* Christianum, statim illud de Trivio, [--------] vocant
Impostorem.
** Justin. Dial. c. Tryph. p. 335.
*** Lucian. Peregrin.
**** Cels. ap. Orig. lib. i. et lib. 6.
(v) Prudent. [--------]. Carm. 9. de Romano Marty. Quis hos
Sophistas error invexit novus, &c.
(vi) Digest, lib. 50. tit. 13. c 1. Si incantavit, si in-
precatus est, si (ut vulgari verbo Impostoruxn utar) si
exorcisavit
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to that of impostors, was (as learned men* conjecture) because many of
the Christian philosophers took upon them the Grecian or philosophic
habit, which was the [--------] or pallium: whence the Greeks were
called Pallitati, as the Romans were called Togati, or Gens togata, from
their proper habit, which was the toga. Now it being some offence to the
Romans to see the Christians quit the Roman gown, to wear the Grecian
cloak; they thence took occasion, to mock and deride them with the
scurrilous names of Greeks, and Grecian impostors. Tertullian s book
_de Pallio_ was written to show the spiteful malice of this foolish
objection.
But the heathens went one step further in their malice; and because our
Saviour and his followers did many miracles, which they imputed to evil
arts and the power of magic, they therefore generally declaimed against
them as magicians, and under that character exposed them to the fury of
the vulgar. Celsus** and others pretended that our Saviour studied magic
in Egypt: and St. Austin*** says, it was generally believed among the
heathens, that he
* Kortholt de Morib. Christian, c. 3. p. 23. Baron an.
56. n. 11.
** Origen. cont. Cels. lib. 2. Arrobius, lib. 1. p. 36.
*** Aug. de Consensu Evang. lib. 1. c. 9.
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wrote some books about magic too, which he delivered to Peter and Paul
for the use of his disciples. Hence it was that Suetonius* speaking in
the language of his party, calls the Christians _Genus hominum
superstionis maleficae_, 'the men of the magical superstition.' As
Asclepiades the judge in Prudentius** styles St. Romanus the martyr,
Arch-magician.
And St. Ambrose observes in the Passion of St. Agnes*** how the
people cried out against her, 'Away with the sorceress! Away with the
enchanter! 'Nothing being more common than to term all Christians,
especially such as wrought miracles, by the odious name of sorcerers
and magicians.'
The New Superstition was another name of reproach for the Christian
religion. Suetonius gives it that title****, and Pliny and Tacitus add
to it(v) the opprobrious terms of wicked and unreasonable
* Sueton. Neron. c. 16.
** Prudent. Hymn. 9. de S. Romano. Quousque tandem
su m m us hic nobis Magus illudit.
*** Ambr. Serm. 90. in S. Agnen. Tolle Magam! Tolle
Maleticam!
**** See Kortholt de Morib. Christ, c. 4.
(v) Sueton. Nero. c. 16.
(vi) Plin. lib. 10. ep. 97. Nihil aliud inveni, quam
superstitionem pravam et immodicara. Tacit. Annal. 15. c.
44. Exitiabilis superstitio.
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superstition. By which name also Nero triumphed over it in his trophies
which he set up at Rome, when he had harassed the Christians with a
most severe persecution. He gloried that he had purged the country of
robbers, and those that obtruded and inculcated the new superstition*
upon mankind. By this, there can be no doubt he meant the Christians,
whose religion is called the superstition in other inscriptions of the
like nature. See that of Diocletian cited in Baronius, Ann. 304. from
Occo. "Superstitione Christianorum ubique deleta," &c.
Not much unlike this was that other name which Porphyry** and some
others give it, when they call it the barbarous, new, and strange
religion. In the acts of the famous martyrs of Lyons, who suffered under
Antoninus Pius, the heathens scornfully insult it with this character.
For having burnt the martyrs to ashes, and scattered their remains into
the river Rhone, they said, they did it 'to cut off their hopes of a
resurrection, upon the
* Inscript. Antiq. ad Calcem Sueton. Oxon. NERONI. CLAUD.
CAIS. AUG. PONT. MAX. OB. PROVING. LATRONIB. ET. HIS. QUI.
NOVAM. GENERI. HUM. SUPERSTITION. INCULCAB. PURGAT.
** Ap. Euseb. Hist Eccl, lib* 6, c 19, [--------]
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strength of which they sought to obtrude* the new and strange religion
upon mankind. But now let us see whether they will rise again, and
whether their God can help and deliver them out of our hands.'
Celsus gives them the name of Sibyllists**, because the Christians in
their disputes with the heathens sometimes made use of the authority of
Sibylla their own prophetess against them; whose writing they urged with
so much advantage to the Christian cause, and prejudice to the heathen,
that Justin Martyr*** says, the Roman governors made it death for any
one to read them, or Hystaspes, or the writings of the prophets.
They also reproached them with the appellation of [--------],
'self-murderers,' because they readily offered themselves up to
martyrdom, and cheerfully underwent any violent death, which the
heathens could inflict upon them. With what eagerness they courted
death, we learn not only from the Christian writers**** themselves, but
from the testimonies
* Act. Mart. Lugd. ap. Euseb. lib. 5. c. 1. [--------]
** Origen. c. Cels. lib. 5. p. 272.
*** Just Apol. 2. p. 82.
**** See these collected in Pearson, Vind. Ignat. Par. 2. c.
9. p. 384.
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of the heathens* concerning them. Lucian** says they not only despised
death, but many of them voluntarily offered themselves to it, out of a
persuasion that they should be made immortal and live forever. This he
reckons folly, and therefore gives them the name of [--------], 'The
miserable wretches, that threw away their lives,' In which sense
Porphyry*** also styles, the Christian religion, [--------] the
barbarous boldness.' As Arrjus Antoninus**** terms the professors of
it, [--------], The stupid wretches, that had such a mind to die; and
the heathen in Minucius(v), homines deploratae ac desperate factionis,
'the men of the forlorn and desperate faction.' All which agrees with
the name Biothanati, or Biaeothanati, as Baronius(vi) understands
it* Though it may signify not only self-murderers, but (as a learned
critic(xii) notes) men that expect to live after death. In which sense
the heathens probably might use it likewise to ridicule the Christian
doctrine of the resurrection; on which, they
* Arrius Antonin. ap. Tertul. ad Scap. c. 4. Tiberias, in
Joh. Malela Chronic.
** Lucian. de Mort Peregrin.
*** Porphyr. ap. Euseb. Hist Eccl. 1. 6. c 19.
**** Tertul. ibid.
(v) Minuc. Octav. p. 25.
(vi) Baron, an. 138. n. 5.
(vii) Suicer. Thesaur. Ecclesiast 1.1. p. 690.
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knew, all their fearless and undaunted courage was founded. For so
the same heathen in Minucius endeavours to expose at once both their
resolution and their belief: "O strange folly, and incredible madness!"
says he; "they despise all present torments, and yet fear those that are
future and uncertain: they are afraid of dying after death, but in the
mean time do not fear to die. So vainly do they flatter themselves,
and allay their fears, with the hopes of some reviving comforts after
death." For one of these reasons then they gave them the name of
_Biothanati_,
which word expressly occurs in some of the acts of the ancient martyrs.
Baronius observes* out of Bede's Martyrology, that when the seven sons
of Symphorosa were martyred under Hadrian, their bodies were all cast
into one pit together, which the temple-priests named from them, _Ad
Septem Biothanatos_, 'The grave of the seven Biothanati.'
For the same reasons they gave them the names of _Parabolarii and
Desperati_, 'The bold and desperate men.' The Parabolarii, or Parabolani
among the Romans were those bold adventurous men, who hired out
themselves to fight with wild beasts upon the stage or amphitheatre,
whence they had also the name of _Bestiarii, and Confectores_. Now
because the
* Baron, an. 138. n. 5.
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Christians were put to fight for their lives in the same manner, and
they rather chose to do it than deny their religion, they therefore got
the name of _Paraboli and Parabolani_: which, though it was intended as
a name of reproach and mockery, yet the Christians were not unwilling to
take to themselves, being one of the truest characters that the heathens
ever gave them. And therefore they sometimes gave themselves this name
by way of allusion to the Roman Paraboli. As in the Passion of Abdo
and Senne* in the time of Valerian, the martyrs who were exposed to be
devoured by wild beasts in the amphitheatre, are said to enter, '_ut
audacissimi Parabolani_,' as most resolute champions, that despised
their own lives for their religion's sake. But the other name of
_Desperati_ they rejected as a calumny, retorting it back upon their
adversaries, who more justly deserved it. "Those," says Lactantius***,
"who set a value upon their faith, and will not deny their God, they
first torment and butcher with all their might, and then call them
desperados, because they will not spare their bodies: as if any thing
could be more desperate, than to torture and tear in pieces those whom
you cannot but know to be innocent."
* Acta Abdon. et Sennes ap. Suicer.
** Lact. Instil, lib. 5. c. 9. Desperates vocant, quia
corpori suo minime parcunt, &c.
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Tertullian mentions another name, which was likewise occasioned by their
sufferings. The martyrs which were burnt alive, were usually tied to
a board or stake of about six foot long, which the Romans called
_semaxis_; and then they were surrounded or covered with faggots of
small wood, which they called _sarmenia_. From this their punishment,
the heathens, who turned every thing into mockery, gave all Christians
the despiteful name of _Sarmentitii_ and _Semaxii_*.
The heathen in Minucius*** takes occasion also to reproach them under
the name of the sculking generation, or the men that loved to prate in
corners and the dark. The ground of which scurrilous reflection was only
this, that they were forced to hold their religious assemblies in the
night to avoid the fury of the persecutions. Which Celsus**** himself
owns, though otherwise prone enough to load them with hard names and
odious reflections.