Christians to idolatry, Romanus had done nothing distinctly treasonable by dissuading them. Galerius, thus directly appealed to, was obliged to countermand the illegal order. He substi tuted a more cruel, though less showy, punishment. The unfortunate person's tongue was cut to the roots1, and he was put in prison according to the terms of the Second Edict. These are the facts which Eusebius records, but without noticing the counter-effects, of Galerius' bloody personality, and of his impotence to go beyond the laws of Diocletian. Galerius was not the only person in the world who approved of his subordinates breaking state-laws, which from his high official position he durst not break himself. The general legality and moderation of the persecution in the eastern half of the world, during the first year of the Church's outlawry, is attested by the fact that there is but one other genuine Passio preserved from these regions that seems probably to belong to that date 2. The Acts of Tarachus, Probus, and Andronicus have not been altered since the day when Sebastus, the magistrate's heathen clerk at Anazarbus, made out a second fair copy of them for the Christians of the place to send away to Iconium, for a price of two hundred denarii. They are well worth reading, 1 The untrustworthy Acts of St Ro- Q It is the date given in the colophon manus (Ruinart, p. 315), Prudentius at the end, and though some points peri steph. X., and St Chrysostom, orat. at first seem to indicate a later date, xliii., say that he spoke equally .well yet on the whole the position of affairs without it. The Hon. E. Twisleton, seems precisely analogous to that which defending the analogous ' miracle' upon appears in other documents of about the the Confessors of Tiposa, proves the date and from the same region, e.g. the fact physiologically. ( The Tongue not Passio S, Hieronis. essential to Speech, Murray, 1873.) 190 Trial of Three Cilician Nobles. for they shew exactly the kind of procedure which was followed (we may suppose) by most oriental judges in their trials of Christians, and the kind of answers which the prisoners were apt to give. Many of the points remind the reader of what we observed in the last chapter as being the state of affairs in the upper parts of Asia Minor. The first trial takes place at Tarsus, St Paul's birthplace. Maximus the President asks Tarachus his name : the answer is, 'A Christian:' the President bids them strike him on the jaw and say, ' Do not make crooked answers.' To the inquiry about his station in life, he replies that he is of military rank, a Roman by race, and that he chose to retire from the army because he was a Christian. Maximus said, ' Yes, you were not worthy to be in the army : but who gave you leave ?' Tarachus said that he had asked and obtained leave of Publion the tribune. When offered the kind notice of the Emperors, the man replied that the Emperors were grievously mistaken and deceived by Satan. This elicited some more rough blows, but the old man persisted that they were men and not infallible. Presently he spoke about a law, by which he was bound to disobey the imperial orders, completely puzzling the judge, — and still more so when he tried to explain that to worship God and Christ was not a form of polytheism. The._££.aturion who was ordered to thrash him with rods, sympathizing with his fellow-soldier, tried to persuade him to" sacrifice, but was rebuked'as- ra minister~oT— Satan.' The answers of his two comrades are precisely in the same vein, except that Andronicus, being a young man of a sharp temper, answers with considerable sauciness. In the second trial, which occurred some weeks later The fudge lies to no purpose. 191 at Mopsuestia, both sides become much exasperated. Maxi mus invents strange torments for his prisoners, putting mustard and salt in their nostrils, and hot cinders upon their heads. Tarachus urges the President ' and his Em perors ' to put away the blindness of their hearts : Probus pronounced an imprecation upon all idolaters, especially upon his judge. When young Andronicus, who had not been present at his brethren's confession, was led into court, the judge tried a new trick. ' I am sorry for you,' he said : ' the men who preceded you passed through innumerable torments before we could persuade them to pay reverence to the gods, but they did so at last, and are to receive important preferment from the Emperors. Now, you take my advice, and get off your tortures into the bargain ; for I swear by the gods and by the invincible Emperors, I shall put you to extraordinary pains.' The youth burst forth : ' Miserable liar ! why do you try to deceive me ? Nothing could make the confessors who went before me abjure their hopes in our God. I do not know your gods, and I fear neither you nor the tribunal on which you sit.' For once we may speak of the horrors of an oriental law- court. The judge ordered them to bind the poor youth hand and foot to four stakes and lash his back with thongs of raw hide : Andronicus said, ' Surely this is not what you threatened ! is this all that you can do ? ' One of the apparitors said to him, 'Your whole body is one great wound, my poor lad, and do you call that nothing ? ' An dronicus said, ' Those who love the Living God do not care for these things.' Maximus said, 'Rub his back with salt.' Andronicus replied with a sally of wit worthy of St Lawrence or Sir Thomas More : ' We shall want more 192 A witty Answer. salt than that, if I am to keep.' The President bad them turn him over and give him the bastinado on the belly, so as to open the wounds he had received at the former trial. ' You wounded me before,' said the young man, ' and yet, as you saw, my body was quite sound again : He who tended me then, will heal me again.' Maximus turned angrily upon his men : 'Did I not tell you, rascally soldiers, that no one was to go to him or nurse him, that when his wounds began to fester he might do as he was bid ? ' Pegasius the turnkey said, ' By your excellency's worship, no one nursed him, no one went in to him : he was kept in chains in the inmost ward : if you find I am lying, I have a head, and you are my master.' Maximus said, ' How is it then that his wounds do not shew?' The turnkey said he could not tell : but Andronicus knew. ' Fool,' he said, ' our Physician is a great Physician, and He heals those who reverence God, not by applying poultices and plasters, but by His word alone. Heaven is His home, but He is with us everywhere, whom you, senseless person, do not acknowledge.' Maximus began to threaten him viciously. Andronicus replied, 'Once and again I have said the same thing. I am not a mere boy. By this time perhaps you begin partly to see, President, that we are not afraid of you or your torments.' The account of the third trial is so characteristic of the Asiatic persecution, that it seems wrong not to give it whole. Maximus. Are you willing, Tarachus, now, in this respite from scourging, to give up your impudent profession ? Come and sacrifice to the gods, by whom all things consist. Tarachus. Is it good for you, or for them either, that the universe should be governed by them, for whom is prepared illi Mere Magnitude of Suffering no Test of Patience. 193 the fire and eternal punishment; and not for them only, but for all you who do their will ? Max, Stop your blasphemy, foul-mouthed fellow,; do you think that such effrontery will gain you your end by making me cut your head off at once and release you? Tar. If I were to die quickly, it would be no great trial ; but now do precisely what you will, that the excellence of my conflict in the Lord may be increased. Max.. You have suffered no more than other classes of prisoners who are tortured by the laws. Tar. This is another proof of your folly and gross blindness, that you do not see that the workers of wickedness endure these things justly, but they who suffer for Christ's sake obtain a reward from Him. Max. Foul scoundrel, what reward do you receive after you die a miserable death ? Tar. You have no right even to ask about it, nor may you learn the re compense that is in store for us. That is why we tolerate your sensdess threats. Max. Scoundrel, is that how you speak to me, as if you were my equal in position ? Tar. I am not in your position, but I pray God I never may be ; yet I have liberty to speak, and no one can stop me, through God which strengtheneth me by Christ. Max. I'll cut that liberty out of you, you ruffian. Tar. No one can take away my liberty, neither you, nor your Emperors, nor your father Satan, nor the devils whom you misguidedly worship. Max. My talking with you flatters you to play the fool, scape grace. Tar. You have only yourself to blame : for my God whom I serve knows that I abominate the very face of you, and certainly I never wished to answer you. Max. Come now, consider what it would be to be released from tortures, and sacrifice. Tar. Both in my first confession at Tarsus, and in my second examination at- Mopsuestia like- M. 13 194 Forfeiture of Military Privilege. wise, I confessed that I was a Christian ; and now here I am still the identical person. Take my advice and recognise that as true. Max. Unhappy wretch, what good will it be repenting, when once I have killed you with tortures ? Tar. If I had meant to repent, I should have been afraid of your first and your second stripes, and should have done your will : but now I am established, and. care not for you in the Lord : do what you please, most impudent man. Max. I have made you impudent by not punishing you more severely. Tar. I said before, and say again, you have my body in your power : do what you please. Max. Bind him and hang him up, to stop his foolery. Tar. If I had been a fool, I should have joined in your impieties along with you. Max. Now that you are strung up, take good advice, before you get your deserts. Tar. Although you are not permitted to proceed to extremities with my body, and it is illegal thus to torment a man of military rank1, yet I do not ask you to desist from your madness. Do as you please. Max. A soldier is always rewarded for .his religion, when he honours the gods and the Augusti, with largesses and promotions; but you were most irreligious, and were given a dishonourable discharge, therefore I order you to be worse tortured. Tar. Do what you please. I have asked you to do so a great many times. Why are you so very slow ? Max. Do not think (as I said before) that I am so fond of you as to dis- 5 Baronius (ann. 290, § 19) quotes— Us scilicet, qui ignominiose sunt soluii, though I do not know where he gets it quod et in filiis militum ueteranorum —a rescript from Diocletian to one seruabitur. Of course the rescript is Sallust, which is probably referred to not concerned with Christian soldiers ; here : Milites neque tormentis neque in fact they would be definitely ex- plebeiorum poenis in causis criminum eluded from the benefit by the First subici concedimtis ; etiam d non emeritis Edict. stipendiis nideantur esse dimissi; exceptis God's Panoply and Purity's Second-sight. 195 miss you from life in an instant. I shall execute you bit by bit, and throw the remains to the wild beasts. Tar. What you do, do quickly : do not make promises without keeping them. Max. Villain, you think that after death your body will be looked to by some silly women and anointed with spices : but I shall take order with regard to that, that your remains shall disappear. Tar. I give you leave to torture me before I die, and when I am dead to treat me as you like. Max. Come and sacrifice, I say, to the gods. Tar. I told you once for all, stupid man, that I neither sacrifice to your gods nor worship your abominations. Max. Take hold of his cheeks and rip his mouth open. Tar. You have marred and disfigured my face, but it only refreshes my soul the more. Max. Wretched creature, you exasperate me to behave very differently towards you. Tar. Do not think to frighten me with words. I am a match for you, while I wear the armour of God. Max. Curse you, what armour have you on, naked as you are, and all over wounds ? speak. Tar. You do not understand these things. You are blind and cannot see my panoply. Max. I put up with all your ravings. For all your provoking answers, I shall not dismiss you summarily from your body. Tar. What harm have I spoken in saying that you cannot see that which is about me, not being pure in heart but most wicked and a foe of the servants of God? Max. I under stand that you have long lived a bad life and as you stand before the tribunal they tell me you are a sorcerer. Tar. I never was so, nor am now, for I do not serve devils as you do, but God who gives me patience and prompts me with the word that I shall speak unto you. Max. They will do you no good, these words of yours. Sacrifice, and 13—2 196 The Judge grows furious. be rid of your tortures. Tar. Do you take me for such a senseless fool as not to trust God and live for ever, but to trust you and get bodily relief for an hour and slay my soul for ever and ever ? Max. Heat spits, and put them to his breasts. Tar. Even if you do more than this, you will never make God's servant yield and worship the figures of your devils. Max. Bring a razor and take his ears off, and shave his head and heap redhot coals upon it. Tar. My ears are gone, but my heart hears as well as ever. Max. Take all the skin off his cursed head with the razor and put the coals to it. Tar. If you order my whole body to be skinned, I shall not leave my God who empowers me to endure your weapons of wickedness. Max. Take the hot irons and put them under his armpits. Tar. God look upon you and judge you this day. Max. Curse you, what God do you call upon? speak out. Tar. One who is near us and you recognise Him not, and who will give to each man according to his works. Max. I will not kill you simply, so that, as I said, they may wrap your relics in linen and whimper over them and worship them ; but I give you a horrible death, and order your body to be burnt, and I shall scatter the ashes about. Tar. As I said before so say I now, do what you please: you have received power in this world. Max. Let him be taken back into the jail and kept for to-morrow's wild-beast fight. Bring the next. Demetrius (the centurion). He stands before you, my lord, if you please. Max. You have reflected and given yourself good advice, Probus, not to fall into the same hor rors which you yourself sometime ago endured, and which that unfortunate wretch who just went of court has now endured. I do believe and am convinced of this, that you, A Liar speaks the Truth for once. 197 like a wise fellow as you are, have changed your mind and are willing to sacrifice, that you may be honoured by us and accepted as a devout worshipper of the gods. Draw near and do so. Pro. We have but one way of arguing, President; for both Tarachus and I serve God. Do not think you will hear anything from me but what you have heard and learnt already: it will be of no use to punish me, nor will you persuade me by threatening, nor unman my courage by your blustering talk. Even this day I stand before you braver than I was, and despise your fury. Why then do you wait, madman ? why do you not make bare your madness ? Max. Have you agreed together to be irreligious and deny the gods ? Pro. You have spoken the truth ; for once you have not lied, habitual liar though you are; for we did conspire together both in our religion and our contest and our confession: wherefore we withstand your malice in the Lord. Max. Before you meet with uglier treatment at my hands, reflect, and put away this sort of foolery. Pity yourself. Obey me as if I were your father and pay reverence to the gods. Pro. I see that you believe nothing at all, President: but believe me when I confirm by oath my good confession toward God, that neither you, nor your devils which you deludedly worship, nor they who gave you this power over us, will be able to turn aside our faith and affection toward God. Max. Bind him and gird him, and then hang him up by his toes. Pro. Will you not cease your impiety, most wicked tyrant, contending thus on behalf of devils like yourself? Max. Take my advice before you suffer. Spare your own body. You see what horrors lie before you. Pro. All that you do to me is good for my soul ; therefore do what you wish. Max. Heat the 1 98 The Judge judges by Appearances. spits redhot and put them to his sides, to stop his folly. Pro. The more fool you think me, the more prudent I am to God. Max. Heat the spits again and put them well into his back. Pro. My body is at your service. May God from heaven see my humiliation and my patience, and judge between me and you. Max. Wretched creature, the God you call upon has Himself abandoned you to suffer thus, as your choice deserved. Pro. My God is a lover of man, and wishes no harm to any man; but each man knows what is for his own good, and has his free will and power to act upon his own calculation, Max. Pour some wine upon him off the altar and put the meat into his mouth. Pro. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, behold from Thy holy height this violence, and give sentence with me. Max. You have suffered a great deal, wretched man, and yet see you have tasted of the altar ; what can you do now ? Pro. You have not gained much by forcibly pouring over me, as best you could, against my will, the unclean things of your sacrifices, for God knows my will. Max. Stupid fool, you both ate and drank. Promise to do it for yourself, and you shall be taken down out of your chains. Pre. It would do you no good, law breaker, to overcome my confession. Know that if you were to empty all your unclean meats at once upon me, you will do me no harm, for God in heaven sees the violence I endure. Max. Heat the spits, and run them into his shins. Pro. Neither your fire, nor your tortures, nor (as I have told you many times) your father Satan, will persuade God's servant to abandon the confession of the true God. Max. There is not a morsel of your body still sound, poor wretch, and do you not yet understand ? Pro. For this very purpose A sztpreme Honour unwittingly conferred. 199 I gave my body up to you, that my soul might remain sound and unspotted. Max. Heat some sharp nails hot, and pierce his hands. Pro. Glory to Thee, Lord Jesu Christ, who hast deigned even to let my hands be nailed for Thy Name's sake ! Max. So much pain is beginning to make you still more foolish, Probus. Pro. So much power, and such immeasurable malice, O Maximus, have made you not foolish only but blind : for you do, you know not what. Max. Foul blasphemer, how dare you call me foolish and blind, while I am contending for the religion of the gods ? Pro. O that you were blind in your eyes and not in your heart ; for now thinking that you see, you are but gazing in the darkness. Max. Vile wretch, with your whole body maimed, do you mean to accuse me because I have still left your eyes unhurt ? Pro. Even if through your cruelty my eyes should no longer be in my body, yet the eyes in my heart cannot be blinded by men. Max. I shall put out your eyes, idiot, and then torture you. Pro. Do not promise and leave it unperformed ; you cannot frighten the servant of God. Do it indeed : you will not hurt me, for you cannot injure my unseen eye. Max. Thrust his eyes out, that though he has not long to live, he may lack the light. Pro. There ; you have taken away my bodily eyes, but, O most cruel tyrant, I defy you to deprive me of my living eye. Max. Can you talk so well in the dark, wretch ? Pro, If thou knewest the darkness that was in thee, most ungodly man, thou wouldest call me blessed. Max. You are nothing but a corpse, you villain, and will you not stop this rant ? Pro. So long as the spirit stays in me, I shall not cease to speak in God who enables me through Christ. Max. After all these torments, do you expect still 200 " The most shameless of all Beasts!' to live ? You may be sure that I shall not even leave you to do your dying for yourself. Pro. To this end I contend and wrestle with thee, accursed man, that my good confession may be made perfect, and that I may die, howsoever it be, at thy hands, thou pitiless hater of men. Max. I shall destroy you bit by bit with stripes, as you deserve. Pro. You have the power, overbearing servitor of tyrants. Max. Take him away, and chain him with iron chains, and keep guard over him in the jail, that none of their gang may come in and make much of them for having persisted in their impiety before me ; for I mean him after the assize to be given to the beasts. Now bring the ruffian Andronicus. Demetritis. He is before you, if you please, my lord. Max. Andronicus, have you even now taken pity upon the prime of your youth, and given yourself sage advice to reverence the gods ? or do you still observe the same mad rule as before ? It will do you no good, I assure you. Unless you will hear me and sacrifice to the gods, and also pay the honour to the Emperors which is needful, you will get no consolation and no pity from me. So draw near and sacrifice. And. No good come to you, enemy and alien to all truth, that most shameless of all beasts, a tyrant! I have endured all your threats ; and now do you think to persuade me to break the law in the way that you impiously, with your tortures, urge on the servants of God ? Nay, you shall never weaken my confession of God ; for in the Lord I stand and wrestle with your most barbarous devices, and I will shew you that my mind's wisdom is yet full of youth and strength. Max. I believe you are mad and have a devil. And. If I had a devil, I should have obeyed you; but now, not having a devil, I will not obey : but you wholly The Judge plays Devil, and blasphemes. 201 and entirely are a devil, and do devil's work. Max. The men who preceded you spoke very freely, just like you, until they were tortured ; but afterwards they were persuaded by the severity of the punishments to be reverent to the gods, and have come to the right decision about the Augusti, and have poured to their healths, and are saved. And. It is quite in keeping with your wicked mind to lie, for the things which you deludedly worship do not stand in the truth : for you are a liar like your father. Wherefore God will judge you shortly, minister of Satan and of all the devils. Max. Let Him, — -if I do not treat you as a thorough ruffian and bring down your lustihood. And. I shall fear neither you nor your threats in the name of my God. Max. Bring some paper and twist it into wisps, and light it and hold -it to his belly. And, If I should be wholly consumed by you and my breath could still be in me, you would not beat me, accursed tyrant ; for the God whom I serve is at my side, enabling me. Max. How long will you be fool enough to refuse ? I wish you would at least die in your senses. And. So long as I live, I will confound your wickedness. I am eager to be entirely destroyed by you, for that is my boast in God. Max. Bring the spits redhot and run them in between his fingers. And. Dull fool, and enemy of God, brimfull of all devices of Satan, when you see my body all .inflamed with your tortures, do you still think that I am afraid of your devices ? I have within me the God whom I serve : through Jesus Christ I despise you. Max. Ignorant dunce ! do you not know that the man whom you are invoking was a certain common felon, and once upon a time under the authority of a President named Pilate, was fastened on a gibbet, of which occurrence there are Acts preserved ? 202 Violence. And. Be dumb, accursed spirit ! thou art forbidden to say this : for thou art not worthy to speak of Him, most wicked man. If thou hadst the bliss to be worthy, thou wouldest not be dealing wickedly with the servants of God. But now, being alienated from hope on Him, thou hast not only lost thine own soul, but art trying to force them that are His, thou transgressor ! Max. What will you gain, you idiot, by 'faith' and 'hope' in that felon Christ of whom you speak ? And. I have gained much already, and shall gain more ; that is why I endure all this. Max. I do not mean to use instruments of torture and make short work with.you ; but you shall be given to the beasts, and shall slowly die watching your members one by one devoured by them. And. Why, are not you fiercer than all other beasts, and more horrible than all other manslayers, because you have pun ished men who have done no wrong, and are not accused of doing any wrong, as if they were murderers ? Therefore, I serve my God in Christ, — I do not deprecate your threats. Bring any instrument that you think most formidable, and you shall find that I can play the man.- Max. Open his mouth, and thrust meat off the altar into it, and pour wine into it. And. O Lord my God, behold the violence they do me. Max. What can you do now, my fine fellow? you would not reverence nor sacrifice to them, and now you have eaten of their altars. And. O foolish and blind and sense less tyrant, you poured it upon me violently and in spite of me. God knows, who understands the reasons of things, who also is able to deliver me from the wrath of Satan and his ministers. Max. How long will you be a fool without understanding, and utter this unprofitable rant? And. I expect to reap the profit from God, and therefore I endure Treason. 203 all this ; but you do not Understand the things on which I gaze while I suffer. Max. How long will you be a fool ? I shall crop your tongue, and then you cannot rant like this. You shew me that my forbearance has made you a greater fool than you were. And. I entreat you to do it: — pray cut well away the lips and the tongue on which you flatter yourself you laid your pollutions. Max. Madman, why do you still persevere in your punishments ? see, as I said, you have actually tasted of these meats. And. Cursed be you, most bloody tyrant, and those who have given you this power, for touching me with your most abominable sacrifices : but you shall see what you have done against God's servant. Max. Do you dare to curse the Emperors, vile person, — the Emperors who have given so long and deep a peace to the world? And. I cursed them, and I will curse them again, for plagues and blood-bibbers, men who have turned the world upside down ; and I pray that God with His im mortal hand, not being longsuffering with them, may requite them for this their pastime, that they may know what they are doing to His servants. Max. Put an iron into his mouth, and knock out his teeth, and cut out his impudent blas phemous tongue, that he may learn not to blaspheme the Augusti ; and burn the tongue and the teeth out of his accursed head, and reduce them to ashes, and sprinkle it about, for fear some silly women of the gang of this abomi nable religion should watch for them, and take them home, and preserve them as precious and holy things ; and take the man himself, and deliver him over and keep him in the prison, that together with his villainous fellows he may be given to the beasts to-morrow. — And it was done so. Of these three men, Andronicus at any rate was justly 204 The Best Gifts. condemned for his treasonable language. But even apart from the maledictions on the Emperors, what wonder, when an almost irresponsible proconsul's blood was up, that such stubborn confessions turned into illegal martyrdoms ? That was what the sufferers coveted. " These Christ-wearing Martyrs," says St Phileas of Thmuis, in a passage studded with magnificent misquotations, "coveting earnestly the best gifts, endured every toil and all devices of shameful handling, some not once but twice ; and though the Emperor's guards vied with each other against them with threatful words and deeds as well, they gave not in, because that perfect love did cast out fear1" 1 ap. Eus. hist. eccl. vm. x. 3: Phileas himself received the 'best gift' Routh, Rei. Sac. vol. IV. p. 88. St in 306 or so. CHAPTER VI. THE FOURTH EDICT, OR, THE PERSECUTION OF MAXIMIAN. Churches and Altars fed him; Perjuries Were Gnats and Flies. It rain'd about him Blood and Tears, but he Drank them as free. Henry Vaughan. The next clearly marked stage in our history occurs in the last month of the year which had inaugurated the per secution. According to Eusebius, St Romanus, who had been mutilated on the seventeenth of November, 303, had spent a very long and weary time in his dungeon1 — for to a person in his condition a month might well appear so — when the birthday of Diocletian's reign came round, the twentieth anniversary of the day when Carus died so strangely in the far East2. No Emperor, since the dutiful and well-nigh ' Eus. mart. Pal. II. 4: irXeiorbv re tween Romanus' mutilation, and the aMBi irovrjBels xpbvov. but he expressly 20th of November, could hardly be states that he was executed before the called irXei Dut a month year's end. could; while it is unlikely that an edict 2 The one bad ms. containing the of this sort would be delayed in its pro- Mortes of Lactantius says (c. 17) that mulgatiOn like the persecuting edicts. the day of the Vicennalia was to be a. d. (2) Lactantius says that Diocletian XII. kal. Dec. or Nov. 20. But for would not wait to be invested consul several reasons it is easiest to suppose on Jan. ist, because he could not bear that this is a slip, either in author or in a residence of thirteen days at Rome, copyist, for the following month. (1) which seems to suit best with a. d. xii. The three days that would elapse be- kal. Ian. (3) By a perfect piece of 206 The " Third Edict " at the Vicennalia saintly successor of Hadrian, had been able to look back over so lengthy or so prosperous a reign. It had long been the custom, even at the lesser festivals of Quinquennalia, to extend the joy and thankfulness of the sovereign down to the very worst and meanest of the population. And now, when Diocletian was seeing the outgoing of a fourth lustrum, assuredly the custom was not interrupted. On the day of the winter solstice1, the edict of the Vicennalia went forth as usual, commanding all the prison doors to be thrown open, and the malefactors released. But the amnesty was not so full and free as at other times ; for by the action of the Second antichristian Edict, instead of the murderers and grave- thieves2 who usually listened to the welcome proclamation, the dungeons were choked with Bishops and Priests, Deacons and Subdeacons, Readers and Exorcists. Such criminals were not to be let off so easily. Irritated as they might well be by their rigorous confinement, they might set them selves immediately at the head of the Christian conspiracy which a few months back had looked so formidable. A little note (which we call the Third Edict, because to Christian eyes it has worn the important aspect of an act of persecution,) was appended to the amnesty, to say that it applied even to these Clergymen, provided they would sacrifice: and that if they needed some encouragement to good fortune, the dates of two rescripts i Vogel apparently (from Hunziker in the Codex of Justinian (II. iii. 28, /. c.) thinks the choice of the day a and IV. xix. 21) shew that Diocletian strong mark of Diocletian's superstition, was travelling westward in December, but it is much simpler to believe that it which closes the discussion. The sub- was the historical anniversary. ject is worked out well in Hunziker, 2 Eus. hist. eccl. vm. vi. 9 : dvSpo- pp. 184 foil. I have brought nothing fovois Kal Tvp§upbXois. new to bear upon the point. an Act of Amnesty, not Persecution. 207 take advantage of it, any kind of torture might be thrown into the scale of freedom1. Dean Milman makes a mistake, however, in introducing his mention of this little codicil with a sentence which im plies that it was an aggravation of the war now waging. " Edict followed Edict," he says, " rising in regular gradations of angry barbarity. The whole clergy were declared enemies of the State, and crowded into the prisons. A new rescript prohibited the liberation of any of these prisoners, unless they should consent to offer sacrifice2." He has taken the negative side, and exhibited it as the positive, — a process which in history, as well as in photography, converts white into black. He has made the prohibition the chief point, rather than the permission. The fact is that this clause of the decree of amnesty was intended as a special act of mercy to the Christian Church. It was a plain token that the Emperor believed the dangerous crisis to be nearly past". The Prelates might now be safely restored to their widowed Churches. But the statute which made Christianity illegal was unrepealed : — the Church still needed to have the curb held firmly. It would have been a stultification of the policy which had condemned all private believers to slavery, if the professed ecclesiastics had been allowed to walk forth absolutely free. They must be requested to go through the form of sacrificing before leaving their present 1 Eus. hist. eccl. vm. vi. 10: avBis the vicennalian manifesto, is plain from 5' iripwv rd irpura ypdppara iiriKarei- the story of Romanus (mart. Pal. ii). XyipuTWV, iv dts tous KaraKXelo-TOvs 6ii- " Milm. Hist. Chr. II. 222. aavras piv iav fiaSLgeiv iir' iXevBeptas, 3 We have before observed (see iviarapivovs Si pvplais Kara^alveiv irpoa- above, p. 137), that the Second Edict riraKTO fiairdvois. That this ' Third has the appearance of a temporary pre- Edict' was the same as the clause in caution. 2o8 Large Defection of Clergy in Consequence. quarters. If they refused to pay the paternal Government this little courtesy in return for its kindness, they were to be in no worse case than before : not one was to be killed : now, as formerly, Diocletian would transact the whole busi ness without blood. It was important, however, to liberate them1; and so the magistracy was advised to add to the natural desire of liberty the soft insinuations of the eculeus and the ungidae ; but if they could resist these siren voices, nothing remained but to let them lodge where they were. The prisons emptied with a distressing but natural rapidity2. Some doubtless sacrificed at once; many after torture. Probably governors who befriended our religion made the exit easy. Others who wanted to get the prisons emptied, devised means to turn many of them out. For it was no slight expense to the Roman government to be maintaining the entire clergy in jail. It was the first instance, in fact, of a state-supported hierarchy ; and yet the State was not reaping any benefit from its expenditure. It is there fore possible to hope that not all who regained their temporal liberty, had fettered their consciences with sinful acqui escence. Some persons who were proof against torture, like St Romanus, were put to death, — of course illegally, unless they happened to speak treason3. Others, like the famous Bishop of Cordova, or Donatus to whom Lactantius dedicates 1 Besides the reason of expense men- aBiv-qaav irpoo-poXrjs ; and at Antioch tioned in the next paragraph, I believe Romanus was left the only man in the that Diocletian saw the importance of prison. This looks like plain dealing reconciling the angry corporation again, with the foibles of the Christians ; yet and intended this amnesty to be the first Eusebius is accused of disingenuity ! step to a new act of toleration. 3 Romanus himself, however, died 2 Eus. hist. eccl. vm. iii. i : pbpioi actually under torture, astride on the S' aXXoi rr)v ^pvxrjv bird SeMas irpovapKr)- hobby-horse. travres irpoxeipois ovtois a7ro irpibr-ns i^rj- Diocletian goes to Rome for the Feast. 209 his book, were treated legally, and remained in their prisons, bearing through six long years the attacks of successive administrators who desired to be rid of them, until at last, like returning ghosts, they came again into the world of men, which was rejoicing in the remorseful death-anguish of Galerius1. But the publication of the so-called Third Edict was not the event which made this time so momentous to the world and to the Church. These Vicennalia rank among the most notable dates in history, for the reason that they virtually mark the close of Diocletian's reign. The great festival was to be held at the city which despite all Diocletian's innovations was still the focus of the earth. The aged and anxious Emperor came from Nicomedia to Rome through his native province of Illyria, so as to avoid the discomforts of the sea passage to Brindisi. It was a long and fatiguing journey, and he performed it very fast. On the third of December he was at Burtudixus, not far from Adrianople ; on the eighth at Singidunum, now Belgrade2. He cannot have arrived at Rome before the fifteenth. As the high day was to be the twenty-first, the time was but short ; for there was doubtless an immense amount of business to be talked over with Maximian. It was the first time the old colleagues had met since the outbreak of the persecution. It was the last time they were to meet before their intended abdication. They had to settle what day they should retire, and whom they should select to succeed to the Caesarships. The horizon was not entirely free from clouds. It is not 1 Lact. mort. 16, 35. We may con- occasions. elude that Donatus was in Holy Orders. 2 So we see from the two laws in the He had been tortured on nine different Cod. Just, mentioned in note 2, p. 205. M. J4 210 He does not enjoy the Feast. improbable that Maximian began already to wince at the prospect of a speedy resignation, and gave symptoms to his antient friend of the disturbances he was destined to produce. And besides all this anxious thought, Diocletian of course found it necessary to go through much of that wearisome routine of public entertainments, games, banquets, religious ceremonies, to which sovereigns are inevitably doomed. Aged and infirm as he was, these things pleased him little, especially when he was so intensely and gloomily pre occupied with cares of state. One stray remark of his is recorded, which has a distinctly pettish ring about it and seems to suit perfectly with the present occasion. " I am censor," he said ; " the games should be more chaste when I am looking on1." And the people of Rome, who had only seen him once before during all his long reign, on the occasion of the Triumph, were very exacting. They pressed close to gaze upon the wonderful old statesman with irre verent curiosity. Diocletian, now long accustomed to the adorations and luxurious seclusion of his court at Nicomedia, found their familiarity disgusting and intolerable. The great day of the festival, as we have said, was the twenty-first of December. He was to be installed in his ninth consulship on the New Year's Day. All Rome was looking forward to a fortnight of gaieties, with a grand pageant at the end. But Diocletian could not endure it. He was sick at heart2. He felt his nervous irritability rising to one of those strange 1 Vop. Carin. 20 : castiores esse opor- celebratis, cum libertatem populi Romani tere ludos, spectante censore. The saying ferre non poterat, impadens d aeger am- has much more point in this place than mi, prorupit ex urbe, impendentibus ka- at the Triumph, where Mr Hunziker lendis lanuariis, quibus nonus illiconsu- Places iL latus deferebatur. 2 Lact. mort. 1 7 : quibus sollemnibus His Constitution breaks down. 211 crises which we have noticed before. Suddenly, without warning, he flung out of the astonished city, determined to return to Nicomedia, and got as far as Ravenna by the first of January, where he suffered himself to be put through the ridiculous form of an investiture. The winter was a severe one, and he had already caught cold from exposure to the rain in coming from Rome1 ; but an excited, restless impulse2 goaded him on again. He was so sick that he was forced to be carried in a litter, instead of the springless travelling-coaches of the day. But somewhere on the journey, — in all probability at Sirmium3, where he had one of his many palaces — he succumbed entirely. His fine and sensi tive system was shattered. The remainder of the year 304 was a blank in the personal history of Diocletian. The paralysis affected not only his body, but his mind. That powerful and capacious intellect which had grasped and solved the problems of a world, — which had found the empire a chaos without form and void, and within twenty years had evoked a Golden Age, — which had carried, solitary yet stable, the weight of all the earth, as unsupported from without as the elephant of Indian allegory, — had so utterly shrivelled and collapsed, that though the empire was reeling to and fro with a new supreme concussion of the two greatest forces known, the only subject that suggested to it any anxiety was the open ing of a new circus at Nicomedia4. 1 Id. ib. sed profedus hieme, saeuiente 3 The ms. of the Mortes has per cir- frigore atque imbribus uerberatus, mar- cuitum ripae strigae, for which the most bum leuem at perpetuum contraxit. probable correction is, I think, Istricae 2 Vopiscus Num. 13 speaks of the 'of the Danube': this is Fritzsche's motus inquieti pectoris as a characteristic reading. of the man. 4 Lact. mort. 17: aestate transada, 14 2 2 1 2 Maximian issues the Fourth Edict. For while Diocletian lay unconscious in his bed, or tottered vacantly about the warm garden or the new suites of his Sirmian retreat, the dread Fourth Edict had gone out, under his name and signet, to sort the world, man by man, woman by woman, child by child, whether they were on the Lord's side or on Satan's. The date of the issue of this Fourth Edict is preserved to us in a certain account, which, taken apart by itself, would probably have seemed of little value, but is of surpassing interest when taken in connexion with the failure of Diocletian's powers1. The Emperor Maximian, we are told, went down from his capital to Rome, and was present on the eighteenth of April at the games in the Circus Maximus2. Suddenly there arose a cry from the assembled multitude (for doubtless all who attended these idolatrous shows were good Pagans), a cry so unanimous and well defined, that there could distinctly be counted twelve repetitions of the shout : " Away with the Christians ! " The shout then changed its tone somewhat, and became appealing and personal : " O Augustus ! no Christianity ! " This cry was repeated ten times. In close sequence upon this popular demonstration, Eugenius Hermogenianus, the Prefect of the Nicomediam uenit morbo iam grain in- Dec. 31; whereas Surius only gives a surgente; quo utcumque sepremi uiderit, very different and inferior account, and prolatus est tamen, ut circum quem fece- the commemoration is on the 30th, not rat dedicard anno post uicennalia repleto. the 31st. Both Baluz and Baronius 1 The Passio S. Sabini may be found justly rate the value of the document in Baluz. Miscell. vol. 11. p. 47 ; Baro- very high, although they do not see nius also quotes largely from it, in a aright to what period it belongs : the somewhat simpler form, for the year latter wishes the end were as authentic 30 r. There is evidently some mistake as the beginning. in Hunziker's book, for he twice refers 2 April 18 is one ofthe days marked to this Passio as contained in Surius for LVDI in the Maffean marbles. Our AutJwrity for this novel Statement. 213 Praetorium,— or (according to another copy) of the City of Rome— to whom the mob referred the Emperor for an elucidation of their behaviour, introduced a motion into the Senate relative to the persecution of the Christians. That effete but venerable body welcomed his proposal; the Emperor graciously gave them leave to pass a resolution on the subject; and Maximian sent out a rescript, dated April 301, to the Augustalis of Tuscany2, one Venustianus, containing just what we learn from other sources to have been the substance of the Fourth Edict. Obviously the authority of this document must not be pressed too far. No other writing has yet been discovered which relates the same story; so that the account lacks explicit corroboration. And intrinsically, this Passio S. Sabini is not in the highest class of the historical relics of its age. It is not a mere transcript of official Acts, like those with which the last chapter closed. It is not (apparently) by an eyewitness, like the Passion of St Philip of Heraclea. It has probably been somewhat tricked up in the succeeding centuries, when Sabinus became one of the most influential of Italian saints. But neither is it of the worst description of legendary tales. The story has never passed through the constrictor-like mauling of a Simeon Metaphrastes. Such miraculous stuff as we find in it, is not at all inconsistent 1 This agrees with the Eusebian date the document.- It could scarcely have SiaXafibvTos Itovs, which I take to mean been invented by a forger. The office "at the division of the year." Sup- (as Ducange says s.v.) seems simply to posing Diocletian not to be deranged at have been that of praeses; but we have the time, it would have been impossible no other traces of the use of the title, to consult him in the interval between except in the case of the Prefect of the 1 8th and the 30th. Egypt- It is perfectly possible that the 2 I venture to think that this strange government of Etruria likewise may title is in favour of the authenticity of have been rather peculiar. 214 The Senates Share in the Business. with a very early date of manufacture1. All that part which is of consequence for the present purpose, is unaffected by any later additions. And lastly, as there is no direct cor roboration of the story, so is there nothing whatever directly nor indirectly to disannul it. Not only is it difficult to suspect the inornate narration, — the curious and purposeless details about the shouting, — the antiquarian correctness of the date of the games, — the reference to Maximian's presence at Rome, as a thing not of every day occurrence2: but that which at -first sight looks most suspicious, — the decree of the Senate, — is really the greatest confirmation. Maximian was longing for leave to persecute in earnest. The heathen population knew it ; and they knew also that Diocletian was not at present in a position to stop him. Now was their time, especially as Maximian was not often in the old city. A certain number agreed beforehand to raise in concert the shout that would charm their prince's ear. But Maximian was unused to act ing on his own advice, and Diocletian could not (even if he would) advise him to attack the Christians. He felt sure of Galerius' support, but he was too far off to consult. He determined to see what the Senate thought about it. The Prefect of the city was of course but a creature of his own ; and when he appeared in the Senate with his tremendous proposal, all the senators knew that it was an official measure. To have passed such a decree on their own re sponsibility, would have cost their heads3: when the proposal 1 See p. 141, note 3. even Diocletian himself at Rome. 2 This is a really noticeable point, 3 No forger would have risked them for very large numbers of the less trust- so much. worthy Acts think nothing of placing Maximian in a ludicrous Quandary. 215 came from such a quarter, it would have cost their heads to refuse. Maximian felt now that if Diocletian should recover and be put out by what had been done, at any rate he had got all the Senate (whom he detested) into the scrape. The situation is ludicrously true to his character. Now if this Passio were elaborately worked up like those which Simeon edited, we might have distrusted all the introductory matter, as mere lies for effect's sake: but in this bald, plain narrative, to assume that so artful an inventor has been at work appears ridiculous. The details are not of a kind which the ordinary interpolators of legends devise: they add nothing to the glory of the saint. But whatever we may think about the truthfulness of some of the minor details in this story, two things at any rate appear quite certainly historical : (1) Here, and here alone, we have the exact words of a part of the Fourth Edict ; and (2) For some reason or another, the Fourth Edict was begotten at Rome, and Maximian was the father of it. We see then that the only direct authority we have on the origin of the Fourth Edict, — an authority so simple and strong, that to reject it would be disloyal to the laws of historical criticism, — ascribes the authorship of this horrible decree to Maximian alone, giving a train of circumstances as its occasion, which requires only a little care — no wresting — to develope into something like positive certainty. Now if the revered Head-Emperor had been politically alive, in spite of all the truthful appearance of the Acts of St Sabinus, we should have been forced to throw them away as worthless, because they entirely exclude any action on the part of Diocletian ; and without Jovius' nod Herculius never acted. But another historian, who is most careful 2 1 6 Corroboration of this Account. about his facts, though a miserable poor theorist, Lactantius, quite independently gives us strong reason to think that the revered Head-Emperor was politically dead, — as dead as Carus or Numerian. There is not a single thing recorded by any historian to shew that at this time Diocletian was politically alive, except that the Fourth Edict was so tre mendous a measure as to make one doubt whether Max imian could possibly have issued it on his own responsibility : and yet the only authority (and that a really good one) for the origin of the measure, imperatively requires that Max imian alone should have issued it. Lactantius therefore and these Acts are the two sides of an arch, neither of which would be very firm alone, but which together form the strongest support that art or nature knows. And that which our arch supports is the grand fact, which grows to new certainty and to new significance the more it is pondered over ; — that in the Fourth Edict of Diocletian, Diocletian had no more hand than Adam1. It is true that a recent German writer on the persecu tion of Diocletian, in treating of the motives which led to Diocletian's abdication, suggests doubt whether the Emperor's sickness was as grave as Lactantius, Eusebius2, Constantine3, Eumenius*, and Julian the Apostate5 conspire to represent it : but the mere roll-call of these varied authorities is enough to assure the reader that the account is substantially correct. That learned author is, I admit, less biassed than I am; for he does not perceive how the Fourth Edict is affected 1 This is the first time that attention rrjs Siavotas ds (xo-Tatriv airip irapiyero. has been drawn to this weighty fact. 3 Const orat ad s_ coet xxv J# 2 Eus. Hist. Eccl. vm. xiii. 1 1 : 4 Eum. paneg. Max. et Const. 9. vbo-ov yap ovk alaias rip irpoiToordr-nTiSv » Jul. Caess. p. 315 (Spanheim): tlp-npivav iiri' el tis as containing the which" they need not go,— the sense condition on which the Christians were given by Heinichen. Valesius and to be released from danger, correspond- others render pi, irpoo-iJKeiv by non ing to his version of ut denuo sint : 'you licere; but there is a Red Sea of differ- shall secure him from molestation if you ence between the two words. find that he is orthodox and really at- 312 Momentary Triumph of the Christians. the Persecution of Diocletian was virtually at an end, even in the East. The subordinate officers issued and posted local mandates, which conceded more than they were bidden to concede. In some cases their humanity showed itself so impatiently that, before they could have the notices published, they had set the prisoners free1. Perhaps never in the world's history were the privileges of Christian public worship so enthusiastically accepted. From jails and mines, from ' hills and holes where they hid themselves before,' the people streamed. Such congregations never had been seen. Churches began to rise. The confessors preached publicly the faith which their sufferings had en deared to them. The weak-hearted prostrated themselves before them, imploring their more than sacerdotal absolu tion. Christianity took the cities by storm. As the bands of exiles passed through on their homeward journey, the native Churches met them at the gates, and led them in bold procession, with psalms and hymns, right through the main streets and market squares, and set them on their way. Their demonstrations of sympathetic and unaffected joy, and the marks which the sufferers bore about in their bodies, appealed so powerfully for compassion, that even those who were not yet Christians joined in the festivities, as though the cause of rejoicing were their own. But this joy, in the provinces of Maximin — and these (after a dangerous disputation with Licinius) now included all from Cyrene round to the Bosphorus — was not to be long unchequered. That prince had seen with a scowling eye the Church's exultation, and the popularity that she had won. It was time that he and his theosophists should 1 Id. ib. 7 : tpyois Si iroXb irporepov. Maximin forbids Services in Churchyards. 313 apprise the ignorant folk that Christianity existed on the barest sufferance, and that she was not in favour at court. Hardly six months had elapsed since the death of Galerius, when the first warning came to the Church, not to presume. There was in every town one spot, to which, as soon as ever Christians might declare themselves without fear, every Churchman and Churchwoman was sure to run. It was the ground where slept the sainted dead. Masses said, sermons preached, prayers offered, vows made, over the martyrs' bones, had an efficacy double of any others. But the Government took this pious reverence for an insult to itself. Every adoration offered at a martyr's grave was an open, seditious condemnation of the Emperor's persecuting policy. From first to last Christianity was a homage to the enemies of Caesar. Maximin's toleration of the faith did not include the toleration of such sinister gatherings. On some pretext — perhaps of the immoral tendency of torchlight or moonlight meetings out of doors — the Emperor gave strict orders that there should thenceforth be no services of any kind within the cemetery gates \ Towards the fall of this year, Maximin made (it seems) a kind of progress through his loyal provinces. Most of the chief towns of the East, such as Tyre, Antioch, and Nicomedia, received the honour of a visit Humble addresses were presented to him everywhere; for probably the unhappy provincials hoped that obsequiousness might secure them and their wives from his overlordly claims on purse and person. In one point these addresses resembled one another 1 Eus. hist. eccl. IX. ii I : irpurov date of this Burials Bill is marked by piv dpyeiv r)pds rr)s iv rots KOip-qr-nplois the phrase ouS' bXovs iirl prjvas ii, i.e. trvvoSov Sid irpogido-eus neipdrai. The it falls in October, 311. 314 He sends Antichristian Deputations to himself. closely. Maximin was known to have one taste, as well developed as even his taste for strong drinks and for female society, namely the taste for Christian persecution. Theo- tecnus at Antioch, where he was now supreme, set the example of calling the imperial attention to the religious question. Other towns — for in every one there was a sufficient clique of zealous pagans to recommend the policy to the rest — took the happy hint Until the Emperor came, the two parties had been the best of friends, but they found his presence act like a revelation. They told the Emperor that the neighbourhood of the Christians was intolerable. They deeply regretted Maximin's concession to them in the beginning of the year. They did not dare to ask him to revoke his decision formally. They only asked leave for so much local self-government as to enable them to expatriate their Christian fellow-citizens \ These petitions proved a prodigious success. They touched the Platonic sovereign to the heart They were so perfect a satisfaction to him, as to make it the current belief of the Church, that Maximin had himself sent the deputations to himself 2. No doubt in every town he came to, he dwelt with such pious fervour upon the memorials presented to him elsewhere, as to make like action a neces sity. He could even afford to hesitate, to argue, almost to refuse. At his own Bithynian capital — we have his own word for the statement, not contradicted by that of the Christian professor of rhetoric at the place— when the 1 Eus. hist. eccl. IX. ii. 2. latum, quae peterent ne intra duitales 2 Eus. 1. e. : aiirds iavrip KaB' r)puv suas Christianis conuenticula extruere vpeo-fleveTai ; Lact. mort. 36 : in primis liceret, ut suasu cpactus d impulsus fa- Christianis indulgentiam communi titulo cere uiderdur, quod erat sponte fadurus. datam tollit, subornatis legationibus ciui- I reject Fritzsche's quasi for suasu. His joyous Sermon to the Tyrians. 315 memorialists came to him, with a magnificent display of the images of the gods, asking leave to banish the atheists, Daza answered, that he knew the Christian population there to be very large ; that he thanked them cordially for the request, but observed that the petition was not quite unanimously signed ; that the Christians (if there were any who were determined to stick to their superstition) were as free to abide Christians as those who abode worshippers of the gods ; but nevertheless he deemed himself compelled to defer to the judgment of such a deputation, a deputation which felt so strongly in the matter, both because all imperial precedent was in favour of granting such petitions, and because the gods might take it amiss if the claims of expe diency were preferred to those of religion \ Thus compelled by the people, whose most humble minister he was, the despot made no secret of the delight he felt at the turn public opinion was taking. At Tyre, the decree of the municipal authorities, forbidding Christi anity within the town, was engraved on a brazen tablet and affixed to a column : and appended to it, was engraved a jubilant sermon from the pen of the sovereign, con gratulating the city on its act. " At last," begins the happy preacher, "weakness has become strong and bold. The night of error is scattering. The mist is breaking up. You would not believe me," he continues a little lower down, "if I were to say what transport of joy, what delicious pleasure, what solid satisfaction this has been to me. You have given me the greatest proof of your religious temper." Tyre, he says, had left off thinking of her material interests, had forgotten all selfish demands of older days, as soon as 1 Eus. hist. eccl. ix. ix. 17, 18, 19. 316 His Permissive Prohibitory Act. o ever she perceived that 'the votaries of that damned folly were beginning to creep forward again,' like a fire which was supposed extinct. He saw the good hand of Jove in the fact that the Tyrians had fled immediately for healing to his own breast, — the home, the metropolis, of all piety1. He contrasts the present prosperity of the East with those earlier days of plague and pestilence, war and famine, storms and earthquake, which had visited the empty folly of those trespassers against all laws divine and human, who had swamped the earth with their shame. He enthusiastically gives the Tyrians leave to do what they desired. " If they still cling to their damnable folly, let them, as you demand, be sorted out, and chased over the hills and far away from your city and its district. Follow out your laudable zeal. Free yourselves from all pollution and profanation. Then your city will be able duly to serve the rites of the im mortal gods, according to its own innate inclination." And then follows what the Tyrians had really wanted. "And that you may know, how extremely agreeable to us your petition has been, we permit you, our dutiful subjects, to demand of us, in requital of this your godly resolution, any great privilege that you shall choose. And indeed you must be sure so to do, and to receive what you demand ; for you shall assuredly obtain it : and it will remain for ever to testify to your descendants of your devotion to the gods and of our substantial mode of rewarding it2." ¦& 1 Eus. hist. eccl. IX. vii. 6 : utrirep summer, but by the allusion in IX. x. irpos pryrpbiroXiv iraauv Beoo-efieiuv. 12. It is there said to have been ' not 2 We may call this a ' Permissive quite a year ' from the laws of the bra- Prohibitory Act.' The date is fixed not zen tables to Maximin's final toleration only by the expressions in Maximin's edict of 313.— It is likely enough that sermon which describe a fine early in many cases the towns were contented Theotecnus and his Winking Jove. 317 Theotecnus had meanwhile been making vigorous efforts to popularize idolatry in that city which gave birth to the Christian name. There was a good deal of what is commonly called Jesuitry in the religious revival of the new Platonics : and this character was in no one more pronounced than in the Curator of Antioch. Eusebius sums up this aspect ofthe man and of the movement, when he calls Theotecnus a for midably clever, unscrupulous sorcerer, to whom no greater misnomer could have been applied than the name he bore, of ' Child of God1.' This gentleman supposed it not inconsistent with the advance of truth, to establish, for the behoof of the ignorant, upon whom philosophic argument would have been wasted, a wonderful image of the reconciled tutelary of the town, Zeus Philius, the god of goodwill. The pomp of the Christian reconsecrations was quite eclipsed by the imposing rites at the dedication of the image. Theotecnus devised novel mysteries in its honour in which men were put through a profane and mumming parody of the holy Sacrament of the Laver. There were further initiations, to match the suc cessive steps of Christian initiation, so grotesquely wicked that Eusebius dares not mention them. The highest stage of mystic knowledge to which a man could attain (and the Emperor Maximin appears to have been among the first who attained it), was the discovery, made only when Gnosis was advanced enough to despise the shock, of the springs and traps by which the image worked. These weird secrets were with thus cheaply winning their mas- conciliard, cum magna omnium laetitia ter's favour, without ever using their sustulit censum. new privileges against Christianity. The * Eus. hist. eccl. IX. ii. i, Seivbs Kal kind of recompence which they received 7617s Kal irov-qpos dvrip, Kal rrjs irpoouvv- may perhaps be gathered from Lact. plas aXXorpios. mort. 36 : quo dbi ad praesens fauorem 3 18 Chaotic State of Paganism hitherto. irregularly divulged, two years later, under the spell of tor ture, to the inquisitors of Licinius. But the natives were enthralled with wonder at the show. The god was liberal of miracles. Oracles of grave importance were uttered : and, above all, Jupiter backed the petition of the townsmen, and bad his minister declare that no Christians must be allowed to enter the district of Antioch. The new deity was so pay ing an invention, that Maximin rewarded his hierophant with promotion to the proconsulate1. And now, throughout all the East, while the towns were raising local persecutions against the faith, Maximin and his advisers were taking a most wise step for the reformation of paganism. No former persecutor had ever seen the need of supplying anything in the place of that which he destroyed. It was a measure more worthy of a politician and a philosopher, than the old trickeries of an idol temple. We have already drawn attention to the fact that paganism was destitute of every element of cohesion. It had never had to grapple, till now, with any foe ; for it had never challenged scepticism by committing itself to a creed, nor had it even consciously pro posed to itself the reduction of immorality. It had never, therefore, trimmed itself into a wieldy form. An ardent devotee here and there might perhaps make it his business to encourage others to the worship of the gods, or to blame them for their slackness : but, as a matter of constitution, paganism (besides having no historical unity with the past, no life) had no pastorate, no cure of souls, no sacramenta, no Bible, no doctrine of unity, no preaching of law or teaching of dogma, no yearning for fellowship. The mind is positively amazed when first it recognises the full difference between 1 These statements are gleaned from Eus. hist. eccl. ix. iii., and xi. 5 and 6. They create a Pagan Church Body. 319 that poor chaos which the heathen religions were, and the Hebrew ideal of a Church, a peculiar people, which was to widen and widen till humanity should be reunited in the Per fect Man. Maximin, at the teaching of Theotecnus, conceived the stupendous thought of creating a Heathen Catholic Church. The first great measure was the creation of Pagan Bishops with territorial authority. Such a thing had been unheard of before, and we can hardly tell whether the pagan ministers in the smaller towns were pleased or not at being put under superior jurisdiction. The number of local ministers was at the same time increased, not a single image being left without its separate chaplain ; whereas before, many of the temples had been served, as occasion required, by any casual person who knew how to do the sacrificial act. And in imitation of the Christian daily Sacrifice, the pagan Prelate of each chief city, with the help of his subordinates, was to see that in each single temple of the town, perhaps of the country too, sacred rites should be offered day by day, with all the regularity of a Liturgy. Within Maximin's own palace there was an unin- termitted daily service. But even thus the hierarchy was not complete enough to match our Church. Maximin added the provincial to the diocesan organization, reserving for the crown the right to appoint all superior officers. And these Arch bishops and Bishops were armed with most formidable powers over the laity. Through the organised espionage of their pa rochial clergy, they were enabled to make a perfect monopoly of religion. They stopped the building of Christian churches, which had been permitted by name in the edict of Galerius. They detected the smallest gatherings of the Christians, even in private houses. If it were observed that any man was 320 Powers and Pomp of the Pagan Prelates. inconstant at the worship of the gods, whether he called him self Christian or heathen, the new pontiffs had authority to summon him before their own consistories, or to deliver him to the secular arm, according as they saw fit. The ecclesias tical courts were unable to inflict the penalty of death, but were allowed to mulct malcontents of noses, eyes, and ears. To the terrors of the law were added the seductions of aestheticism and outward grandeur. The men selected for the antichristian bishoprics, were men who had adorned the highest civic magistracies: for rank was supposed to confer lustre on the Church, not the Church to ennoble rank. As it was the fashion for devout Christians to seek a sacerdotal blessing on their meals, so Maximin paid honour to his hier archy, by refusing to eat flesh not slaughtered at an altar: and all his food and drink had been sanctified by the rites of libation. Guards of honour were told off to escort the dignitaries. The two upper orders, the metropolitan and suffragan prelates (for in Maximin's establishment the former were not simply primi inter pares), were ordered to display their august and mystic dignity by wearing, as their ordinary dress, albs of snowy purity \ We do not know whether any formal efforts were made to preach the Neoplatonic creed, or whether the people were left to learn, what was embodied in the new ecclesiasticism, to chance, and to gratuitous teaching such as Maximin gave in his brazen rescripts. But it is unhappily certain that in the opposite direction, in the polemic against Christianity, they adopted means as discreditable to them, as the pagan hier- i For these three paragraphs, read that Maximin (like Julian) made any Lact. mort. 36, 37 ; Eus. vm. xiv. 9 attempt to purify the morals of his new and IX. iv. 2. We can hardly suppose ministry. Foul Slanders against Christian Purity. 321 archy was creditable. Obsolete and ridiculous slanders were gravely revived. One of these unhandsome tricks is traced to the commandant of the Roman garrison at Damascus. That gallant officer, one night, sent out into the market-place, and fetched off the pavement three or four notorious strumpets, and requested them, unless they loved torture, to dictate offi cially a fantastic story, of how they had once been Christian women and had learned their execrable trade in the celebra tion of the Mass. Christian worship was then as well known as it is now; yet when the Emperor received the acts from, the commandant, he gave instant orders that copies of the document should be circulated and published openly in every city in his empire1. But to Theotecnus must be paid the crowning, damning honour of the masterstroke of this part of the persecution. For a long time past the Christians themselves had not re mained content with those scanty records of the Life and Death of their Master which Divine inspiration had reckoned sufficient. As far back as the times of Tertullian, and even of St Justin, apologists had challenged their enemies to inspect works which passed under the name of Pilate2. But Theo tecnus had turned the tables on them. During the days, which he had passed in the Curatorship of Ancyra, he had amused his leisure time with the composition of a rival for gery. It was not the most careful or critical of forgeries indeed ; for even Eusebius, of whose uncritical character so much is said, was able to show that Theotecnus had dated our Saviour's Passion five years before Pilate ever came into the province3. But the piece suited its purpose well enough. 1 Eus. hist. eccl. ix. v. 2. apol. 5, 21. 2 S. lust. mart. apol. I. 35, 4§ = Tert- 3 Eust hi,t- ecc1' L ix' 2' 3" ¦m. 2I 322 The Acts of Pilate It was perhaps not intended at first for any serious use, but rather as a mocking burlesque. What these Acts contained, we happily do not know ; in all likelihood (for anything can be proved in a forgery) they proved our Lord guilty of moral as well as of political crimes1. The ingenious author appears to have given publicity to his work pretty early in the persecution ; for it will be re membered that the explosive judge who sentenced St Andro nicus argued against him out of them, — unless it were from others like them2. Theotecnus himself (whether he had then Set his thoughts on paper or not) argued in the same way against St Theodotus in 304. Now, however, Theotecnus was a greater and more influential man ; and he determined to make a wider and an authoritative use of his composition. He showed them to his delighted master. Maximin at once ordered copies to be sent to every place, great or small, town or country, in the whole East. A full edict3 was sent along with them, which ordered that the Acts of Jesus and Pilate should be posted up in conspicuous places where every one might read them. It was nothing to the Emperor and his minister that they were conscious of the fraud. They had but one object — to damage Christianity. But the worst is yet to be told. With a most diabolical fertility of resource, the im perial edict enjoined, that all schoolmasters, from the Darda nelles to the Nile, should be supplied with copies, that all 1 Their grossly blasphemous charac- tur, continent Acta Pilati, sed innocens ter may be inferred not only from Eus. immaculatus et purus ad hoc solum mor- hist. eccl. IX. v. 1 : irda-ns ipirXea Kara tern suscepit, ut earn uincerd resurgendo. tov Xpio-Tov fSXao-ipripdas ; but from the Theotecnus was once a Christian. more explicit passage in St Lucian's 2 See above, p. 201. Apology (ap. Routh, Rei. Sac. iv. p. 6): 3 It was a irpoypappia, not an dvri- non ut ista, quae nunc falso conscribun- ypaiprj. made a School Text-Book. \2X scholars should be made to understand that these Acts were the genuine account : nay the edict condescended to minuter and meaner details still. The Acts were made a government text-book. Lest from any of those pure boys' minds the filthy lies should pass without tainting, it was expressly or-^ dered that every boy should have the Acts dinned into his ears until he knew them by heart ; that every boy should be examined in them and exercised in repeating them ; and that every boy should have to compose out of his own reflexion frequent declamations upon them. The Christians could not pass down the street without hearing the Name at which they bow, coming from those young lips in scurrilous banter, or in the lofty moral scorn of rhetorical practice. Thus at the very age when the heart is tenderest, when the pathos of the Cross and the Crown of Thorns tells most upon the life, all re verence and pity for Jesus Christ were to be purposely, laboriously, as a piece of school discipline, turned into con tempt and ridicule and hatred. Any one who knows how profane and blasphemous imaginations are apt to be shot into the mind, untimely and unwelcome, when once they have been suggested, will see how purely Satanic the device of Maximin was. The state of affairs which was now reached, in 3 1 1 and 312, was as follows. Christianity had never yet received, in the East, the formal removal of its disabilities which Galerius had intended. Though Maximin still affected to give com plete religious liberty to his empire at large, he had en^ couraged the several towns to proscribe Christianity. The ecclesiastical courts of the novel hierarchy possessed powers of enforcing conformity upon the individual. And as we have already hinted, in those places which had declared themselves 21 — 2 324. Attempt to cut off Church Teaching- Power. pagan, it was gradually discovered that the civil power might go further lengths even than such spiritual censures as torture and mutilation. So it came to pass that some of the very purest martyrdoms occurred after the great edict of tolera tion. At Emesa, an aged Bishop and two others were actu ally tossed to the beasts on their confession of the Christian name. But this final effort of persecution was chiefly directed against the best theologians of the Church. It was designed to shut formidable mouths. One of the greatest Prelates of the time, St Peter of Alexandria, who had been released from his long confessoriate in 311, and had drawn up canons for the readmission of the lapsed as though the persecution were over, with an innocent surprise found himself a martyr after all. And these things were not kept privy from the Em peror. He had taken up his abode at Nicomedia. That town became the headquarters of persecution. At any rate since the death of Pamphilus, the most famous Biblical scholar of the East was Lucian, a Priest of Antioch. Maximin. sent for the man to Nicomedia. He was invited to make a de fence of his religion, part of which Ruffinus has recorded for us, and very noble it is : and when he had finished the pero ration, he was beheaded. A few days before he died, in his farewell epistle to his own Church, he wrote an interesting sentence. "A perfect choir of martyrs," he says, "salute you all at once. And I tell you the glad-tidings, that Anthimus the Pope" — the great Archbishop of Nicomedia, whom even Galerius had spared — "has just received his final consecration by the course of martyrdom1." 1 For the above, see Eus. ix. vi., as ker, p. 281, where he shows conclu- well as vm. xiii. 2, and compare all sively Eusebius' mistake about the date that Routh brings together (1. c.) about of St Anthimus' death. St Lucian and St Peter ; also Hunzi- Christian Armenia interferes. 325 But the fanaticism of Maximin was bringing him into trouble on two sides. He had created an ' Eastern Question.' It happened that part of his dominion was bounded by the not insignificant kingdom of Armenia, which had hitherto done the Roman good service in his struggle with the power of Persia. Now, as we have mentioned before, Armenia, — King, Queen, people and all — had become Christian. The first state that had learned to appreciate the blessed influence of Christianity upon government, might well feel wroth at the treatment of the brotherhood across the border. But St Gre gory's converts had a fleshly as well as a spiritual kinship with some of the oppressed. Lesser Armenia, separated from them by a mere geographical line, and entirely peopled by men of their own clan, was a Christian province, but subject to the powers at Nicomedia. Maximin's ministers — perhaps his ecclesiastics — made the unhappy attempt to enforce among the hills of Koordistan the same discipline which was in vogue under the Bithynian Olympus. But the attempt to make these Armenians sacrifice to the demons of Neoplatonism, called forth an ungovernable sympathy from their independent cousins. Eusebius does not make it clear which party was the first formally to declare war. War however broke forth : and Maximin, hampered at home by pestilence and famine (which he boasted had been banished for good by his pagan zeal), suffered a disastrous defeat. The first war fought under the banner of the Cross against oppression, ended in the suc cess of righteousness1. And Maximin found himself embroiled with a far more potent adversary on the other side. Even in 311, Constantine had written to him, advising him not to behave with so little 1 Eus. hist. eccl. IX, viii. 2, 4. 326 Constantines Conversion. regard for the edict of toleration1. And now, late in 312, Constantine's reasons for being displeased with the senior Emperor were better than ever. Upon his triumphant entry into Rome after Maxentius' death at Pons Milvius, he dis covered that that prince and Maximin had come to a stealthy agreement. A correspondence betwixt the two was found ; and the statues of Daza and Maxentius were observed stand ing on the same pedestal. This, apart from the religious question, was enough. But at that moment, if at any in the life of Constantine the Great, the religious question was up permost. Upon the nature of Constantine's famous Vision, I do not enter, nor upon the nature of his conversion to the faith. Suffice it here to say that at Pons Milvius Constantine had made a sharp, if superstitious, experiment upon the effi cacy of the saving Sign, and was beyond measure impressed by his success.' He had long been biassed for Christianity by his sagacious perception that it was the power of the future : but his was a mind incapable of atheism, and he was now deeply convinced that Christianity was — I will not say, a true system, but — a worship of a substantial Deity. He went down to meet Licinius at Milan (Licinius was there to marry his colleague's young sister) in all the fervour of a neophyte. The one grand event of the meeting of the Emperors was the great effectual close of the ten years' strife, — the Edict of Milan. The famous Edict of Milan has a claim to be remembered far above that of ending the Persecution of Diocletian. In that respect, indeed, it is of less real importance than Ga lerius' legacy of peace. This edict is more an era in the religious history of the world. It is the very first announce- 1 Lact. mort. 37. The Edict of Milan. 327 ment of that doctrine which is now regarded as the mark and the principle of civilization, the foundation of solid liberty, the characteristic of modern politics. In vigorous and trenchant sentences it sets forth perfect freedom of conscience, the un fettered choice of religion. Alexander, Gallienus, Galerius, had broadened the aegis of Rome so as to protect one more creed. Christianity had passed from the number (it might be infinite) of religiones illicitae into the number of religioncs licitae: but that was all. By the Edict of Milan, all religions of all sorts, sizes, and origins, effected at a bound the same exodus. Galerius, snarling and growling,— the very figure that the Dreamer saw " biting his nails because he could not come at them," — had been compelled conditionally to arm with legal authority a certain faith. Constantine the Great said boldly, " Henceforth the State rejects the function of prescribing in matters of faith : religion is inalienably a ques tion for the individual." " We have long seen," says the edict, " that we have no business to refuse freedom of religion ; and that to the judg ment and desire of each individual man must be left the power of seeing to matters of belief, according to the man's own free will." There is no ambiguity here. " In this view, we had given orders, which were destined for the Christians too, that every man should loyally observe his own persuasion and his own cult." The Toleration Act of 311, that is to say, was intended to give as full a liberty to a Christian as to a heathen1. The State would not dictate to what religion a 1 Readers who have studied the sub- sive edicts of toleration, viz. (i) that ject may be startled at the hardihood of published by Galerius, Constantine, this sentence. It has hitherto been and Licinius, in 3 1 1 ; (ii) one supposed universally supposed that there were to have been published by Constantine (not counting Maximin's) three succes- and Licinius, in 312, to which reference 328 Was it Constantine s First ? man should belong, but exhorted him to cleave steadfastly to whichever fate and his forefathers' choice had assigned is made in the next following; (iii) the Edict of Milan, published by Constan tine and Licinius, in 313. Now I entirely reject the supposed Second Edict — which has been invented solely to explain the references in the Edict of Milan, and is nowhere else alluded to— and am satisfied that these refer ences are to the First Edict, the edict of Galerius, given on p. 300. The chief facts are as follows. Eu sebius' (hist, eccl. IX. ix. 12) mentions a vbpos virip XpurTLavuv TeXeuraros, made by the two pious Emperors after the fall of Maxentius, one result of which was Maximin's second rescript to Sabinus, which he has transcribed at length in the same chapter : of this vopos TeXeuraros, however, Eusebius gives no farther description — at least, not then and there. Now Mosheim, Neander, and a host of other writers, have assumed that this co',aos reXeuraTos was the lost Second Edict referred to in the Third or Milanese Edict. Dr Keim (Theol. Jahrb., I.e., p. 219) rightly shows their mistake on three grounds : (a) Eusebius evidently means the Mi lanese Edict itself by the vbpos reXeii- Taros: (b) the document referred to in the Milanese Edict is there described as involving what was harsh and merci less, and therefore could hardly be called by Eusebius TeXeuraTos: (c) no room can possibly be made for another Christian edict between the fall of Maxentius and the great Edict of Milan. Keim, then, avers that the vopos TeXeoiraTos was the Milanese Edict, but, in a manner which (I must .say) seems to me reckless, alleges that Eusebius (i) has consciously misdated the second rescript of Maximin, in making it follow the Milanese Edict and not the lost Second Edict, and (ii) has held his tongue about the Second Edict altogether, because it was dis creditable to Constantine to have pub lished anything so hard upon the Church. These are grave charges to bring against a historian and a Bishop, and it would have been well if Dr Keim, before making them, would have discussed a simple theory, which did occur to his mind, for he mentions it and flouts it without a word of argu-. ment: viz., that Eusebius tells the whole truth because there was no Se cond Edict, and nothing but the truth because it was the Milanese Edict which produced Maximin's second re script, and that the harsh regulations denounced by Constantine were not his own handiwork but part of the Edict of 311. > There is but one small obstacle in the way : — Constantine speaks of conditions imposed cratjius in detail, in the former document of toleration. Now Galerius' Edict contains only a general condition, ita ut ne quid contra disciplinam agant ; therefore, clearly, the reference is not to that public Edict itself. But, as I point out in the text, the Edict was accompanied by a Rescript to the judges, expounding the general condi tion in detail : per aliam autem epistu- lam iudicibus significaturi sumus, quid debeant obseruare. It is to this Re script to which Constantine's new de spatch (itself a Rescript, not an Edict, see Eus. hist. eccl. x. v. 6, 7, 14, etc.) His Strictures on Galerius Edict. 329 him. "But there were sundry and diverse conditions1 at tached in detail in that Rescript in which the said power was conceded to the aforesaid Christians." There are indeed no conditions detailed in the Edict which has been preserved, and of which we have given a translation : but that Edict sets forth the general condition of ' doing nothing contrary to discipline,' and mentions immediately the lost Rescript of instruction to the judges touching the nature of that disci pline. Constantine the more naturally alludes in this place to the accompanying Rescript, and not to the public Edict, inasmuch as the document we are now considering (though commonly called the Edict of Milan) was really itself a Rescript, or farther paper of instructions upon the mode of administering the Edict of 311. "So because of these con ditions, some of them (it may be) after a short while," — not at first, because the conditions were not proclaimed in the Edict, so that they only came to know them by breaking them — " withdrew from the loyal observance of Christianity." Galerius then had imposed harsh conditions, but had not let the unhappy Christians know what his conditions were. The harshness and reticence combined make it still plainer that refers : it is distinctly called iKuvi, r) l The notion of the word alpioeis, avnypaiprj (id. ib. § 3), and to irporepa condiciones, in this place meaning sects iipuv ypdppara Ta irpos ti)v trr)v KaBo- seems to me so preposterous that I do flumv dirotsTaXivra (§. 6), and in the not discuss it. It would express the original Latin (ap. Lact. mort. 48) exact contrary of the tenour of the prius scripla ad offcium tuum data. edict to say, "Our last edict tolerated Constantine was a co-signatary of the a number of schisms by name ; now, in Edict of 311, and therefore the word the cause of religious freedom, we order KeKcXtvKeipev could as justly be used of all these sects to be erased." Neverthe- that, as of a document signed by only less the theory has had influential sup- Licinius and himself. I believe then porters. I can make neither head nor that I am fully justified in exploding the tail of Dr Heinichen's Meletema xxn., riieory of the Three Edicts. in the third volume of his Eusebius. 330 Restrictions imposed by Galerius. Galerius had only meant to conciliate the Christians for the nonce, in hopes to cheat Christ into removing His heavy hand. Constantine, in the Edict of Milan, does not say in so many words that the conditions themselves were hard1 — that they would strike a mere reader as hard — but acknowledges freely that there were hardships accompanying them. It is not easy to conjecture, at least with any confidence, what Galerius had bidden his magistrates exact as the price of licensing Christianity. The only clue, and that not a sure one, is to be found in what seem to be fresh concessions in the Edict of Milan. In the first place, Constantine expresses the wish not to appear to damage either any form of worship, or any rank of life. We conclude that in 311, Christianity was forbidden to all but certain classes, — that if a man chose to declare himself a Christian he would incur no danger, but might no longer take his seat as a Decurion in his native town, or the like. Again, it is now ordered that the Christians are to receive back their Churches and sites and demesnes, simply for the asking ; the Emperor's own noble liberality in demnifying those who had bought or received such property. As the former order of proceedings is described as ' definite and very different,' it seems clear that Galerius had endeavoured to turn some money on the transaction. Again, men are now encouraged freely to choose their own religion, and this pro vision is rightly supposed to point at a former veto upon proselytism : it has been thought that possibly a certain number of years of Church membership previous to the perse- 1 Heinichen (1. c.) points out this axaial yoav, but Kal (something addi- inaccuracy of Keim's on p. 747. Euse- tional) dnva tSKaid r)v. bius does not write alrives (alpiireis) Absolute Freedom of Conscience. 331 cution were considered a necessary qualification, before any one, under the first statute of tolerance, might revert. Other writers have remarked that Constantine gives perfect liberty not only to practise, but also in practising any given religion, — facultatem in colendo, not only colendi. Had Galerius granted leave to worship Christ, but subject to some horrid pagan supervision ? insisted upon all the sects being taken, unwel come and unwilling, into Catholic communion ? framed some Public Worship Regulation Act, that forbad services and uses which the Christian conscience felt it needed ? This is an extremely probable guess. But to the best of my belief, among the provisos of the former rescript must have been conspicuous one which, while speciously allowing perhaps an unmaimed Christianity where Christianity was allowed at all, removed the question entirely from the judgment and con science of the individual soul. I cannot help thinking that one of those things which Constantine describes as "sinister, and not german to our gracious benevolence," must have been a stipulation which made room for Maximin's permissive pro hibitory laws, — a stipulation that if the Church was anywhere obnoxious to the majority, she was to be tabooed, — a stipula tion (that is) that religion should still be, what it had always been till then, a matter of public external order, not of private spiritual conviction. This supposition alone explains the startling distinctness, — as clear as a clap of thunder, — with which Constantine preaches, in the light of his new Chris tianity, absolute freedom of faith, as an indefeasible right, for Pagan or Manichee, for Catholic or schismatic. Every con dition of toleration is clean cancelled : no circumstances are henceforth imaginable which would justify religious despotism. We have no more a charter for a Church or a sect, but a 332 Constantine s Edict aimed at Maximin. charter for each unit of humanity. "No man whatsoever ought to be refused any facility for giving up his whole soul either to the observation of Christianity or to any religion which he, personally, feels to be best adapted to his needs1." It is for heralding this vast revolution in the bases of religion,. if for anything, — not merely for his patronage of ourselves, — that Constantine the Great deserved his most majestic title of Peer of the Apostles. And what special facts, at that particular moment, evoked this mighty utterance ? Not the fall of Maxentius. The Christians in the new-won Italy needed no liberation, more than their heathen fellows. Maxentius' tyranny had pressed impartially upon all. Conceivably his new secret alliance may have involved something which looked ominously for the •Church ;• but it was not for the West that the Western Em perors' decree was issued. It was undoubtedly Maximin's .conduct, Maximin's false and treacherous construction of the Articles of 311, at which Constantine was aiming. This is -revealed by the extraordinary speed with which Constantine and Licinius despatched their orders to the prince whom the Senate had just made their junior2. The battle of Pons Milvius had only been fought in the very end of October, and Constantine had subsequently passed some time in Rome ; 1 ap. Lact. mort. 48 : ut nulli om- by seniority, and therefore, when he and nino facultatem abnegandam putaremus, Constantine were admitted Augusti to- qui uel obseruatloni Christianorum, uel gether (see p. 273), would naturally is religioni mentem suam dederet, quam retain his precedency. The curious ipse sibi aptissimam esse sentiret. thing is that though Constantine and 2 Lact. mort. 44 : senatus Constanti- Maximin had once been filii Augus- no uirtutis gratia primi nominis titulum torum while Licinius was an Augustus; dccreuit, quem sibi Maximinus uindica- yet, directly the tetrarchy was broken up, bat. I see no need to disbelieve the they both took their places above him. story. Maximin was the first Caesar ¦ Maximin's Second' Epistle to Sabinus. 333. and yet before the year 312 had quite run out, Maximin had not only received the haughty mandate from Milan, but had put forth his own semi-submissive rejoinder1. Maximin, in spite of his secret treaty with the Roman usurper, had pretended to be on good terms with the other Emperors2. But now his treachery was discovered, and the two Emperors were forming a perilously close alliance at Milan, probably against him. He resolved in fear to take the initiative. It was not for dread of Constantine's vengeance that he sent out his new mandate to Sabinus : for he was bent on war in any case. But he felt that at this crisis it would be better to reconcile the great party of his own sub jects whom he had disobliged. He must take the complaints for the moment out of the Christians' mouths : it would be easy enough to deal sternly with them again when the crisis was past. His new missive went to work most strangely. He told Sabinus he firmly trusted that the wisdom of 'our lords, our fathers, Diocletian and Maximian,' in ordering the 1 It will be seen that I do not accept the visit to Nicomedia took place in 311, quite the usual date of the Edict of the rescript was written before the end Milan. Probably when most persons of 312. And again the rescript to Sa- have placed that Edict in 313, they binus must have been sent before Maxi- have thought only of Licinius' promul- min left Syria on his march against gation of it, June 13, 313, at Ni- Licinius: but as he started hieme quam. comedia. But it was only due to cum maxime saeuiente, and (though he Maximin's opposition, that the edict loitered on the march) was far up in Rou- was thus retarded in the East : the edict meliaby April, he had probably left Syria itself is earlier. The facts are these. by January. Indeed his last edict, in 313, That the edict in Eus. IX. ix. 12 is speaks of the rescript as belonging to identical with the Edict of Milan I the year before. The point is of im- have already shown: and Maximin's portance, for it shows how very impa- second rescript to Sabinus was written tient Constantine was for religious in consequence of that edict. But in liberty. the rescript to Sabinus Maximin speaks 2 Eus. hist. eccl. IX. ix. 12: tpiXtav of his visit to Nicomedia having taken rewpis abrobs viroKopi$opivq. place riji-irapeXBbvTi iviavry: therefore,as 334 He applauds and forbids Persecution. Christians to be reduced by sharp chastisements, was obvious to everybody. On coming into the East, however, he had found that in some places an actual majority of the most useful citizens had been banished for their religion. He had at once ordered the judges not to torture or browbeat them any more, but to wheedle and conjure them over to orthodox heathendom. No Turk ever lied more shamelessly ; but let that pass. This leniency, according to the lordly liar, was converting Christians in shoals, when the antichristian de putations began to come : and then, what could he do but answer them genteelly ? Maximin does not acknowledge that his civil answers to the towns had made any change in the position of the Christians, but continues with the very tone of an injured man. Although he had already given injunctions quite full enough, and there was no need to say a syllable more, yet he thought he might as well write word, that neither beneficiarii (a kind of Redifs), nor any one else, was to have leave and privilege — a horrible disclosure of what had hitherto been thought fair — to afflict the Christians with the process known by the cant term of " concussion." The judges (dreadful threat !) were to return to their wheedling and their conjuring. If any one, under their charming caresses, left the Church and worshipped the gods, so much the better for him ; but if he refused, Maximin, like those who suggest pumps and horseponds deprecatingly, repeated that he could not think of allowing " concussions." In this curious letter Maximin contradicts himself often enough to make his Christian subjects dizzy. First he justifies bloody persecution, then plumes himself upon having stopped it, next apologises for having set it again on foot, then denies that it was going on, and lastly orders it to cease. We cannot His Defeat at Adrianople. 335 wonder at what Eusebius relates, that the people whose wrongs the letter applauded and forbad, neither built Church nor held meeting in public on the strength of it ; they did not know where to have it1. Relying on the bruised reed of this charter (which did but perpetuate the miserable status quo) Maximin went north ward and westward, to occupy the provinces of Licinius before that old prince's wedding-feast was over. When he reached Bithynia, his army was so shattered with the winter's march, that he was obliged to wait for some time to recruit. As soon as it was prudent, he crossed the Bosphorus. Byzan tium, not then the city of the great monarch whose eye first saw its surpassing value, took him but eleven days to reduce. He marched on to Heraclea, where he was detained a con siderable time. When he reached Adrianople, he found Licinius there in person. Licinius was not desirous of giving battle: his forces were far too inferior: but he hoped to check Daza's onward march. Something2, however, led to an engagement. It was fought on the 30th of April. Whether or not the tale be true, that the whole army of Licinius fell on their knees, and prayed the Most High God to be friend the right, it is certain that He did befriend it. The battle-field was as little the scene for a Maximin, as the Platonists lecture-room for a Licinius. "The incredible speed which Maximin exerted in his flight, is much more celebrated than his prowess in the battle. Twenty-four hours afterwards he was seen pale, trembling, and without his imperial ornaments, at Nicomedia, one hundred and 1 Eus. hist. eccl. IX. ix. 24. before the Milvian Bridge : he vonch- 2 Lactantius mort. 46 makes the safes to the old bad barbarian a Vision story a pendant to that of Constantine and an Angel. 336 Maximin among the Christians of Asia. sixty miles from the place of his defeat." But Maximin did' not stay in the Asiatic capital ; for Licinius was following him up. Taking his wife and children, he made haste to escape into Cappadocia, leaving Diocletian's palace for his vanquisher. Licinius was not slow to enter on the posses sion : and on the 13th of June, 313, Lactantius and the remnant of the Church of Nicomedia read the manifesto of Milan. Asia was now in the hands of Licinius, and Maximin. was in the worst straits. His vast army was either cut to pieces, or incorporated in the legions of the victor. In self- defence he endeavoured to get together another, powerful enough to thwart the ambitious progress of Licinius. But he was now in the thick of the Christians. The Christians had heard that his rival was promising, and securing too, in every province where he came, a perfect liberty of conscience. It was nothing but his religious policy which was making Licinius such a favourite. Maximin had at any rate a few qualities which would make him a more popu lar ruler than his foe ; for while Licinius was the most illiberal extortioner alive, Maximin had never oppressed with taxations on the Galerian scale, and at the same time was open-handed. There was only one thing to be done: but it was the most distasteful sacrifice that Maximin ever made. While he secured himself at Tarsus (to which he had retreated, to keep the keys of Syria), by blockhouses in the passes of the Taurus, he endeavoured to secure him self from his own subjects' wrath by at last giving in his. adhesion to the religious policy of the West. Maximin made the concession with so much dignity and grace, that it is impossible to help wishing that his His last Edict of Toleration. 337 language were truer. His single-eyed desire to benefit all his subjects, he says, and his plan of conceding to the wishes of the majority, had been perspicuous. This could be proved by a mere cursory glance at the history of the last few years. He takes no blame to himself for the sufferings of the Christians. He had set his face against persecution from the first. Unjust judges had made religion a pretext for seizing property, but not with his connivance. Only the year before, he had written to the magistrates, ordering perfect liberty .to be allowed in matters of religion. The judges had misread his instructions, and had caused Maximin's people to doubt the meaning of his ordinances; the Christians had felt shy (this was a fact) of performing the observances which they preferred. Maximin was deter mined that this wrong state of things should continue no longer. This time, he had resolved not to send Rescripts which the magistrates could keep dark, but to proclaim his intentions in a public Edict, so that any man with eyes might see that he was allowed to become a Christian if he chose, and to practise Christianity as he chose: there was to be no suspicion of a double entendre. If they wanted to build Lord's Houses — Maximin went so far as to call them by this name — they had free leave to do so. And as a further sign of the imperial benevolence, any houses or sites that had legally, under Diocletian's statute, fallen to the fiscus, were to return at once to the Catholic Church1. There is no saying how profoundly history might have been altered, had Maximin lived to enjoy the fruits of his honourable action. But when he wrote this edict, his hours 1 Eus. hist. eccl. IX. x. 7. M. 22 338 Maximin dies of Delirium Tremens. were already numbered. Round the Deaths of the Persecu tors dreadful tales have clustered : and it is probable that Maximin died of nothing worse than a natural death1. But the death which was natural to him, was the most dread ful perhaps that men can die. Maximin was known as a habitual drunkard; and in his dying delirium he is said to have cried out, that he saw God, with assessors all in white robes, judging him. He perished protesting to his Judge, even as he had protested in his last edict, that it was not he, but his officers, that had done it 2. He was the last of the persecutors to die. That vene rable man who had refounded the fortunes of the empire, who had been the maker of so many princes, and survived so many reigns, had gone to his rest In sorrow near the beginning of the year. Besides such pleasures as he could extract from his garden and his books, his servants, masons, and few private friends, he had felt but little joy since his retirement. He had been forced to order to a frightful death the servants whom he admired and loved with almost a childlike simplicity, because they professed a religion in which he saw no harm. He had been once summoned from his repose, and consulted on the best means of escaping from a difficulty, which, if his advice had been followed, would never have occurred : and when he had given his still wise counsel, not only was it ostentatiously rejected, but the shameless persons whom he had raised to distinction affronted him with the offer of a crown. And as his hairs grew greyer, and his years entitled him to still deeper venera- 1 So say Zosimus and the Epito- taneous combustion. mator : Lactantius says he took poison, 2 His death was in the summer of Eusebius seems to think of a spon- 313: I should place the edict in June. Woes of Diocletian's Daughter, Valeria. 339 tion, his sorrows had increased, and the insults he was com pelled to brook were multiplied. He had but one child, the Empress Valeria, a lady of a sweet and chastened nature, whom he had married to Galerius. The generous, meek, affectionate character of Valeria is revealed by one remarkable act of hers. Being herself debarred by nature from bearing children, and hated in consequence by her rude husband, she had not thought it beneath her to adopt and cherish as her own, Candidian, the son of one of Galerius' paramours. Scarcely had Valeria been left a widow, when she came (with Prisca her mother) to the court of her husband's nephew, who was himself married, and who had stood to her in the estimation of a son. But Maximin, perhaps full of the oriental notions of sovereign succession, instead of offering her a splendid asylum, had offered her an alliance at once adulterous and incestuous. Upon the receipt of her majestic and Christian reply, Maximin's cruel anger burst forth. He seized her goods. He took away her ladies of honour. He tortured and killed her chamberlains. He forced them to accuse her friends falsely of the most nefarious crimes, and pun ished with severe penalties the deeds never done. Lastly, he drove the two Empresses themselves into destitute exile, refused to assign them even a Seriphos or Pandataria where they might be in peace, and whensoever he heard where they had settled, sent messengers to oust them offen sively from their place. From some spot in the wilds of Syria, Diocletian's daughter found means to send to her father the story of her unutterable woe. Diocletian, in astonishment and anger, sent an ambassage to Maximin to demand that Valeria should be instantly conveyed to Spalatro. 340 Constantine destroys Diocletian s Effigies, He received no answer. He sent several times, for the matter was one in which a father's heart and an Emperor's honour could not be contented with delay. But no Valeria came. At length he commissioned a prince of his own blood, a soldier of the highest rank and great influence, to approach Maximin, and to condescend to beseech him, by the memory of Diocletian's favours, to have mercy upon the father and the daughter. The envoy returned with the intelligence that Maximin had flatly refused \ It might have been thought that Maximin's hostility in itself would have been enough to secure the friendship of Licinius, even if recollections of boyish love could not touch the heart of Constantine. But it was not so. One of the conquering Emperor's first acts on entering Rome and Italy, was to destroy the images of his father-in-law and would-be assassin. Side by side with the images of Maximian stood the images of Diocletian : they formed but a Janus, two men in one. But reverence for Jovius proved no safeguard for the memorials of Herculius. Diocletian was told by some officious news-carrier that all his effigies together with his colleague's had been dragged by the hangman's hook and broken2. 1 Lact. mort. 39, 41. After Diocle- Maximin had wished to marry her, and tian's and Maximin's death, the ven- these were inexpiable crimes. For fif- geance for the sins of both was wreaked teen months more after Candidian's on these unhappy ladies. Valeria, having death, she roamed the provinces in a witnessed in disguise (for she was her- marketwoman's garb, till at last, with self proscribed by Licinius) the execu- the Empress Prisca, she was recognised tion of her poor adopted boy, fled at Saloniki. Amid the compassionate away for her life. Her husband on his tears of thousands, the mother and deathbed had recommended the boy daughter were beheaded, and their and her to Licinius, and she had paid corpses tossed into the sea : ita illis her entire fortune into his avaricious pudicitia et condicio exitio flit. See hands as the price of her safety; yet Lact. mort. 50, 51. she was Diocletian's daughter, and 2 Lact. mort. 42. Mr King has a and rates him for eschewing Licinius' Wedding. 341 From this unduteous work at Rome, Constantine went down to Milan to consign Constantia to her aged and un attractive lover. Though conscious of what he had been doing, he was not abashed to send, in conjunction with Li cinius, an invitation to the hermit of Spalatro to attend the festive ceremony. The old man of seventy-eight returned a dignified and valid excuse : he was too old and too infirm to bear the fatigues of the journey, or to take part in the joys of the marriage. But Licinius and his brother-in-law pretended to see in the excuse a mere pretext for political disapproval. With infamous bad taste, they sent back to Diocletian an angry and threatening letter, in which they told him that they knew he had always been a partisan of Maxentius, and was still a partisan of his daughter's perse cutor, Daza1. Broken with sorrow and shame, insult, sickness and old age — and (as some say) seized once more with that mental malady which cares had before brought upon him, — Diocle tian gave up even the desire for life itself. It did not require much violence to drive the spirit from the worn body. Diocletian refused to touch the food which was served to him, and died 2. But before he died, the great step had portrait gem representing Diocletian patuit, per formidinem uoluntaria, but and Maximian as Janus. he makes the mode poison : Eutropius 1 Aur. Vict. epit. xxxix. 8. has the same story word for word. 2 This is Lactantius' account, and Zosimus only mentions the death, but most affecting and vivid his narration is. says nothing about the manner ; while Eusebius (hist. eccl. VIII. append. § 3) Zonaras xii. 33 records a legend that knows nothing of suicide, and only Diocletian, aiming again at the sove- says paKpq Kal irriXviroTdrri rfj tov ou- reignty, was executed by the Senate's paros daBevela SiepyaoBeis. The younger order. There may be this grain of Victor (I.e.) places his death in the truth in the story, that the Senate joined nearest relation to Constantine's threat- in Constantine's reprobation of the old ening letter : morte consumptus est, ut satis man's absence from the wedding. 342 Diocletian starves himself to Death. been taken which was the fulfilment of his own interrupted policy of reform. It may have been a slight comfort even to his miserable end, that he had seen the Edict of Milan. Finis. APPENDIX. EXCURSUS I. On the details of the First Edict, Feb. 24, 303. Let us first check off our authorities. Eus. hist. eccl. vm. ii. 4, and mart. Pat. prolog. I. (i) ras pev iKKXrjorias ds i'darpos A7 pardon ; always provided, that whoso have already in bygone days defiled themselves with unlawful and immoral marriages, should understand that they have so far gained our indulgence, as that (after such detestable crimes) they may congratulate themselves on their lives being granted them, but should understand also, that the children whom they have begotten in so detestable an alliance are not legitimately born. Thus it will come to pass, that in future also no one will dare to give ear to his unreined concupiscence, when he knows that his predecessors in that branch of crime have been acquitted and allowed life only on one condition, viz., that their children whom they have unlawfully begotten, may never be their heirs, which according to antiquity was forbidden by Roman law. And (alas) we could have wished indeed, that neither aforetime had any such thing been committed, which needed either to be pardoned with mercy or reformed by law ! But hereafter, we mean religion and morality to be regarded by every man without exception in the contracting of marriage, that men may remember that they have to do with Roman order (disciplina) and Roman laws, and may under stand that only those wedlocks are valid, which Roman law permits. And with what relatives, as well by marriage as by birth, matrimony is not allowed to be contracted, we have given a schedule in our Edict : with daughter, granddaughter, great-granddaughter, also with mother, grandmother, great-grandmother : collaterally, with father's or mother's sister, with sister, sister's daughter, sister's granddaughter: also of relatives by marriage, with step-daughter, step-mother, mother-in-law, daughter-in-law, and all those which were forbidden by antient law, from which we mean that all shall abstain. For our codes maintain nothing which is not moral and venerable : and the Majesty of Rome has only arrived (by favour of all Heaven) at this great sublimity, because all her laws are clenched by a wise sense of religion and a deferent heed to purity. Wherefore, by this our Edict, we would have it known to all men, that the amnesty for the past, which our mercy has bestowed in apparent contradiction of public order, only applies to those delinquencies which have been committed up to the 30th of December in the Consulship of Tuscus and Anulinus. And if any offences against the honour of the Roman name and the sanctity of the laws are detected, after the above-named day, they shall be lashed with condign severity. Let no man calculate that he will be able in the case of so detestable a crime to win mercy, who does not hesitate to plunge into an offence which is so clear, and that after our Edict. " Given at Damascus, on the ist of May, in the Consulship of Tuscus and Anulinus." EXCURSUS in. The Epistle of Saint Theonas from which the reader may judge, whether the Christian Caesariani were likely to burn Diocletian's palace, and whether Diocletian was likely to suspect them of a conspiracy against him. " Theonas, Bishop, to Lucian, Provost of the Chamberlains to our most puissant Prince. " I. I thank our Almighty God and Lord Jesus Christ, who hath not ceased to blazon abroad the faith of Himself through the whole world as the one remedy whereby we are saved, and to enlarge that faith even in the persecutions of tyrants. Nay, by the storms of persecutions, it hath glowed the brighter, like gold 'purified in the furnace ; and the truth and the loftiness thereof hath grown ever more and more dazzling, so that peace being now given to the Churches by grace of a good Prince, the works of Christians shine even before the unbelievers, and thereby God, your Father which is in heaven, is glorified : and that is what we, — if we wish to be Christians in deed and not in words, — ought to seek and desire as the principal thing for our salvation's sake. For if we seek our own glory, we strive after a mutable and perishable thing, that doth but bring our own selves to death ; but the glory of the Father and of the Son, who for our salvation was nailed to the Cross, maketh us safe unto an eternal redemption, which is the most earnest expectation of Christians. " Therefore, my dear Lucian, I neither suppose that thou dost, nor would I have thee, boast thyself because through thee many in the Prince's palace have come to the knowledge of the truth ; but it behoveth thee rather to render thanks to our God, who hath made thee a good tool for a good work, and hath put thee in a proud place with the Emperor, that thou mightest diffuse the sweet odour of the Christian name to His glory and the salvation of many. For in regard that an Emperor, not actually as yet enrolled in the Christian religion, hath entrusted his life and his person to the care of Christian men as being more trusty than others, by so much ought ye to be the more solicitous, and the more diligent and thoughtful for his safety and his wants, that by that means the Name of Christ may be glorified to the utmost, and the faith of Him through you that cherish the Emperor, may be daily Familiar Mirth of Diocletian's Chamberlains. 349 added unto ; and forasmuch as many of his imperial predecessors have in other days supposed us to be malicious and fulfilled with all iniqui ties, now, seeing your good works, they may have no choice but to glorify Christ Himself. "II. And so ye must strive with all your might, that ye may never have conscience of any base or dishonourable (I need not say, of any wicked) thing ; lest through you the Name of Christ be contrariwise blasphemed. " Far be it from you to sell to any one at a price an audience of the Emperor ; or that any prayers or bribes should make you in any wise to suggest to the Emperor dishonourable things. Let all heat of covetousness depart from you, which worketh rather idolatry than the religion of Christ. To a Christian, no dishonest gain, no double dealing, can possibly be in character : he embraceth a simple, naked Christ (nttllum turpe lucrum Christiana, nulla duplicitas conuenire potest, qui Christum siniplicem et nudum amplectitur). Let no low jesting nor foul speaking pass among you. Let all things be performed with modesty, courtesy, frankness of manner, exactness, that in all things the Name of our God and Lord Jesus Christ be glorified. " The offices whereunto ye are severally appointed, these fulfil in all the fear of God and love of the Emperor, and with exact diligence. Any commandment of the Emperor which doth not offend God, ye must believe to have proceeded from God Himself: perform it as much for love as for fear, and with all pleasant mirth. For there is nothing which so sweetly refresheth a man that is wearied with great anxieties, as a familiar servant's convenient mirth and kindly obedience : and again on the other hand, there is nothing that moveth him to such vexation and maketh him so uncomfortable, as that servant's gloomy looks and disobedience and secret murmuring. Let these things be far from you Christians, which walk in the zeal of faith : but in order that God may be honoured even in you, crush down and trample out all faulty ways, whether of mind or of body. Be clothed without with patience and courtesy ; be filled within with the virtues and hopefulness of Christ. Endure all things, for your very Creator's sake : submit to all things, conquer and overthrow (uincite £t sup- planlate) all things, that ye may win the Lord Christ. These things are great and toilsome; but, he that striveth for a mastery, abstaineth from all things, and they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. "HI But because, as I understand, ye are attached to diverse offices, and that thou, O Lucian, art called the Provost over them all, and by the grace of Christ which is given thee art in authority both to dispose and to instruct them all ; I am certain thou wilt not be displeased that I should tell thee concerning these offices a few things 350 Wise Hints to divers Officers. that I shall feel, particularly and by heads. For I hear that one of you keepeth the Emperor's privy purse ; another the wardrobe and the imperial jewellery; another the precious plate; another, the library, — though I understand that this officer is not yet chosen from among the believers ; and others, other parts of the household goods. In what way then I think these things ought to be treated, I will briefly indicate. " IV. He that controlleth the Emperor's private moneys, let him keep a strict entry of all : let him be ready at any moment to give a clear account of all ; let him write every item down, even, if possible, before paying the money away ; let him never trust his memory, which, being every day distracted in many several directions, easily trippeth, so that, if there be no writing, we may sometimes, in perfect good faith, affirm those things to be which never were. Nor should this writing be of a common sort, but such as clearly and easily shall show everything at a glance, and may leave the mind of the examiner without scruple or perplexity. And this may easily be done, if all that is received be entered in distinct columns, as, description of the thing received, and at what time, and through whom received, and at what place : and in like manner what hath been paid out to others or spent at the Emperor's command, let this be registered apart in its own due arrangement. Let that man be a faithful and wise servant, that his lord may rejoice that he hath made him ruler over his goods, and may glorify Christ in him. "V. Nor will he show less diligence and care, which hath charge of the robes and the imperial ornaments. He should have them all in a most accurate catalogue, and must note therein, what there are, and of what quality, in what places they are stored, when he received them and from whom, whether they be injured, or not. All these things he must keep under his own diligent eye ; often look over them again, often handle them well, that he may recognise them more easily ; all must be well to his hand, all quite ready. Let him be able to express with perfect clearness (i.e. to his subordinates), the Emperor's mind or his own Provost's mind, in any matter, and at any moment that they may enquire; and yet so that everything may be done with humility and mirthful obedience, that Christ's Name be praised even in a small matter. " VI. In the same way let him deal, to whose care are entrusted the vessels, of silver, gold, crystal or myrrha, whether for eating or for drinking ; let him arrange, and catalogue all ; let him count, with his own care, how many precious stones there are in them, and of what kind ; con them over with great wisdom, bring them all out in their proper places and occasions : to whom he giveth them, and when, from whom Duties of a good Librarian. 351 he receiveth them back, let him very carefully observe, lest a mistake or an evil suspicion should arise, with all the more disastrous result because the things are precious. "VII. He however will have the chiefest place among you, and must be the most diligent, to whom the Emperor shall commit the charge of the library. This officer he himself will chuse according to his well- approved knowledge in the matter: he will chuse a grave man and one fitted for serious work, and ready to answer all enquiries ; even as Philadelphus on that principle chose Aristaeus his most confidential chamberlain for this business, and set him over the magnificent library, and sent him also an ambassador to Eleazar with great gifts for the translation of the sacred Scripture: and this was the man that writ at large the story of the Septuagint Translators1. If therefore it happen that one of them which believe in Christ should be called to this office, let him not, on his part, spurn the secular literature and gentile genius, which charm the Emperor. He may praise the poets for the greatness of their genius, the subtlety of their imaginations, the propriety of their expression, or their consummate eloquence ; may praise the orators, and the philosophers too, according to their kind ; may praise the historians, who unfold the roll of past events, the manners and customs of our ancestors, and the rise of our institutions, who show us the rule of life out of the acts of the antients. Sometimes also he shall make it his endeavour to praise the Divine Scriptures, which, with wondrous diligence and at a most lavish cost, Ptolemy Philadelphus caused to be translated into our tongue. Now and then the Gospel and the Apostle (the common name for the Epistles) shall be quoted with praise, and quoted as Divine Oracles. The mention of Christ will be able to come up. Insensibly His alone Divinity will be unfolded. All these things, with the help of Christ, might well come to pass. " That man then shall be acquainted with all the books which the Prince shall possess ; he shall often turn them over, and arrange them seemly in their own order according to the index or catalogue. If he shall cause new or old books to be copied, let him be at pains to have the most correct originals : or, should this be impossible, he may set learned men to correct them, and pay them a fair price for their pains. He must also see that old manuscripts be repaired, and adorn them, not so much with a superstitious belief in costliness, as with a view to solid, useful ornament. Therefore, he must not aim at having whole volumes written on purple vellums and in letters of gold, unless the Emperor shall specially demand it : though all that is pleasant to Caesar, he will execute with the greatest obedience. He will suggest to the Prince according to his opportunity, and with all deference, to read 1 This knowledge of Alexandrian matters (and indeed the whole tone of this judicious literary advice) are unmistakeable indications what Theonas was the author of the letter. 35 2 Modesty to be tlie distinctive Mark. those books, or to hear them read, which are convenient to His Majesty's rank and dignity, and that are more for improvement than for mere pleasure : but he himself must know them through and through beforehand, then (not too often) quote them with praise before the Prince, and set forth appropriately the testimony and authority of those who approve them, that he may not seem to lean only upon his1 own feelings. " VIII. They which have the care of the Emperor's own person, must be in everything as nimble as can be, of countenance (as we have said) always cheerful, sometimes droll, but ever with perfect modesty ; that, indeed, is it which in you all the Emperor ought to admire above every thing, and understand that it is entirely a fruit of the religion of Christ. And all of you also be clean and neat in your person and your raiment, yet marked by no extravagance or affectation, lest Christian modesty be put to shame. Let everything be ready at the right moment, and arranged to perfection in the right place. Be there order among you, and heed, lest by some means there should arise confusion in work or loss of things. Let the parts of the house be arranged and garnished seasonably according to the purpose and dignity of the place. "Moreover, let your own slaves also be most respectable ; let them be staid and modest, and entirely conformable unto you ; whom instruct and teach in all true doctrine with the patience and charity of Christ : but if they neglect your instructions and make light of them, cast them away from you, lest their naughtiness by any means recoil upon you. For masters maligned through the wickedness of their servants we have sometimes seen, and have often heard thereof. "If the Emperor visit the Empress (si ad Augustam accesserit Princeps), or she him, then be ye also perfectly staid, in eyes, and carriage, and in all your words. Let Her Majesty see your self-restraint and modesty. Let her ladies and her maids see it ; yea, let them see, and admire, and thereupon praise our Lord Jesus Christ in you. Let your speech be alway frugal and modest, and with religion ' seasoned ' as 'with salt'. Jealousy betwixt you let there be utterly none, or con tention, which should lead you into all confusion and division, and thus bring you at last into hatred with Christ and with the Emperor alike, and into the deepest abomination, nor should one stone of your building be able to stand upon another. And thou, most beloved Lucian, seeing thou thyself art wise, suffer fools gladly, that they also may become wise. " Never offer ye an unkindness to any man ; move none to anger. If an injury be put upon you, turn and look to Jesus Christ ; and as ye desire that He may pardon you, so do ye forgive them, and thus also shall ye overturn all jealousy of you and bruise the head of the Old Serpent, who lieth in wait with all cunning craftiness against your good Devotional Use of Holy Scripture. 353 works and your prosperity. Let not a day pass, but that when a con venient season is given, ye read something out of the sacred Lessons, and meditate thereon. Never, never cast aside the literature of the Holy Scriptures : nothing so feedeth the soul and enricheth (impmguat) the understanding as do the sacred Lessons. But let this be the principal fruit ye reap therefrom, that in your patience ye fulfil your duties righteously and dutifully, — that is, in the charity of Christ; and that ye despise all transitory things for His eternal promises, which indeed pass all human knowledge and understanding, and will lead you into everlasting felicity. " My dear Lord Lucian, farewell, with all good luck in Christ." M. EXCURSUS IV. The Passion of Saint Theodotus. The perusal of this one document will, I think, convey a better idea of the Persecution, than the study of many learned books. The pictures of Christian life and customs, belief and superstition, especially in country places, are invaluable ; as also the notices of the apostate Theotecnus and his ways. " I that have proved the great lovingkindness of the holy Martyr Theo dotus towards myself, am his debtor not only to praise in words his con flict, but by deeds also to requite his charity : albeit I can neither enough honour the Martyr with deeds, nor speak of him with such words as were meet. Yet after my ability and power, it beseems me to set forth the favours done me by him, according to my slender means, offering publicly my pair of mites with the Widow in the Gospel. For I feel it a sheer necessity to bring to the knowledge of the devout his life and conflict, and how, having from earliest youth devoted JiimjieJXte_^iopkeepJngJie came thence at last to martyrdom. Yet I confess I dread lest, being un tutored in speech, slight in knowledge, small in learning, I should not do justice to the conflicts of the Martyr, and his constancy in the conflicts, by attempting a theme too big for my strength. For it will be a great detriment inflicted by contemptible genius on choice matters, if any one should esteem them to be but such as my telling of the tale will make them out. Some will here cast it in my teeth, that the Martyr embraced the ordinary manner of life, nor severed himself from the enjoyment /-of pleasures, but lived with a wife united to him in lawful wedlock, and "V/practised a shopkeeper's trade for the sake of gain. But his final conflict of martyrdom made his earlier life also illustrious, decking the first things with the last. Therefore let each man say his say : I that lived with the Martyr from the beginning, shall say what I know and did prove with my eyes, to wit, the constancy of him whose company and conversation I was vouchsafed for my own edification. " But before he stepped down to the utterniost conflict of martyrdom, on many and divers occasions he had made proof of his valour, like a wrestler that will strive with his adversary. And first he determined to wage war against his desires ; and made so great progress toward virtue, that he might have been all men's master. For never did he enthrall him self to pleasures or to any impure affection, but from his earliest boyhood he brought forth noble fruit of beautiful self-discipline, which also the latter end of his life did prove. But above all he took to himself for Saint Theodotus & Theotecnus the Apostate. 355 shield in the battle temperance, as the ground or beginning of all other good things, supposing the chastisement of the body to be the sweets befitting a Christian man, whose riches and glory it is generously to suffer lack. I indeed have oftentimes seen an heroical man overpowered with covetousness (not indeed of wealth, but) of glory ; philosophy beaten by fear, and a kindly quiet soul unmanned with delights: only the righteous man makes his passions minister to him as to their master. He had, therefore, for his service against pleasures the habit of fasting, against easiness of the body temperance, and against superfluity of wealth the custom of distributing his own goods to the poor. And these things wel shall show by and by more particularly, and shall make it apparent, that j he obtained glory by shame, opulence and affluence by noble poverty, and through temptations and snares earned Heaven for his own. " This man converted many from iniquity, by seasonable instruction curing them as from a pestilent disease ; many who in body appeared sound but were afflicted with a soul beset by evil thoughts he healed by his discourse, yea by his admirable doctrine and exhortation he brought into the Church a vast company of heathens and of Jews. For indeed his trade of shopkeeper, unlike the manner of most, was by him held in no great esteem in comparison of his office of a Bishop ; while after his power he succoured those that had suffered wrong, was in pain with the sick, with the afflicted shared their sorrow, was himself partaker of others' sufferings and replete with charity. The first thing that you may admire in him is that he would lay his hands on persons bound with diseases how incurable soever, and delivered them from their sickness, using his prayers in the place of medicine. Libertines he persuaded to continence, and those that were given to too much wine he recovered from their drunken habits. Some- also, who seemed to be possessed irremediably with the plague of avarice, he induced by his warnings to believe that poverty was a thing to be desired, and to lavish their property upon the poor. Out of this school of his not a few are reckoned, who, for Christ's sake, not only scorned reproach but even a most dreadful death. Equipped by conflicts such as these unto his last conflict, this singular champion of religion suggests the narration of many an admirable passage, which I covet to set forth in order, himself aiding me with his prayers and showing the succes sion of the events. Now then, let us make a start upon the theme we have taken in hand-. "One Theotecnus by name, obtained the government of our native country, a busy, meddling fellow, heady, with a natural bias for cruelty malicious altogether, rejoicing in daughler^ajujJaLood, an apostate from the faith (desertor pietatis), in every regard detestable, one whose wicked ness I cannot set forth better in any other words than by saying that it was the sole merit whereby he obtained the administration of so fine a city. For he had promised the Emperor, already at war with the Church that were he once entrusted with the government of this region, 23—2 356 Arrival of the Edicts and the Judge. he would soon bring over all the Christians that were here to his own impiety. This fellow, before he ever came into our country, so affrighted all the devout by the mere fame of his approach that the fulness of the Church was made desolate, and the wildernesses and mountain tops were choked with fugitives. Such terror came upon all as if a judgment from Heaven were hanging over every head. His way was, to send messengers before him, one after another, to declare openly the worst counsels of his mind. Scarce had the first shaken the dust off their feet, before new ones overtook them, declaring the implacable sternness of his inhumane dis position. And then, once more, a third set brought in their hands edicts testifying the plenity of the authority he was charged withal, wherein it was bidden that all the Churches wheresoever situated, together with their Altars, should be levelled with the ground, the Priests dragged to the altars of the idols, and there be first forced to sacrifice and then compelled to forswear their religion : if any should contradict the commands, their properties were to be given over to the Emperor's exchequer, themselves and their children shut up in prisons, to be kept till the President came to punish them, — that is, so long a time that, overcome with previous bonds and stripes, they should bring to the inquisition in store for them hearts already broken. " Rumours of this kind being gotten abroad, foretelling everywhere the impending calamity, the Church was like a ship tossed with winds and storms, wherein you might see everything turned bottom upwards while she herself feared to be sucked under by the waves of persecution. The [counsel of the wicked (floating as they were over the bottomless gulf of their own destruction) was discussed in revellings and drinking-parties : _and not being able to sustain the- excess of their own prosperity, drunk with overmuch malice as with strong wine, the unbelievers did, and suf fered too, all that insane and raving persons do. They broke into houses for no apparent cause and plundered whatever came in their way, neither durst any of the injured parties cross them, for if any spake but a word to thwart them he was put on trial for contumacy and insubordination. When therefore the ungodly edicts were thus set forth, and all the chief of the brethren, bound for safety with irons, were kept fast in prison, not one of the Christians was seen in public ; their houses were openly ran sacked ; their friends betrayed ; their religion suffered calumny ; free-born women and virgins were violated shamelessly by lewd persons, nor could anyone who saw it tell to the full how sorely the Church was agitated. There was no place of safety even for them who fled, and the Priests had retired from their Altars, relinquishing the portals of the Churches ; and whilst their goods were exposed to be plundered by the ungodly they were bestead with that which was worse than any punishment, famine. For wandering through all the wilderness, and keeping in holes and caves where any could find a lurking-place, they could not long endure their hunger, so that many gave themselves up to be taken, supposing that they The Good of being both Bishop and Victualler. 357 should find pity. To them that fled flight itself was a grievous evil; specially to the gentlefolks, nourished in all affluence, who, aforetime in need of nothing, now hardly lived on roots and weeds. "Meantime, all alone, Theodotus (glorious Martyr!) maintained the fight for the Ordinances of God, confronting many a peril. He did not, as say some, drive his trade of victualler for lucre's sake, for the amass ing of money, but with much industry bethought him how that shop of his might become a haven of salvation to those who suffered persecution, and prepared himself for the common security of all. 'Twas hard work he had with the devout who were kept in custody ; and all the while he strove to maintain the wanderers who had fled, or to protect the slain from the wicked. For the bodies of them who had been murdered with many tortures, were cast out for a prey to the dogs ; and if any man was found looking to their burial, he was put to the same punishment ; for the bitterest of deaths was appointed for those that buried them. Now, who should suppose that such piety lay hid behind a counter ? Well then, that righteous man's house was not only a victualler's shop, but a calm haven of religion to those who took refuge there, and also a fortified castle for those who there prayed in secret. Using the pretext of a victualler's trade as an occasion for practising piety he remained a good while unobserved ; and according to the advice of Blessed Paul he became all things to all men who suffered persecution, physician to the sick, nourisher to the weak in body, to those that were ill off for lack of victuals confectioner and drawer, and a master to those who adorn an honest life with zeal for godliness. He would nerve for the bearing of tortures those who were led captive, and those placed before the altars he would exhort for Christ's sake to embrace death, so that one might very well say that he was the preceptor of all that at that time were crowned with martyrdom. But, by the bye, I have not as yet called attention to a certain noteworthy piece of behaviour in our Martyr : I had almost forgot it ; but yet it ought never to pass unnoticed by one that writes of him. " The Devil's agent, Theotecnus, had ordered that every species of human victual should be defiled with things offered to idols, specially the bread and wine, so that not even to God the Lord of all might the Oblation be offered pure : and he had formally appointed priests of falsehood to make that their business. Now 'twas imperative (as all know) to offer to God gifts without blemish. Well, for this most offen sive device our Martyr quickly invented an antidote, being mighty indus trious in the cultivation of virtue. Whatever he had bought from Christians in the first instance he sold to Christians again for the Oblation that must needs be made. Thus that shop of his was to the faithful what the ark of Noe was once to those who were saved therein in the time of the Flood. For like as then (when utter destruction stalked abroad over the whole earth) there was no means to find salva- 358 St Theodotus confirms the Confessors. tion if one moved never so little from the ark, because all the earth was under water, so in our town not a Christian could be saved outside the Martyr's domicile. So the tavern was turned info a house of prayer, into a spital for traveUersTTnto an Altar where the Priests might offer holy gifts ; for all fled thither like shipwrecked men to their boats. That was the gain to the righteous man of being a victualler ; that the fruits of his business to the Martyr: and 'twas a well-known thing to the observers of religion that the victualler's shop was to those in jeopardy a most commodious haven. And now, of this enough, that I may bring other deeds of his also into my tale. "It fell out in those days, that one Victor, a friend of the Martyr's, was seized and taken into custody by the wicked for the following cause. Certain of the priests of Diana accused him of saying that Apollo had offered an'outrage to his own sister Diana before the altar in Delos, and that the Greeks ought to be ashamed of such wantonness, to have a god who did a crime that not even men durst commit. Victor being thus accused, the heathens came up to him, cajoling him and saying : 'Obey the President, and you shall be treated with much distinction, you shall be a friend of the Emperors ; they'll make a rich man of you, and you shall go in and out of their palace ; but should you not obey the President, we beg leave to tell you that bitter torments wait for you, and extermination is in reserve for your whole house. Your property will be thrown into the exchequer, your entire family will be blotted out, and your corpse (after excruciating tortures) will- be thrown out for dog's meat.' This and much else like it the ungodly said to Victor ; but that confessor of reli gion, Theodotus, entering the prison by night, comforted him with these words : ' The sole care of Christians ought to be the purity of their life, the integrity of their conversation and a mind confirmed in true religion. The possession of these things is rarely found ; it is difficult of attainment, and therefore comes to few.' "Again the blessed Saint addressed him as follows : " ' Let me beg of you not to listen to those damaging and profane discourses with which these abominable men assail you. On no account accept their persuasions- or leave us to follow them, preferring libertinism to continence, unrighteousness to righteousness, to religion irreligion. On no account Victor, on no account. However flattering the promises of the wicked, the ruin they involve is as certain. Was it not with promises of this kind that the Jews cheated the traitor Judas ? It was no gain to him that he had received his thirty pieces. The value of these pieces went for the burial of strangers ; while he himself hung and swung in the wind, with nothing more than a halter for his money's worth. Such promises lead no whither save to eternal death.' With these and similar words this righteous man emboldened Victor. His friend remained constant, and bore the beginning of his torments generously enough, and on that account was applauded by his spectators, St Theodotus goes into the Country. 359 so long as he kept in mind his master's exhortations. But when he had well-nigh reached the termination of his race, and was on the point of receiving his crown from the Saviour, he demanded of the tyrant a short armistice for deliberation. At this sound the lictors in a moment ceased to belabour him, supposing that the man had proved a defaulter from his creed. Victor died in the prison from his stripes, leaving the issue of his confession ambiguous, and from that day to this his memory remains beneath the doubt. VBut now let us describe another conflict of our Martyr. There is a village near the fortieth milestone from this city, named Malus. Thither, by the providence of God, in the time of persecution came Theodotus our Martyr, at the moment when the reliques of the holy and glorious Martyr Valens (him who had passed away among the Medicoes, through many tortures first, and finally by fire) had been tossed into the eddying waters of the river Halys ; which reliques he carried away. He had come, however, not into the village itself, but some way lower down, to a certain cavern with an Eastern prospect, out of which leaps the stream of the Halys. The distance of the place from the village is a matter of a couple of furlongs. Now there (so God had ordained) it came to pass that he met with certain brethren, who greeted him and loaded him with expressions of gratitude, as the common benefactor of all the distressed, and called to mind in detail their own obligations to him: how, not long before, they had been arrested by their own kinsfolk, who were in some hurry to put them in the Prefect's hands because they had overset an altar of Diana, and the Saint, by monstrous exertion, and at no small cost, had at last (and that but hardly) got them out of their bonds. He, supposing his meeting with these persons to be a magnificent windfall, desired them to give him their company at his meal, and so prosecute their journey. " While they were lying on the sward— for there was much grass at the place, and trees standing round, as well fruit as woodland trees, with the fragrance of every variety of flower, and grasshoppers and nightin gales singing a charming serenade to the dawn, and the tuneful notes of many kinds of warblers, and in short all those sweets with which nature can adorn a solitary spot— while they, I say, thus reclined upon the sward, the Saint despatched certain of his company into the village, to invite into their presence the Clergyman, to take his breakfast with them and to fortify those who had to travel with the usual prayers before a journey. For our Saint had never been wont to take a meal without a Priest's benediction. So when the envoys were come into the village, they lighted upon the Parson, coming out of Church after the hour of prayer, the sixth hour. He, seeing them worried with dogs, in all haste ran up, and sending the curs about their business, greeted them, and begged that if they were Christians they would step into 360 A Country Parson of the Day. his house, where they might enjoy their mutual charity in Christ. They answered : ' Christians we are indeed, and rejoice to meet with Christians.' Then the Parson, laughing quietly, said within himself: 'Alack Fronto! (for that was his name) the visions which present them selves to you in sleep are at all times clear enough. But that which I saw last night, why, 'twas simply prodigious ! I saw two men the very match of you, who told me that they brought a vast treasure into this country. Wherefore now that I have my eyes upon you, the very men which I saw in my dream, look you now, give me that treasure over ! ' " ' To be sure,' replied the men, ' we have with us one preferable to any treasure, to wit, the Martyr Theodotus, whom, if you please, you shall see, a person of great eminence for religion. But be kind enough, good father, to show us the Priest of this village.' ' Well, well,' said he, ' 'tis myself am the man you are looking for. But it were better that we should fetch him home hither to us ; for it is not seemly that any one should sojourn in the woods, in a place where there are Christians.' Thereupon he went, and kissing our Saint and the brethren, he desired them to make a party and all come together into his house. But he excused himself, for the reason that he was in haste to return to the metropolis. ' For,' said he, ' there is a great field opening there for the saving of Christians ; and the brethren ought to help those that are in need.' So after they had taken their repast, that champion of Christ, with a smile, said to the Clergyman, ' How suitable a place I see for the receiving of holy reliques ! why are you not stirring?' ' Nay,' replied the Parson, 'be you at the pains to put me in possession of some to make a stir for, and then tell me I am a sluggard if you dare.' (He spoke of the bringing of holy reliques.) ' For,' quoth he, ' first get your reliques, and then think of beginning to build.' Then said our Martyr, ' Our work it shall be, or rather God's work, to endeavour strenuously to supply you with the reliques ; and your work to prepare diligently the sacred house. Wherefore I beseech you, good father, not to be slothful in the business ; but to see that you accomplish it with the greatest possible despatch. For the reliques will very shortly come.' And so saying, he drew from his finger a ring, and gave it to the Priest, and said : ' The Lord be witness between me and thee, that thou shalt be provided with reliques not many days hence:' — indicating, doubtless, that he either should be sent by some other man, or should come of himself ; for he hasted to finish the course of his conflict. Having set him his task, he departed from those regions, and came into the city, where he found everything overthrown as with an earthquake. " There were seven Virgins, trained to virtue from their earliest years, and taught to value chastity above all other things, and to have the fear of God before their eyes. The tyrannical judge, having taken these ladies into custody, and having failed even by application of many torments to win them over to denial of God, at length, boiling over with anger, and willing Seven Nuns mocked and martyred. 361 to do an injury to religion, ordered them to be consigned to the ravishing embraces of hot-blooded youths. Accordingly, they were sent off to certain young men, to suffer (so it was supposed) an abominable wrong ; where,' deeply groaning, and lifting their hands and eyes to heaven, 'O Lord (they cried), Jesu Christ, Thou knowest that whilst it was in our own power to keep our maidenhood undeflowered, we did so very dili gently even to this day : but now our persons are put into the power of these immodest striplings !' They were still uttering these and similar outcries with supplications and tears, when the senior of their number, Tecusa by name, was haled aside by one of the lads, who seemed more unabashed than the rest. She, weeping, and holding him by the feet, exclaimed : 'O my son, what can you gain from me ? what pleasure is there in the embrace of forms wasted away, as you see, by old age and fasting, by sickness and the rack?' She was, in fact, already past her seventieth year, and the rest were of a hardly less advanced age. "Tis altogether unseemly,' she cried, ' for you to be enamoured of what I may already call dead flesh, which you will soon see torn to morsels by the beasts and birds. For the President has already decreed that we are not to merit even a grave. Let us alone, and receive instead the gratitude and great rewards of the Lord Jesus Christ.' Thus she addressed the' young fellow with tears ; then suddenly rending her veil in two, she showed him the white hairs of her head. ' And pay reverence,' cried she, 'to these hairs, my son. For aught I know, you too may have a gray-haired mother : let her (be she yet alive, or be she dead) come and help us to crave your forbearance. Leave us miserable wretches to our weeping : and take the hope that our Saviour Jesus Christ will recompense you ; for no hope is vain that is reposed in Him.' No sooner had Tecusa spoken thus, than the young fellows, quite cured of their passionate ardour, themselves dissolved in tears, and departed in hearty compassion for the Nuns. " Theotecnus, however, hearing that no violence had been offered them, abandoned the design of plaguing them further in the name of evil pleasure ; and ordered them instead to be made priestesses of Diana and Minerva, whose business it was to wash the effigies of those divinities every year (such was the usage) in the neighbouring lake. The anni versary of the washing of the idols was just at that time coming round : and, necessity claiming that each of the statues should ride upon its own carriage, Theotecnus ordered the Nuns as well to be taken to the pool, and washed in the same fashion as the idols. Accordingly they con ducted the ladies thither, standing upright and undressed in cars as a butt for shame and mockery. After them rode the idols : and with them marched forth the rabble of the entire city, to witness the coming spec tacle. Interspersed among them were to be seen and heard the noise of pipes and cymbals, and companies of beldames which footed it about with dishevelled locks, like a crew of Bacchanals. Great was the noise 362 The Church awaits Tidings of their Death. of the feet tramping upon the ground, and the din of the musical instru ments : and that was how the idols rode. And for this cause the concourse of the populace was large ; but much enlarged because of the punishment of the Nuns. Some pitied their years, others admired their constancy, not a few applauded their modesty ; but all eyes filled with tears to see them half dead with scourging. And among the rest went forth that generation of vipers the President Theotecnus. " Meantime, God's Martyr, Theodotus, was troubled with deep anxiety for each one of the holy Virgins, dreading lest any of them (as might well be feared with the weaker sex) should faint in the conflict. He besought God therefore with many prayers, to help them in their struggle. Now for this purpose he had shut himself up in a little cottage near the Confession (or Confessors' Chapel) of the Patriarchs, which belonged to a certain poor man named Theocharis. With him were Polychronius, who was nephew to the Martyr Tecusa, and a younger Theodotus, the son of his own sister, and several other Christians, gathered into the same small cell. They had all lien there in prayer from morning prime to the sixth hour, when the wife of Theocharis brought word that the bodies of the Nuns had been sunk in the lake. At this announcement, our righteous man raised himself somewhat from the ground, and still kneeling on his knees, spread out his hands heavenwards, and wet with a copious shower of tears, 'Thanks,' cried he, 'my thanks I offer Thee, O Lord, that Thou hast not allowed my weeping to be in vain.' Then he inquired of the woman, in what fashion the Virgins had been sunk below the surface, and in what part of the lake, whether in the midst, or near the margin. She, who had gone forth with the other women and had been present on the spot, made the following reply : ' Theotecnus argued and promised, and argued and promised, but in vain ; for Tecusa repelled him with exasperating words. The priestesses also of Diana and Minerva, when they offered them the garland and the white raiment, in which they ought to have assisted in ministering to their devils, were in like manner rejected with reviling. The President then bad them hang stones about their necks, and embark them on a small shallop and row them out to a spot where the lake was deeper : and so they were cast into the water at the distance of four or five hundred feet from the shore.' "This heard, our Martyr held himself close where he was, until sun down, taking counsel with Polychronius and Theocharis by what device they could have the dead women out of the pool. Now about the setting ofthe sun, there came a stripling to them while they debated, to signify that The otecnus had ordered soldiers to stay by the lake to keep watch over the corpses. Then the Saint was seized with an extraordinary grief ; for it was apparent that the sacred bodies would be very hard to recover, not only be cause ofthe soldiers who kept them, but because ofthe weight of the stones, each one of which was almost more than a wain could move. So when it was dusk Theodotus' comrades stayed where they were ; but he went out Efforts to recover their Reliques. 363 to the Confession of the Patriarchs ; and when he found the door blocked up by the ungodly to stop the ingress of the Christians, he threw himself on his face without, in prayer, beside the Font, and so stayed a considerable while. Then he went forward to the Confession of the Fathers ; and finding this too obstructed, he prostrated himself there also, in prayer. Then, hearing a great noise behind him, and believing there were some fellows on his track, he turned aside to the dwelling of Theocharis. When he had there slept a little space, the blessed Tecusa appeared to him, and said : 'Do you sleep, son Theodotus? have you no concern for us? and do not you remember the exhortations with which I instructed you when you were younger, and led you to virtue so that your parents marvelled ? Truly, while I lived you never slighted me; you treated me like a mother; but now that I am dead you have forgotten that you ought to minister to me even to the last. Pray do not allow our dead bodies to lie under water and be eaten up with fishes : for, only two days, and the great conflict waits fox you. Up, then, get you to the pool; but beware of the traitor!' So saying she retired. " Then rising from sleep he told the vision that had been vouchsafed him to the brethren, who all showed him sympathy and besought God with tears that he would deign to help him find the bodies. Day dawned; and they despatched that young man who had first brought word that sol diers were waiting stationed by the pool to keep the corpses (the young man was a Christian himself), in company with Theocharis, to make a careful research what was become of the soldiers : for they suspected that they had withdrawn because of the feast of Diana, which the ungodly that day kept. Therefore Theocharis and Glycerius (that was the young man's name) went, and brought back the news that they were still on guard. So, that day again, they kept close. Now, when it was dusk, they went out towards the marsh fasting, carrying sharp scythes along with them, with which they meant to enter the water and sever the ropes tied around the drowned ladies' necks. The night was very dark, so as no moon nor stars were seen. When they reached the place at which the criminals are tortured, — a horrible pliace and one which no one durst enter after sunset, for there in a row stdbd heads chopped off, or spitted upon stakes, or lay scattered about and singed with fire — they were seized with- no slight quaking of heart. But they heard a voice say : 'On boldly, Theodotus!' Horribly frightened again, each one made the Sign of the Cross upon his brow, and soon there appeared to them a brilliant Cross in the East, which seemed to emit a fiery ray. At this apparition their fear was mixed with- joy : and they bent their knees, and worshipped toward the place from- whence the Cross appeared. " The prayer over, they rose and began their journey again ; but the night was so dark that they could not see each other. This incommoded them enough ; but in addition there was a violent storm of rain, which caused deep mud everywhere ; and the mud made their footing slippery, 364 Miraculous Recovery of the Bodies. and barely permitted them to advance a step on the forward journey ; and thus, in the darkness, their fear was equalled by their difficulty. They stopped again therefore to pray, beseeching God in their necessity to afford them aid. Suddenly there appeared to them a blazing torch, leading the way; there appeared also two men, clothed in shining garments, with hoary hair and beard, and saying : ' Courage, Theodotus ! Our Lord Jesus Christ has written your name among the Martyrs, and has heard your prayer which you poured forth with tears concerning the finding of the dead bodies : and we have been sent by Him, to take you into our hands : and we are they who are called the Fathers. Moreover, when you come to the pool, you will see Saint Sosander, all in armour, striking panic into the watch. But you are wrong to have brought a traitor with you ! ' " So, following the light which appeared to them, they came to the pool, and it served them until they had taken away the holy reliques. And this was how they did it. There came much lightning, and thunder, and rain, and so violent a wind fell upon them that the men set to watch the bodies thought best to run away. The tempest was not the sole cause of their flight, but also a vision which alarmed them. They saw a tall man armed with shield and breastplate, helmet and spear, from which fire shot out in every direction. It was the holy and glorious Martyr Sosander. Terrified with the look of him, they took to their heels, and got to some cottages near. Now the water, driven by force of the winds upon the shore, had so far receded, that the bottom appeared all dry and the Nuns' corpses lay to view. They cut the ropes with their scythes, took them up and laid them on their beasts, and carried them to the Chapel of the Patriarchs, where they buried them in a tomb hard by. The names of the Virgins are these : Tecusa, Alexandra, Phaena (these three the Apo- tactites claim as belonging to their order, as indeed they did), Claudia, Euphrasia, Matrona and Julitta. " When day came the whole city began to be in an uproar for the stealing of the s"acred bodies, for the report was soon known to all. And so, as soon as ever any Christian was caught sight of, they had him into Court. Many being thus taken up, and like to be torn in pieces as it were with the teeth of wild beasts, our Saint got wind of it and would have given himself up, but the brethren restrained him. But Poly chronius, changing his coat and making a country clown of himself, went off to the Forum to find out the whole truth more clearly. Some, there fore, soon had hold of him and fetched him to the President, who beat him soundly and threatened him with death into the bargain, showing him a drawn sword. He yielded to his fear, and confessed concerning the reliques of the Virgins, and that Theodotus had taken them from the lake ; and he named the place where he had hid them. So they took the holy dead out of their sepulchre and burnt them up. Then we knew that Polychronius was the traitor, and that it was of him they spoke who Theodotus surrenders himself to Justice. 365 bad appeared, when they said : « Beware of the traitor.' And some told our Martyr of Polychronius, and that the reliques of the Virgins had been burnt. "Then Christ's glorious Martyr, Theodotus, bidding adieu to the brethren, and charging them not to cease from prayer, but to pray God that he might obtain his crown, got himself ready to endure stripes. So they persisted together in prayer with the Martyr, who prayed at great . length and said at last : ' O Lord Jesu Christ, Hope of the hopeless, grant me to finish my course of conflict, and to offer the shedding of my blood as a sacrifice and a drink-offering on all their behalf who suffer affliction for Thee. Lighten their load, and calm the tempest, that all who believe in Thee may find rest and deep tranquillity.' As he thus wound up his prayer with tears, there arose a great wailing among the brethren, embracing him and saying : "'Farewell, Theodotus, thou loveliest light of the Church! When thou departest from these worldly miseries the heavenly luminaries will receive thee, and the multiform glory of Angels and Archangels, and the immutable splendour of the Holy Ghost, and our Lord Jesus Christ sitting at the right hand of His Father. For the contest awaiting thee for these blessings' sake will be a glorious and great contest ; but for us who remain in uncertainty, thy departure from life produces nothing but grief, and wailing and groaning.' When they thus lamented, our Saint embraced each one, and warned them that when the blessed Father Fronto should come from Malus, bringing his ring with him, they should give him his own reliques if they could make a shift to filch them away. And so saying, he fortified his whole body with the Sign of the Cross, and strode to the arena with a spirit undaunted. " Now as he went, there met him two of the townsmen, who bad him get back again as fast as ever he could, and said : ' Pray save yourself.' For they were acquaintances and friends to the Martyr, and thought to do him a kindness : ' Because,' said they, ' the priestesses of Minerva and Diana with a mob of the people are accusing you to the President, for persuading all the Christians not to adore inanimate stones : and they have a variety of other slanders to say against you : and Polychro nius is preferring an indictment against you for conveying the bodies away by stealth. While therefore there is yet time, save yourself, Theodotus. It would be folly to give yourself up gratuitously to tor tures.' ' If,' replied the Martyr, ' you suppose yourselves my friends, and wish to do me a favour, be good enough not to annoy me or to tax me for my zeal. Nay rather; go to the magistrates, and say : " Theodotus, the object of the accusations of the priestesses and the whole city, is standing before the doors.'" So saying, he went before them and presented himself to his accusers. Entering to the tribunal, he stood there intrepid, and with a smile on his countenance eyed the torments ready for him. There was a lighted fire in the place, and 366 Theotecnus offers Preferment in the Pagan Church. boiling caldrons, and wheels, and' many other instruments of torture displayed : but the sight of them all was so far from affrighting our Martyr, that his mind's constancy was expressed even in the mirth of his countenance. " Theodotus, seeing him stand by in this fashion, said : ' Not one of the tortures displayed before you shall you taste, if you will let yourself be persuaded to be wise and sacrifice. You shall have an amnesty for all the crimes which the whole city and the priestesses have shown us concerning you. More than this ; you shall enjoy friendship with us such as others cannot share, and shall go forth with the love of our most puissant Emperors, and shall be deemed worthy to be vouchsafed letters from their own hands, and (if so matters go) to Write to them. There is but one condition. Forswear that Jesus, whom Pilate, once a judge like us, crucified in Judaea. Determine with yourself to play the sensible man. You look like a man of experience : and a sensible man ought to act discreetly and warily in all cases. Withdraw, then, Theodotus, from every folly ; and dissuade other Christians too from their madness. So doing, you shall rule over the. whole city, in the capacity of priest of Apollo,— the greatest of all the gods for the great benefits which he confers on men, by predicting the future in his oracles, and by healing diseases with his art of medicine. You shall have the ordering of the priests ; you shall dispose of preferments ; you shall be the channel through whom petitions come to the magistrates on behalf of the country, and shall present deputations to the Emperors on public occasions. Together with power, riches will flow in to you, the patronage of your nation, and great honours with glory and renown. Or else if you desire possessions, and it would please you to have them, I am at your service, and will place them at your disposal.' At this speech of the President, loud congratulations were heard from the crowd Which praised Theodotus' good luck, and persuaded him to accept the proffered good offices. " Our Martyr meantime answered Theotecnus in the following manner: ' First of all, I demand of my Lord Jesus Christ (whom you have just mentioned with contempt as an ordinary man) the grace to refute your error concerning the gods, and briefly to touch upon the Miracles of my Lord Jesus Christ and the Mysteries of His Incarnation; I must there fore prove my faith in Him, Theotecnus, in deed and word by many testimonies. For as for the deeds of your gods, it is a shame even to speak of them ; nevertheless I will say on to your confusion. That one whom you call Jove and take to be the greatest of all gods, proceeded to so great lengths in his outrages upon women and children as to be himself both the original and the final development of all that is bad. Your own poet Orpheus says that Jove slew his own father Saturn, and had to wife his own mother Rhea, of whom was born Proserpine ; and with her too he fell in love. And after that, he took his sister Juno ; Theodotus on ihe True God and the false. 367 and Apollo did but follow his example when he offered violence to his sister Diana before the altar in Delos. Precisely in the same way, Mars was passionately enamoured of Venus, Vulcan of Minerva, brothers and sisters both. Do you see, O Consular, the foulness of your gods ? Would not the laws punish a man who had done such deeds ? Yet all the While, you glory in these criminal passions of your gods, and do not blush to adore beings who sin against the innocence of youth, and the sanctity of marriage, and against life itself. Your poets have spoken of these things with exultation. " ' On the other hand, concerning the power of our Lord Jesus Christ and His Miracles, and the Mystery of His Incarnation, Prophets and spiritual men have told us a multitude of things ; but all such as none Would blush to confess aloud, all perfectly chaste : signifying how in the last days He appeared from Heaven among men, — with marvellous signs and unspeakable miracles, healing the diseases of the sick, and making men worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven. And of His Incarnation the Prophets wrote accurately beforehand, and of His Death and Passion, and Resurrection from the dead. And the Chaldees and Magi, the wisest of the Persians, are witnesses thereof ; for led by the motion of the stars, they both discovered the time of His Nativity after the flesh, and also were the first to offer to the God, whom they had dis covered, presents as to God. Many and stupendous were the miracles He performed. His first was the changing of water into wine : with five loaves and two fishes He satisfied five thousand men in the wilderness : He healed many sick persons with a word, and walked on the sea as on dry land : even the nature of fire acknowledged His supremacy, and at His bidding the dead arose, and at His word alone the light shone upon those who were born blind : He caused the lame to walk and run, and recalled to life men who had been four days in the tomb. Who could describe in human language all the signs and wonders which He did, and by which He proved Himself to be God, and not some ordinary man ?' " While the Martyr thus spoke, the whole multitude of the idolaters was stirred, like a sea swept with a vehement wind ; — priests rending their garments, letting their hair float abroad, and tearing off their gar lands ; the people shouting aloud, and even accusing the Proconsul Theotecnus himself, because he would not treat as an outlaw a man guilty of stripes and death, who openly blasphemed the clemency of the gods and made so impudent a flourish of his oratorical skill. They said that he ought at once to be hoisted upon the hobby-horse and to pay the due satisfaction to the deities. Theotecnus therefore, in still greater exasperation, and boiling over with wrath, commanded his satellites to lift the Saint immediately upon the block. Nay, he himself in his fury leapt down from his judgment-seat, eager to bear a hand in the torturing of the Saint. And while the multitude of the 368 St Theodotus is tortured. people surged to and fro, and the hangmen were getting their hooks ready, and the criers were shouting loudly, and the air was full of confused sound, our champion alone stood there with a tranquil mind, as if all this confused hubbub was against some other man, not against himself. "Thereupon no manner of frightful instrument was allowed to lie idle, not fire nor red-hot iron, nor hooks. Some from one side, some from another, they set upon him, tore off his garments, and hoisted the man upon the hobby-horse. Then, dividing themselves into parties, they tore his sides with the hooks : each man went to work with all his might ; there was no sparing of pains. But our Martyr fixed his eyes upon his smiters with a joyful and smiling countenance, and without the least dismay endured the pain of the torments without even a wry face, and without blenching from the tyrant's cruelty. For he found his helper in our Lord Jesus Christ, so that at last those who beat him were fatigued. When these were exhausted, another party took their place. But our unconquered champion had delivered up his body to the executioners as though it were not his own, keeping his mind fixed upon the Lord of all. Theotecnus next ordered a very strong vinegar to be poured over his sides, and blazing torches to be applied to them. The Saint was stung with the acid, and perceived the horrible savour from his own burnt sides, and turned his nostrils a little on one side. Then immediately Theotecnus sprang down from his throne, and, ' Where is now,' he cried, ' the pride of your lan guage, Theodotus ? I see you are well-nigh beaten : you cannot bear these tortures. To be sure if you had not blasphemed the gods, and would have worshipped their might and power, these torments would never have befallen you. I should advise you (for you are but a petty shopkeeper and of low condition) not to talk on as before against the Emperors who have power to destroy you.' Our Martyr answered, 'Never mind, Sir Consular, because you saw me turn my nose away when I smelt my flesh roasting, but rather bid your satellites fulfil their orders. I observe that they are backward. And you, bethink yourself of new torments ; invent fresh engines to try my fortitude withal : and yet no ! rather recognise that the Lord Jesus is helping me. Through Him I scorn you like any slave, and I look down upon your ungodly Emperors. Such spirit the Lord Christ gives me. Had it been a criminal whom you had taken into custody, fear would have found some place in me ; but now I do not dread your threats : I am ready to bear anything in the world for the faith of Christ.' While he spoke thus Theotecnus bade them bray his cheeks with stones, and knock his teeth out. In reply our Martyr cried : ' Even should you cut my tongue out, O Theotecnus, and all the organs of speech, yet God can hear a dumb Christian.' "At last when the lictors were weary with scarifying his body, the 'Quam iuuat hos apices IcgereV 369 President ordered him to be taken off the block, and shut up in prison on remand for a further investigation. Theodotus was then taken through the midst of the market-place, with his whole body beaten into one mass, but by his very wounds showing that he had won the day. As the citi zens ran together from every side to see the sight, he invited them to recognise from his sufferings the mighty power of Christ. ' See, all,' he cried, 'how admirable is Christ's power: how to those who expose them selves to torments for His sake He grants immunity from pain, and makes the body's weakness too strong for fire, and causes men of the lowest rank to hold .cheap the threats of princes and the edicts of Emperors against religion. And indeed, without accepting persons, to all alike the Lord of all affords this grace, — to the lowly, to slaves as to freemen, and to barbarians.' So, finishing his speech and displaying the marks of the stripes inflicted on him, 'Seemly it is,' he said, 'for those who believe in Christ to offer unto Him such sacrifices as I have offered, seeing that He first suffered thus for every one of us.' " Five days had passed by, when Theotecnus ordered a court to be pre pared for him in a conspicuous place in the midst of the city, and com manded his officers to fetch our Martyr thither. It was done speedily and willingly. As he approached, he addressed him thus : ' Come close to me, Theodotus ; quite close ; for I hear that you have learnt wisdom by what we did the other day, and are better now, and have thrown away your former pride. And, to be sure, it was contrary to all reason to bring upon yourself such agonies in spite of all that I could do. Now then that you have put away your barbarous obstinacy, you must acknowledge the sovereignty of the almighty gods, in order that you may enjoy our good offices which I promised you before ; for I am quite ready to perform my promise when you have sacrificed to the gods. Perceive what is for your good. For otherwise, you observe, there is fire ready ; the steel is sharp ened ; the wild beasts are yawning and gaping for their murderous work: and if you have a fancy to try them, in comparison with these later tortures, your first will seem to you like shadows.' " The Martyr, nothing terrified, answered : ' What, O Theotecnus, will you invent against me so great that the power of Jesus Christ my Lord cannot resist it ? My whole body is broken in pieces, as you see, by my tortures of the other day, and yet you may make a new proof of my stead fastness : apply your various torments to my limbs, and you will see how strong they are to suffer pain, although they appeared but the other day to be all but dismembered.' " Then Theotecnus ordered them to fasten the Saint again upon the block. The lictors took their posts on either side, and began like wild beasts to examine the places of the former wounds, and to thrust their hooks as deep as possible into his sides. And all the while our glorious Martyr with a loud voice professed his faith. So the President, seeing that his labour was in vain, and his tormentors weary and flagging,' M. 24 370 Martyrdom of St Theodotus. ordered him to be taken down off the block and laid out upon heated potsherds. And when they pierced deeply into his body, Theodotus, feeling the keenest anguish, began to pray : ' O Lord Jesus Christ, Hope of the hopeless, hear my prayer and assuage this agony, for it is for Thy holy Name that I suffer it.' Theotecnus therefore perceived that even the experiment with the potsherds was of no use for his purpose, and ordered him once more to be lifted and hung upon the hobby-horse, and his former wounds to be again opened. But the Martyr showed no con sciousness of the body ; the lictors seemed to him to be dealing not seriously, but in play. Only his tongue remained uninjured and glorifying God ; for the ungodly were willing to preserve that, to serve him for denial, not knowing that they left it for the confirmation of the truth. "At length Theotecnus, seeing that he was unable to invent new tortures enough, and that his agents were now so utterly exhausted as to be disabled for further work, while the Martyr was stronger than ever in his resolution, passed sentence upon him. 'Theodotus, the ringleader of the Galilaeans, enemy of the gods, who will not obey the Emperor's orders, and despises me also, is condemned by our authority to undergo the penalty of the sword, and his beheaded body to be burnt with fire, that the Christians may not take possession of it and bury it.' His sentence passed, there went out with the Martyr the whole multitude of men and women desiring to witness his end. When they arrived at the place the Martyr began to pray after these words : ' O Lord Jesu Christ, Maker of Heaven and earth, who never forsakest them that hope in Thee, I give Thee thanks that Thou hast made me a meet citizen of Thy heavenly city and a partaker of Thy kingdom. I give Thee thanks that Thou hast given me power to overcome the Dragon, and to bruise his head. Give rest to Thy servants, and in me cause the violence of the enemy to stay. Grant peace to Thy Church, snatching her from the tyranny of the Devil.' When he had finished his prayer and added his Amen, he turned and saw the brethren weeping, and said, 'Weep not my brethren, but glorify our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath made me to finish my course and to overcome the enemy. From hence forth I shall pray to God for you, with confidence, in Heaven.' And having said this he received the sword with gladness. " Then they built an enormous funeral pile, and the lictors cast upon it the body of the holy Martyr, heaping much fuel round about it. But by a certain dispensation of God who watches over men, there suddenly appeared over the pile a light gleaming this way and that way, so that not one of them who were to kindle the fire durst approach it. And so the sacred body remained within the pile uninjured. Now when his servants told this tale to Theotecnus, he bade them stay on the spot, in the place where the head was laid, and to keep watch over the body. So there the soldiers stayed as had been commanded them, to keep guard. Now there came to that same place, according to agreement, Father Fronto uses his Wine. 371 the Priest Fronto, bringing the ring of the holy Martyr, which he had given him as a pledge for his reliques, having also with him a beast laden with old wine. For that most excellent personage pursues the trade of agriculture. So, coming to the city about eventide, by the pro vident will of God the ass fell down upon the spot where lay the body of the holy Martyr. Seeing this the watch ran up, and said to the Priest : ' Whither are you going, stranger, so late of the evening ? Nay, you had better come and stay with us, where your ass shall graze at large. For look you, here is grass in plenty ; and if you should please to turn her into the crops, there is no one to say us nay; while for yourself 'twill be better to stay with us than to be put about with the incivility of a tavern- keeper.' So the Priest turned his ass out of the road, and entered into the hut which they had built for themselves the day before, by weav ing wisps of straw between upright stakes of willow. Now hard by the hut lay the body of our Martyr, buried beneath a heap of branches and of hay. There was also a fire lighted near at hand, and supper laid ready. Then the leaders of the band, returning from bathing to the hut, fell a drinking, lying down upon carpets spread out upon the ground over hay. So they invited the Priest also to come and drink with them. He, asking for a cup, unladed his ass : and filling the cup with his own wine, said, ' Taste and see what kind of wine this is. Maybe you will not think it amiss.' So saying, and smiling modestly, he gave into their hands the cup full of wine. They all admired its scent and its flavour, and asked the old man how many years old it might be. The Priest asserting that 'twas five years old, ' Go to,' said they, ' let's be drinking presently ; for very thirsty we are.' Then said the Priest, 'Take and be merry, — as much as ever you can drink.' One of the youths, by name Metrodorus, laughing, answered: 'I never shall forget it in all my life, — no, not if I should take that draught of Lethe which they talk of. All the Chris tians put together have not received so many stripes as I have tasted the last day or two, because of the taking of those women out of the pond. So now, stranger, do not stint us ; pour plenty of that strong Maronian, that I may drink forgetfulness of my pains.' Then Fronto answered ; ' Young man, I know not what women you speak of, but I know that the spring of Maro is -not far away.' 'But,' said another, whose name was Apollonius, ' take you heed, Metrodorus, lest that cup of Maro that you speak of beget you a great mischief, you that have been ordered to* keep watch over that man of brass, who stole the women you mention out of the pond.' " The Priest replied : ' Well to be sure, I made a mistake not to bring mv interpreter with me, to explain to me your conversation, for I do not understand anything of what you have said thus far. What women were thev that were taken by stealth from the lake? Or who is that brazen fellow that you say you are watching? Have you brought some statue all this way to keep ? Or are you talking in conundrums to make your- 372 The Man of Brass. selves merry with my country ignorance ?' Metrodorus would have an swered, but another, called Glaucentius, prevented him, and said : ' Good stranger, do not think any of my mates' sayings strange. When they called him a man of brass, they were not an inch from the truth. For whether they called him brass, or whether they called him iron, we know that he was harder and tougher than brass or iron or anything else in the world. Why, brass and iron melt with fire, and are shaped by art : even what they call adamant is overcome by industry and cleverness. But this fellow — they applied fire, and knives, and hooks, but they might have spared their pains.' ' Even now,' replied the Priest, ' I do not clearly follow what you mean, — whether (that is) you are speaking about some person, or some sort of thing.' Glaucentius answered : ( I can scarcely explain to you, stranger, the thing's nature. For if you call it a man, never man fought like this. To be sure, all know that he was our towns man. His house and his family and his possessions all are here. But, that he had not a human nature, that's flatly proved by his very works. For he was beaten, and cut, and burnt with fire all over his limbs, and yet never answered a word to his tormentors, but persisted firm in his first determination, just as a rock buffeted with the waves stands with out swaying one way or other. The man's name was Theodotus : he was a Christian by religion, and could not be moved from his resolute self- will by any efforts. There were seven Nuns drowned in this lake, who were ordered to stay under water; but he took them away privily and had them buried. And when he learned that in consequence many Christians had been taken up and delivered to the magistrates to be punished, he was afraid they would deny their faith, and so presented himself uninvited to the magistrates, and confessed that it was his doing, for fear others should be tortured in his stead. And although the Presi dent promised him untold wealth and dignities and honours, even so as to offer him the chief pontificate if he would sacrifice to the gods and forswear the Christian religion, he laughed the magistrates to scorn, heaped contumely upon the gods, despised the laws of the Emperors, and deemed the President unworthy even of an answer. When he had been well threshed, and had borne tortures of every kind, he seemed to suffer nothing from his stripes, and told us so himself. He laughed at his beaters, and mocked them for being sluggardly and slack, and rated the President like some vile slave. When those who tortured him grew tired, he became (I do believe) the stronger for his torments, and sang hymns, until at last his head was taken off, and he was ordered to be burnt with fire. But we, unlucky wights, fear to be put to pain yet again for his sake. For when the pile was lighted, there happened wondrous things about that fire, which no words can express ; and we saw a light of vast dimensions, and the flame would not touch Theodotus. So we have been bidden watch the fellow, because of the Christians.' And so saying, the youth showed the Priest the spot where the body lay. Theodotus keeps his Oath. 373 " Then Fronto, understanding that it was none other than Saint Theo dotus himself, gave thanks to God, and prayed that His good hand might be with him for conveying away the corpse. Full of gladness, he plied them with more and more of the wine, and invited them to take of it more and more liberally, until they were dead drunken and fell into a heavy sleep. Then the Priest rose up ; and lifting the venerable form, he laid it upon his ass, and said : ' Hark ye, Martyr ! fulfil those promises you made me :' and therewith he slipped Theodotus' ring upon Theodotus' finger. Then he arranged the branches and the hay again, as they had lain before upon the Saint's body, that the watch might not suspect that anything had been taken away. Now when the day dawned, the Priest arose, and began to search for his ass as if lost, and made a great ado and noise, clapping his hands, and lamenting, and crying, ' I have lost my ass, I have lost my ass ! ' So the watch believed him to be speaking in earnest, not knowing what had happened : for they supposed that the holy body still lay beneath the hay. But the ass, being led by an Angel, got away through devious places to Malus, and lay down with her burden upon that spot, where now stands the Confession of the holy and glorious Martyr Theodotus. So some of the village came, and announced to the Priest, that the ass, all alone, of her own accord, had brought the sacred reliques, and had stayed at the spot. Therefore the Priest who lamented for his lost ass returned to Malus, while the guards abode where they wef'e, thinking the body to be still under the hay. And such was the way that the reliques of our glorious Martyr were translated to Malus, under the marvellous care of God, who thus glorified the Martyr's conflict. "All these things I, the humble Nilus, have delivered with great care to you, brethren beloved of God : who was with him in the prison, and know perfectly each point which I have brought to your notice, every where being zealous for the truth ; that you too, hearing these things with all faith and certainty, may have your part with the holy and glorious Martyr Theodotus, and with all the Saints who have striven for godliness' sake in Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom is glory and power, together with the Father and the Holy Ghost, for evermore. Amen." CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. A.D. 283 Dec. 21 284 Sept. 17 285 May 1 292 April 1 302 3°3 Feb. 23 )J March ? » Dec. 21 3°4 April 30 3°5 May 1 306 July 25 5> Oct. 27 J) Nov. 8 3°7 Nov. 11 308 March 31 J) spring )> autumn 3°9 autumn 310 3" April — May » October 312 June ? >! November 313 February? )> May — June Death of Carus. Death of Numerian, and election of Diocletian. Elevation of Maximian. Creation of Caesars (Constantius and Galerius). The Triumph. First Edict of Persecution. Second Edict of Persecution. Vicennalia ; Third (Amnesty) Edict. Fourth Edict, issued by Maximian. Abdication of Diocletian and Maximian. Death of Constantius ; Cbnstantine Caesar. Usurpation of Maxentius : the Persecution ceases in the West. Diocletian sentences the Sirmian Masons. Congress of Carnuntum : Downfall of the Te trarchy. Edict against Manichaeans. Mutilation substituted for Death, under the possi ble influence of Diocletian. Fifth Edict : Reign of Terror. Lull and Relapse. Suicide of Maximian. Toleration and Death of Galerius. Maximin closes the Cemeteries. Permits the Towns to prohibit Christianity. Edict of Milan : Maximin's second rescript to Sabinus. Death of Diocletian. Final Toleration Edict of Maximin, who shortly after dies. INDEX. Abitina, Martyrs of, 154, 170 Aemilian, attitude to the Senate, 7 : a persecutor, 105 St Agnes, 235 St Alban, 148 Alexander Severus, his eclecticism, 84 St Anthimus of Nicomedia, 324 St Anthony, 289 Antiochus Epiphanes, 107, 298 Apollonius of Tyana, 60, 85 St Apphian, 248 Armenia becomes Christian, 1 30 : takes arms for the faith, 325 Arnobius on the burning of the books, 109 Arrius Aper, 3, 78, 81 Augury, practised by Christians, 144 Aurelian " Senators' Schoolmaster," 7: Diocletian's opinion of, 2 1 : persecu tion, 29 : conduct to Paul of Sa mosata, 75, 88, no, 303 Baalism, 32 Bagaudae, 21 : possibly Christians, 89 Beneficiarii, 334 Burckhardt, tirade against Lactantius, 42 : thinks the Christians had formed a conspiracy, 97 Caesariani, 39, 47. ir4: suspected of incendiarism, 119: martyred, 122: exhumed, 135 = see St Theonas Canon of Scripture, how affected by the persecution, in Caracallus, extension of the franchise by, 11 Carausius, Emperor in England, 24, 272 Carnuntum, Congress of, 255, 272 Carus, accession, 10 : death, 2 Cedrenus on the origin of the persecu tion, 68 Church, numerical status of the, 36 : its organisation, 51, 318: its power, 86: inner condition, 40, 288 : reproached for want of unity, 302 foil. Cicero, mutilation of his books by the Pagans for theological reasons, 69, 109 Cirta, persecution at, 167 : Donatist Synod of, 171: Church utensils at, 182 Claudius Gothicus, 7 : his ' persecution,' 29 : relationship to Constantine, 29 Clunia, inscription at, 97 : proved a. forgery, 217 Codex Alexandrinus, 282 Coins supposed to illustrate the per secution, (ig Constantine, his boyhood compared with Moses', 66 : Diocletian's affec tion for him, 66, 93 : destined by Diocletian for the throne, 243 : flight into England, and accession, 250, 252 : marries Maximian's daughter, 255 : recognised Augustus by Gale rius, 273: signs Galerius' edict of toleration, 308 : his conversion and victory over Maxentius, 326 : issues the edict of Milan, 327: how many edicts of toleration he issued, 328 : high conception of liberty of con science, 332 : Isapostolus, 332 : ham- 376 Index. pers haruspices, 308 : ingratitude to Diocletian, 340: his reforms the logical development of Diocletian's, 26, 53, 92, 243: his crimes, 49, 255 Constantius, of noble birth, 82 : de stroys the Churches in Gaul, 147 : curious anecdote of, 148 : character and religious views, 142/0//. : hatred of taxation, 250: extent of his sway, !45i !52> 246 : Ws reign as Head Emperor, 246 : happy death at York, 'Crowned Saints,' the Four, 259 St Cyprian, his internment, 136 : moderation, 169 : his description of scenes in court, 186 St Cyril of Antioch imprisoned in Pannonia, 263 Decius, rise and character of, 6 : fear of the Pope, 86 : his persecution an epoch, 112: but spasmodic, 113 St Didymus and St Theodora, 229 Diocletian, his origin, 271: early ad ventures, 4 : succeeds to the throne, 3 : the 'Second Augustus,' 10: court ceremonial, 14, 350: abandons the Roman traditions, 17, 73: his te trarchy, 22 : internal government, 25 : ' Father of the Golden Age,' 28 : dis tinctly favours the Church, 39, 47, 94: first little fit of temper with the Church, 42 : theTriumph, 53 : pressed by Galerius to persecute, 56 : consents reluctantly and on conditions, 63, 96 : his melancholy retrospect, 99: his First Edict, 103, 343 : it gives no reasons^ 104 : perhaps intended to weaken the Church through schism, 1 io:modelled on Valerian's Edict, in, 114: its divergences from that edict, 115: -he believes that his servants have con spired, m: in fear of an Eastern rising, issues the Second Edict, 132 : letter to the other Emperors, 142: persecution in his own dominion, 182 : his Vicennalia and Third Edict, 206 : he breaks down, 211: contrast be tween his persecution and Maximian's, 219: sickness, 237: refusal to ab dicate after all, 240 : forced to cut off the succession from Constantine and Maxentius, 242 : abdication, 245 :' forced to persecute in his retreat, 259 : compliment to Christianity, 265 : summoned by Galerius to Carnuntum and insulted, 272 : famous answer about the cabbages, 275 : his share in the Manichaean Edict, 279: said to have persecuted the Jews, 281 : per haps abates the persecution in 308, 283 : tries to protect his daughter and wife, 339 : dies heart-broken, 341 : Diocletian not a soldier, 20 : aesthetic and artistic tastes, 14, 27, 38, 259 foil. : dislike of publicity, 210: li terary and' historical knowledge, 48, 57. 91. IIO> "4, 27!> andesp. 351: his religion and his superstition, 40, 75, 265 : moral earnestness, 49, 77, 228, 346: his dealings with Nume rian and Aper, 3, 49, 78 : affectionate relation to his servants, 39, 94, 121 ** foil., 266, 349, 352 : love of Constan tine, 66, 93, 340 : misrepresentations of his character, 58, 80, 97 Dissenters, bitter feeling against, 162 : Galerius on, 302 foil. Donatism, 170 Elvira, Council of, 102, 122 England, condition of, 24 : why so few martyrs there, 149 Era of Martyrs, 1 Eugenius, insurrection, 124 St Eulalia, 226 St Euplius, 223 Eusebius, his candour defended, 41, 208 : dates of his books, 67 : on schismatical martyrdom,- 89 : ap plauds rash conduct in Christians, 117: his 'method,' 140, 248: per mits suicide in some cases, 236 : witness of a miracle, 249 : his Egyp tian style, 344 Index. )77 Eusebius, Arian Bp. of Nicomedia, and the Persecution of Licinius, 308 Felix of Aptunga, 159 St Felix of Tibiura, 172 Filii Augustorum, 24, 273 Frumentarii, 30 Galerius, origin of, 53 : character, 21, 54 foil. : relation to his Christian wife, 54, 122, 339 : punished for his defeat in the East, 14 : author of the persecution, 56, 67 : his witticism on the ' Dacian Empire,' 73 : Diocle tian's dread of the Evil Beast, 97, 240: sets the palace on fire, 118: why so few martyrs in his dominion the first year of persecution, 175 : obliged to countermand the burning of a clergyman, 188 : connexion with Theotecnus, 235 [see also Cedrenus as quoted p. 68] : forces Diocletian to fulfil his purpose of abdication, 241 : hatred of Constantine, 243, 250 : his census, 250: his relation to Constantius, 22, 246 : tries to avenge Severus, and is shamefully defeated, 254 : asks and rejects Diocletian's advice about Maxentius, 272 : offers to reinstate Diocletian as Emperor, 274 : persecutes the Manichees, 279: ' mitigates ' the Christian persecution for a few months, 281 : issues the Fifth Edict, 2S4 : his death-bed, 298 : Ills edict of toleration, 2997%//. : his reasons for the toleration accord ing to Hunziker, 306 : restrictions of the toleration, 330 : death, 306 'Galilaeans,' 290, 370 Gallienus, permits Christianity, 29, 38, 75. 88 St George of England, 117 Gibbon, unfair to Eusebius, 40 : on the cause of the persecution, 86 St Gregory the Illuminator, 130 Hadrian, his religion, 83 : his sarcasm on Alexandria, 91 M. St Helen, true wife, 144 St Hiero, 127 Hierocles, author ofthe Philalethes, 58, 108 Hosius, 152, 208 Hunziker, believes Diocletian impatient to persecute, 47: on the "Staatsidee,'" 71 : his rigour and vigour, 100 Julian the Apostate, in : on Maximian, 150 : compared with Maximin, 286, 320 Lactantius, unkind attacks on Diocle tian, 58, 80 : his bias, 64 : his life and sources of information, 65 : trustworthiness, 255 Lampridius, Christian antiquarianism, 70 Licinius, sent as an envoy to Maxentius, 254 : made Augustus at Carnuntum, 273 : joins in Galerius' edict of toleration, 306 : dislike of professors, 307 : characteristics of his persecution, 307 : tortures hierophants, 318: marries Constantine's sister, 326, 341 : defeats Maximin, 335 : bad irreligious character, 307, 336 Manichaean Edict, 74 : translated, 276 : date of, 279 St Marcellus, 45 St Maurice, 43 Maxentius, destined by Diocletian for the purple, 23, 243 : usurps it, 252 : Roman character of his reign, 256 : stops the persecution to win popu larity, 257: quarrels with his father, 258 : Diocletian tries to get bis usurpation recognised, 272 : defeat and death at Pons Milvius, 326 Maximian, early friendship with Dio cletian, 4, 93 ; made Augustus, and why, 20, 81 : Diocletian's candid opinion of him, 2 1 : relation to Rome and the senate, 18, 214, 257: ignor ance, 57 : evidence of the Fathers 25 37§ Index. against him, 68 : surnamed Hercu lius, 77: character of, 143, 150; his share in the persecution, 4S, too, 149 foil. 214: private additions to the First Edict, 154, 166, 218 : is sues the Fourth Edict during Dio cletian's collapse, 212 foil. : reluc tantly abdicates, 246 : re-assumes the purple, 253 : forms an alliance with Constantine, 255 : quarrels with his son, 258 : goes to the Congress of Carnuntum, 272 : invites Diocle tian to take empire again, 274 : his last treason and suicide, 297 : his name clean put out, 340 St Maximilian, 44 Maximin Daza, forced upon Diocletian by Galerius, 244: made Caesar, 245 : his first act to republish the Fourth Edict, 248 : admitted Augus tus, 273: signs the Manichaean edict, 279: mitigates the persecution, 281: issues the Fifth Edict, 284 : com pared with Galerius, 286, 287 : gar bles Galerius' toleration act, 309 foil. : forbids services in cemeteries, 313: sends deputations to himself against Christianity, 314: his Epistle to the Tyrians, 315: permits local prohibi tion of Christianity, 316: initiated into Theotecnus' new mysteries, 317: Pagan Church, 319: republishes filthy scandals, 321: authorises the Acts of Pilate, 323: kills off the chief theologians, 324 : involved in war with Armenia, 325: secret treaty with Maxentius, 326: deprived of his seniority by the Senate, 333: self-justifying letter of 'toleration,' 334 : defeated by Licinius, 335 : complete toleration at last, 337: dies of delirium tremens, 338: his treatment of Valeria and Diocletian, 339 Melchiades, Pope, 257 Melitene, sedition in, 126 Mensurius of Carthage, 168 Mysteries, 34, 317 Neander, on the political character of Roman religion, 71 Neoplatonism, 37, 90 Niebuhr on the persecution, 97 : on Sun-worship, 78 Numerian, murder of, 3 : god of letters, 28 Paganism, want of organisation, 51, 318: indifference to the persecution, 90 St Phileas on Martyrdom, 204: mar tyred himself, 290 St Philip of Heraclea, 176 Poets, pagan and Christian, 37 Prisca, Empress, 40 : behaviour ' of Christian domestics to, 98, 352 : forced to abjure her faith, 121: sor rows and death, 339 Probus, apologizes to the Senate for his election, 9 St Procopius on monarchy, 187 St Roman, 188 Rome, humiliations of, ir, 17, 73, 252: stronghold of Paganism, 37, 90, 151, 212: yet the Church very powerful there, 86, 90, 106, 257 : impertinence of the people, 210: partial recovery of importance under Maxentius, 256 Romula, mother of Galerius, 56 Sacraments, necessity of, 157: see Mysteries. Senate, relation to successive Emperors, 6 foil. : behaviour of Diocletian and Maximian to it, 18: Maximian con sults it about the persecution, 212 foil.: Maxentius' deference to it, 257: makes Maximin junior Emperor, 332 : possibly condemns the aged Diocletian, 341 Simeon Metaphrastes, 127, 213 St Tarachus and others, 189 St Theodosia, 281 Index. 379 St Theodotus, Bishop, Shopkeeper, and Martyr, 354 foil. St Theonas, letter to Lucian, 39, 98, 34« Theotecnus, devises penaltiesfor Virgins, 235 : gets UP antichristian petitions, 314: parodies Christian rites, 317: forges Acts of Pilate, 321: said to have been an apostate, 355 : his cha racter, 317, 355 Traditor, 1 82 : why no Greek word for, 183 Trajan, an epoch of persecution, 112: renounces Christian legislation as hopeless, 1 1 3 Valerian, treatment of the Senate, 7 : his captivity, 29 : his persecution not mentioned by pagan writers, 70: his First (bloodless) Edict against the Bishops, 136: his Second Edict the great epoch of persecution, 113: difference from Diocletian's, "5 Veturius, a martinet, 41 St Vincent, the Levite, 135, 152 Virgins, edict against, 235 : abused judicially, 360 Vopiscus, family of, 4, 93, 99, 271: his few and bitter allusions to Chris tianity, 70 Valeria, Empress, her Christianity, 40: her husband's want of love to her, 54, 122, 339: adopts a bastard son of his, 339: forced to abjure her faith, 121: her sorrows and death, 339. 34° Wesley, 95 Zosimus, attitude to Christianity, 69 : hatred of Constantine, 252: blunders, compared with Lactantius' accuracy, 255 I'KINI iD^BY C. 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