Constantine.—Part II.
History, which undertakes to record the transactions of the past,
for the instruction of future ages, would ill deserve that
honorable office, if she condescended to plead the cause of
tyrants, or to justify the maxims of persecution. It must,
however, be acknowledged, that the conduct of the emperors who
appeared the least favorable to the primitive church, is by no
means so criminal as that of modern sovereigns, who have employed
the arm of violence and terror against the religious opinions of
any part of their subjects. From their reflections, or even from
their own feelings, a Charles V. or a Lewis XIV. might have
acquired a just knowledge of the rights of conscience, of the
obligation of faith, and of the innocence of error. But the
princes and magistrates of ancient Rome were strangers to those
principles which inspired and authorized the inflexible obstinacy
of the Christians in the cause of truth, nor could they
themselves discover in their own breasts any motive which would
have prompted them to refuse a legal, and as it were a natural,
submission to the sacred institutions of their country. The same
reason which contributes to alleviate the guilt, must have tended
to abate the vigor, of their persecutions. As they were actuated,
not by the furious zeal of bigots, but by the temperate policy of
legislators, contempt must often have relaxed, and humanity must
frequently have suspended, the execution of those laws which they
enacted against the humble and obscure followers of Christ. From
the general view of their character and motives we might
naturally conclude: I. That a considerable time elapsed before
they considered the new sectaries as an object deserving of the
attention of government. II. That in the conviction of any of
their subjects who were accused of so very singular a crime, they
proceeded with caution and reluctance. III. That they were
moderate in the use of punishments; and, IV. That the afflicted
church enjoyed many intervals of peace and tranquility.
Notwithstanding the careless indifference which the most copious
and the most minute of the Pagan writers have shown to the
affairs of the Christians, 24 it may still be in our power to
confirm each of these probable suppositions, by the evidence of
authentic facts.
24 (return) [ In the various compilation of the Augustan History,
(a part of which was composed under the reign of Constantine,)
there are not six lines which relate to the Christians; nor has
the diligence of Xiphilin discovered their name in the large
history of Dion Cassius. * Note: The greater part of the Augustan
History is dedicated to Diocletian. This may account for the
silence of its authors concerning Christianity. The notices that
occur are almost all in the lives composed under the reign of
Constantine. It may fairly be concluded, from the language which
he had into the mouth of Mæcenas, that Dion was an enemy to all
innovations in religion. (See Gibbon, _infra_, note 105.) In
fact, when the silence of Pagan historians is noticed, it should
be remembered how meagre and mutilated are all the extant
histories of the period—M.]
1. By the wise dispensation of Providence, a mysterious veil was
cast over the infancy of the church, which, till the faith of the
Christians was matured, and their numbers were multiplied, served
to protect them not only from the malice but even from the
knowledge of the Pagan world. The slow and gradual abolition of
the Mosaic ceremonies afforded a safe and innocent disguise to
the more early proselytes of the gospel. As they were, for the
greater part, of the race of Abraham, they were distinguished by
the peculiar mark of circumcision, offered up their devotions in
the Temple of Jerusalem till its final destruction, and received
both the Law and the Prophets as the genuine inspirations of the
Deity. The Gentile converts, who by a spiritual adoption had been
associated to the hope of Israel, were likewise confounded under
the garb and appearance of Jews, 25 and as the Polytheists paid
less regard to articles of faith than to the external worship,
the new sect, which carefully concealed, or faintly announced,
its future greatness and ambition, was permitted to shelter
itself under the general toleration which was granted to an
ancient and celebrated people in the Roman empire. It was not
long, perhaps, before the Jews themselves, animated with a
fiercer zeal and a more jealous faith, perceived the gradual
separation of their Nazarene brethren from the doctrine of the
synagogue; and they would gladly have extinguished the dangerous
heresy in the blood of its adherents. But the decrees of Heaven
had already disarmed their malice; and though they might
sometimes exert the licentious privilege of sedition, they no
longer possessed the administration of criminal justice; nor did
they find it easy to infuse into the calm breast of a Roman
magistrate the rancor of their own zeal and prejudice. The
provincial governors declared themselves ready to listen to any
accusation that might affect the public safety; but as soon as
they were informed that it was a question not of facts but of
words, a dispute relating only to the interpretation of the
Jewish laws and prophecies, they deemed it unworthy of the
majesty of Rome seriously to discuss the obscure differences
which might arise among a barbarous and superstitious people. The
innocence of the first Christians was protected by ignorance and
contempt; and the tribunal of the Pagan magistrate often proved
their most assured refuge against the fury of the synagogue. 26
If indeed we were disposed to adopt the traditions of a too
credulous antiquity, we might relate the distant peregrinations,
the wonderful achievements, and the various deaths of the twelve
apostles: but a more accurate inquiry will induce us to doubt,
whether any of those persons who had been witnesses to the
miracles of Christ were permitted, beyond the limits of
Palestine, to seal with their blood the truth of their testimony.
27 From the ordinary term of human life, it may very naturally be
presumed that most of them were deceased before the discontent of
the Jews broke out into that furious war, which was terminated
only by the ruin of Jerusalem. During a long period, from the
death of Christ to that memorable rebellion, we cannot discover
any traces of Roman intolerance, unless they are to be found in
the sudden, the transient, but the cruel persecution, which was
exercised by Nero against the Christians of the capital,
thirty-five years after the former, and only two years before the
latter, of those great events. The character of the philosophic
historian, to whom we are principally indebted for the knowledge
of this singular transaction, would alone be sufficient to
recommend it to our most attentive consideration.
25 (return) [ An obscure passage of Suetonius (in Claud. c. 25)
may seem to offer a proof how strangely the Jews and Christians
of Rome were confounded with each other.]
26 (return) [ See, in the xviiith and xxvth chapters of the Acts
of the Apostles, the behavior of Gallio, proconsul of Achaia, and
of Festus, procurator of Judea.]
27 (return) [ In the time of Tertullian and Clemens of
Alexandria, the glory of martyrdom was confined to St. Peter, St.
Paul, and St. James. It was gradually bestowed on the rest of the
apostles, by the more recent Greeks, who prudently selected for
the theatre of their preaching and sufferings some remote country
beyond the limits of the Roman empire. See Mosheim, p. 81; and
Tillemont, Mémoires Ecclésiastiques, tom. i. part iii.]
In the tenth year of the reign of Nero, the capital of the empire
was afflicted by a fire which raged beyond the memory or example
of former ages. 28 The monuments of Grecian art and of Roman
virtue, the trophies of the Punic and Gallic wars, the most holy
temples, and the most splendid palaces, were involved in one
common destruction. Of the fourteen regions or quarters into
which Rome was divided, four only subsisted entire, three were
levelled with the ground, and the remaining seven, which had
experienced the fury of the flames, displayed a melancholy
prospect of ruin and desolation. The vigilance of government
appears not to have neglected any of the precautions which might
alleviate the sense of so dreadful a calamity. The Imperial
gardens were thrown open to the distressed multitude, temporary
buildings were erected for their accommodation, and a plentiful
supply of corn and provisions was distributed at a very moderate
price. 29 The most generous policy seemed to have dictated the
edicts which regulated the disposition of the streets and the
construction of private houses; and as it usually happens, in an
age of prosperity, the conflagration of Rome, in the course of a
few years, produced a new city, more regular and more beautiful
than the former. But all the prudence and humanity affected by
Nero on this occasion were insufficient to preserve him from the
popular suspicion. Every crime might be imputed to the assassin
of his wife and mother; nor could the prince who prostituted his
person and dignity on the theatre be deemed incapable of the most
extravagant folly. The voice of rumor accused the emperor as the
incendiary of his own capital; and as the most incredible stories
are the best adapted to the genius of an enraged people, it was
gravely reported, and firmly believed, that Nero, enjoying the
calamity which he had occasioned, amused himself with singing to
his lyre the destruction of ancient Troy. 30 To divert a
suspicion, which the power of despotism was unable to suppress,
the emperor resolved to substitute in his own place some
fictitious criminals. “With this view,” continues Tacitus, “he
inflicted the most exquisite tortures on those men, who, under
the vulgar appellation of Christians, were already branded with
deserved infamy. They derived their name and origin from Christ,
who in the reign of Tiberius had suffered death by the sentence
of the procurator Pontius Pilate. 31 For a while this dire
superstition was checked; but it again burst forth; 3111 and not
only spread itself over Judæa, the first seat of this mischievous
sect, but was even introduced into Rome, the common asylum which
receives and protects whatever is impure, whatever is atrocious.
The confessions of those who were seized discovered a great
multitude of their accomplices, and they were all convicted, not
so much for the crime of setting fire to the city, as for their
hatred of human kind. 32 They died in torments, and their
torments were imbittered by insult and derision. Some were nailed
on crosses; others sewn up in the skins of wild beasts, and
exposed to the fury of dogs; others again, smeared over with
combustible materials, were used as torches to illuminate the
darkness of the night. The gardens of Nero were destined for the
melancholy spectacle, which was accompanied with a horse-race and
honored with the presence of the emperor, who mingled with the
populace in the dress and attitude of a charioteer. The guilt of
the Christians deserved indeed the most exemplary punishment, but
the public abhorrence was changed into commiseration, from the
opinion that those unhappy wretches were sacrificed, not so much
to the public welfare, as to the cruelty of a jealous tyrant.” 33
Those who survey with a curious eye the revolutions of mankind,
may observe, that the gardens and circus of Nero on the Vatican,
which were polluted with the blood of the first Christians, have
been rendered still more famous by the triumph and by the abuse
of the persecuted religion. On the same spot, 34 a temple, which
far surpasses the ancient glories of the Capitol, has been since
erected by the Christian Pontiffs, who, deriving their claim of
universal dominion from an humble fisherman of Galilee, have
succeeded to the throne of the Cæsars, given laws to the
barbarian conquerors of Rome, and extended their spiritual
jurisdiction from the coast of the Baltic to the shores of the
Pacific Ocean.
28 (return) [ Tacit. Annal. xv. 38—44. Sueton in Neron. c. 38.
Dion Cassius, l. lxii. p. 1014. Orosius, vii. 7.]
29 (return) [ The price of wheat (probably of the _modius_,) was
reduced as low as _terni Nummi;_ which would be equivalent to
about fifteen shillings the English quarter.]
30 (return) [ We may observe, that the rumor is mentioned by
Tacitus with a very becoming distrust and hesitation, whilst it
is greedily transcribed by Suetonius, and solemnly confirmed by
Dion.]
31 (return) [ This testimony is alone sufficient to expose the
anachronism of the Jews, who place the birth of Christ near a
century sooner. (Basnage, Histoire des Juifs, l. v. c. 14, 15.)
We may learn from Josephus, (Antiquitat. xviii. 3,) that the
procuratorship of Pilate corresponded with the last ten years of
Tiberius, A. D. 27—37. As to the particular time of the death of
Christ, a very early tradition fixed it to the 25th of March, A.
D. 29, under the consulship of the two Gemini. (Tertullian adv.
Judæos, c. 8.) This date, which is adopted by Pagi, Cardinal
Norris, and Le Clerc, seems at least as probable as the vulgar
æra, which is placed (I know not from what conjectures) four
years later.]
3111 (return) [ This single phrase, Repressa in præsens
exitiabilis superstitio rursus erumpebat, proves that the
Christians had already attracted the attention of the government;
and that Nero was not the first to persecute them. I am surprised
that more stress has not been laid on the confirmation which the
Acts of the Apostles derive from these words of Tacitus, Repressa
in præsens, and rursus erumpebat.—G. ——I have been unwilling to
suppress this note, but surely the expression of Tacitus refers
to the expected extirpation of the religion by the death of its
founder, Christ.—M.]
32 (return) [ _Odio humani generis convicti_. These words may
either signify the hatred of mankind towards the Christians, or
the hatred of the Christians towards mankind. I have preferred
the latter sense, as the most agreeable to the style of Tacitus,
and to the popular error, of which a precept of the gospel (see
Luke xiv. 26) had been, perhaps, the innocent occasion. My
interpretation is justified by the authority of Lipsius; of the
Italian, the French, and the English translators of Tacitus; of
Mosheim, (p. 102,) of Le Clerc, (Historia Ecclesiast. p. 427,) of
Dr. Lardner, (Testimonies, vol. i. p. 345,) and of the Bishop of
Gloucester, (Divine Legation, vol. iii. p. 38.) But as the word
_convicti_ does not unite very happily with the rest of the
sentence, James Gronovius has preferred the reading of
_conjuncti_, which is authorized by the valuable MS. of
Florence.]
33 (return) [ Tacit. Annal xv. 44.]
34 (return) [ Nardini Roma Antica, p. 487. Donatus de Roma
Antiqua, l. iii. p. 449.]
But it would be improper to dismiss this account of Nero’s
persecution, till we have made some observations that may serve
to remove the difficulties with which it is perplexed, and to
throw some light on the subsequent history of the church.
1. The most sceptical criticism is obliged to respect the truth
of this extraordinary fact, and the integrity of this celebrated
passage of Tacitus. The former is confirmed by the diligent and
accurate Suetonius, who mentions the punishment which Nero
inflicted on the Christians, a sect of men who had embraced a new
and criminal superstition. 35 The latter may be proved by the
consent of the most ancient manuscripts; by the inimitable
character of the style of Tacitus by his reputation, which
guarded his text from the interpolations of pious fraud; and by
the purport of his narration, which accused the first Christians
of the most atrocious crimes, without insinuating that they
possessed any miraculous or even magical powers above the rest of
mankind. 36 2. Notwithstanding it is probable that Tacitus was
born some years before the fire of Rome, 37 he could derive only
from reading and conversation the knowledge of an event which
happened during his infancy. Before he gave himself to the
public, he calmly waited till his genius had attained its full
maturity, and he was more than forty years of age, when a
grateful regard for the memory of the virtuous Agricola extorted
from him the most early of those historical compositions which
will delight and instruct the most distant posterity. After
making a trial of his strength in the life of Agricola and the
description of Germany, he conceived, and at length executed, a
more arduous work; the history of Rome, in thirty books, from the
fall of Nero to the accession of Nerva. The administration of
Nerva introduced an age of justice and propriety, which Tacitus
had destined for the occupation of his old age; 38 but when he
took a nearer view of his subject, judging, perhaps, that it was
a more honorable or a less invidious office to record the vices
of past tyrants, than to celebrate the virtues of a reigning
monarch, he chose rather to relate, under the form of annals, the
actions of the four immediate successors of Augustus. To collect,
to dispose, and to adorn a series of fourscore years, in an
immortal work, every sentence of which is pregnant with the
deepest observations and the most lively images, was an
undertaking sufficient to exercise the genius of Tacitus himself
during the greatest part of his life. In the last years of the
reign of Trajan, whilst the victorious monarch extended the power
of Rome beyond its ancient limits, the historian was describing,
in the second and fourth books of his annals, the tyranny of
Tiberius; 39 and the emperor Hadrian must have succeeded to the
throne, before Tacitus, in the regular prosecution of his work,
could relate the fire of the capital, and the cruelty of Nero
towards the unfortunate Christians. At the distance of sixty
years, it was the duty of the annalist to adopt the narratives of
contemporaries; but it was natural for the philosopher to indulge
himself in the description of the origin, the progress, and the
character of the new sect, not so much according to the knowledge
or prejudices of the age of Nero, as according to those of the
time of Hadrian. 3 Tacitus very frequently trusts to the
curiosity or reflection of his readers to supply those
intermediate circumstances and ideas, which, in his extreme
conciseness, he has thought proper to suppress. We may therefore
presume to imagine some probable cause which could direct the
cruelty of Nero against the Christians of Rome, whose obscurity,
as well as innocence, should have shielded them from his
indignation, and even from his notice. The Jews, who were
numerous in the capital, and oppressed in their own country, were
a much fitter object for the suspicions of the emperor and of the
people: nor did it seem unlikely that a vanquished nation, who
already discovered their abhorrence of the Roman yoke, might have
recourse to the most atrocious means of gratifying their
implacable revenge. But the Jews possessed very powerful
advocates in the palace, and even in the heart of the tyrant; his
wife and mistress, the beautiful Poppæa, and a favorite player of
the race of Abraham, who had already employed their intercession
in behalf of the obnoxious people. 40 In their room it was
necessary to offer some other victims, and it might easily be
suggested that, although the genuine followers of Moses were
innocent of the fire of Rome, there had arisen among them a new
and pernicious sect of Galilæans, which was capable of the most
horrid crimes. Under the appellation of Galilæans, two
distinctions of men were confounded, the most opposite to each
other in their manners and principles; the disciples who had
embraced the faith of Jesus of Nazareth, 41 and the zealots who
had followed the standard of Judas the Gaulonite. 42 The former
were the friends, the latter were the enemies, of human kind; and
the only resemblance between them consisted in the same
inflexible constancy, which, in the defence of their cause,
rendered them insensible of death and tortures. The followers of
Judas, who impelled their countrymen into rebellion, were soon
buried under the ruins of Jerusalem; whilst those of Jesus, known
by the more celebrated name of Christians, diffused themselves
over the Roman empire. How natural was it for Tacitus, in the
time of Hadrian, to appropriate to the Christians the guilt and
the sufferings, 4211 which he might, with far greater truth and
justice, have attributed to a sect whose odious memory was almost
extinguished! 4. Whatever opinion may be entertained of this
conjecture, (for it is no more than a conjecture,) it is evident
that the effect, as well as the cause, of Nero’s persecution, was
confined to the walls of Rome, 43 that the religious tenets of
the Galilæans or Christians, 431 were never made a subject of
punishment, or even of inquiry; and that, as the idea of their
sufferings was for a long time connected with the idea of cruelty
and injustice, the moderation of succeeding princes inclined them
to spare a sect, oppressed by a tyrant, whose rage had been
usually directed against virtue and innocence.
35 (return) [ Sueton. in Nerone, c. 16. The epithet of
_malefica_, which some sagacious commentators have translated
magical, is considered by the more rational Mosheim as only
synonymous to the _exitiabilis_ of Tacitus.]
36 (return) [ The passage concerning Jesus Christ, which was
inserted into the text of Josephus, between the time of Origen
and that of Eusebius, may furnish an example of no vulgar
forgery. The accomplishment of the prophecies, the virtues,
miracles, and resurrection of Jesus, are distinctly related.
Josephus acknowledges that he was the Messiah, and hesitates
whether he should call him a man. If any doubt can still remain
concerning this celebrated passage, the reader may examine the
pointed objections of Le Fevre, (Havercamp. Joseph. tom. ii. p.
267-273), the labored answers of Daubuz, (p. 187-232, and the
masterly reply (Bibliothèque Ancienne et Moderne, tom. vii. p.
237-288) of an anonymous critic, whom I believe to have been the
learned Abbé de Longuerue. * Note: The modern editor of Eusebius,
Heinichen, has adopted, and ably supported, a notion, which had
before suggested itself to the editor, that this passage is not
altogether a forgery, but interpolated with many additional
clauses. Heinichen has endeavored to disengage the original text
from the foreign and more recent matter.—M.]
37 (return) [ See the lives of Tacitus by Lipsius and the Abbé de
la Bleterie, Dictionnaire de Bayle a l’article Particle Tacite,
and Fabricius, Biblioth. Latin tem. Latin. tom. ii. p. 386, edit.
Ernest. Ernst.]
38 (return) [ Principatum Divi Nervæ, et imperium Trajani,
uberiorem, securioremque materiam senectuti seposui. Tacit. Hist.
i.]
39 (return) [ See Tacit. Annal. ii. 61, iv. 4. * Note: The
perusal of this passage of Tacitus alone is sufficient, as I have
already said, to show that the Christian sect was not so obscure
as not already to have been repressed, (repressa,) and that it
did not pass for innocent in the eyes of the Romans.—G.]
40 (return) [ The player’s name was Aliturus. Through the same
channel, Josephus, (de vitâ suâ, c. 2,) about two years before,
had obtained the pardon and release of some Jewish priests, who
were prisoners at Rome.]
41 (return) [ The learned Dr. Lardner (Jewish and Heathen
Testimonies, vol ii. p. 102, 103) has proved that the name of
Galilæans was a very ancient, and perhaps the primitive
appellation of the Christians.]
42 (return) [ Joseph. Antiquitat. xviii. 1, 2. Tillemont, Ruine
des Juifs, p. 742 The sons of Judas were crucified in the time of
Claudius. His grandson Eleazar, after Jerusalem was taken,
defended a strong fortress with 960 of his most desperate
followers. When the battering ram had made a breach, they turned
their swords against their wives their children, and at length
against their own breasts. They dies to the last man.]
4211 (return) [ This conjecture is entirely devoid, not merely of
verisimilitude, but even of possibility. Tacitus could not be
deceived in appropriating to the Christians of Rome the guilt and
the sufferings which he might have attributed with far greater
truth to the followers of Judas the Gaulonite, for the latter
never went to Rome. Their revolt, their attempts, their opinions,
their wars, their punishment, had no other theatre but Judæa
(Basn. Hist. des. Juifs, t. i. p. 491.) Moreover the name of
Christians had long been given in Rome to the disciples of Jesus;
and Tacitus affirms too positively, refers too distinctly to its
etymology, to allow us to suspect any mistake on his part.—G.
——M. Guizot’s expressions are not in the least too strong against
this strange imagination of Gibbon; it may be doubted whether the
followers of Judas were known as a sect under the name of
Galilæans.—M.]
43 (return) [ See Dodwell. Paucitat. Mart. l. xiii. The Spanish
Inscription in Gruter. p. 238, No. 9, is a manifest and
acknowledged forgery contrived by that noted imposter. Cyriacus
of Ancona, to flatter the pride and prejudices of the Spaniards.
See Ferreras, Histoire D’Espagne, tom. i. p. 192.]
431 (return) [ M. Guizot, on the authority of Sulpicius Severus,
ii. 37, and of Orosius, viii. 5, inclines to the opinion of those
who extend the persecution to the provinces. Mosheim rather leans
to that side on this much disputed question, (c. xxxv.) Neander
takes the view of Gibbon, which is in general that of the most
learned writers. There is indeed no evidence, which I can
discover, of its reaching the provinces; and the apparent
security, at least as regards his life, with which St. Paul
pursued his travels during this period, affords at least a strong
inference against a rigid and general inquisition against the
Christians in other parts of the empire.—M.]
It is somewhat remarkable that the flames of war consumed, almost
at the same time, the temple of Jerusalem and the Capitol of
Rome; 44 and it appears no less singular, that the tribute which
devotion had destined to the former, should have been converted
by the power of an assaulting victor to restore and adorn the
splendor of the latter. 45 The emperors levied a general
capitation tax on the Jewish people; and although the sum
assessed on the head of each individual was inconsiderable, the
use for which it was designed, and the severity with which it was
exacted, were considered as an intolerable grievance. 46 Since
the officers of the revenue extended their unjust claim to many
persons who were strangers to the blood or religion of the Jews,
it was impossible that the Christians, who had so often sheltered
themselves under the shade of the synagogue, should now escape
this rapacious persecution. Anxious as they were to avoid the
slightest infection of idolatry, their conscience forbade them to
contribute to the honor of that dæmon who had assumed the
character of the Capitoline Jupiter. As a very numerous though
declining party among the Christians still adhered to the law of
Moses, their efforts to dissemble their Jewish origin were
detected by the decisive test of circumcision; 47 nor were the
Roman magistrates at leisure to inquire into the difference of
their religious tenets. Among the Christians who were brought
before the tribunal of the emperor, or, as it seems more
probable, before that of the procurator of Judæa, two persons are
said to have appeared, distinguished by their extraction, which
was more truly noble than that of the greatest monarchs. These
were the grandsons of St. Jude the apostle, who himself was the
brother of Jesus Christ. 48 Their natural pretensions to the
throne of David might perhaps attract the respect of the people,
and excite the jealousy of the governor; but the meanness of
their garb, and the simplicity of their answers, soon convinced
him that they were neither desirous nor capable of disturbing the
peace of the Roman empire. They frankly confessed their royal
origin, and their near relation to the Messiah; but they
disclaimed any temporal views, and professed that his kingdom,
which they devoutly expected, was purely of a spiritual and
angelic nature. When they were examined concerning their fortune
and occupation, they showed their hands, hardened with daily
labor, and declared that they derived their whole subsistence
from the cultivation of a farm near the village of Cocaba, of the
extent of about twenty-four English acres, 49 and of the value of
nine thousand drachms, or three hundred pounds sterling. The
grandsons of St. Jude were dismissed with compassion and
contempt. 50
44 (return) [ The Capitol was burnt during the civil war between
Vitellius and Vespasian, the 19th of December, A. D. 69. On the
10th of August, A. D. 70, the temple of Jerusalem was destroyed
by the hands of the Jews themselves, rather than by those of the
Romans.]
45 (return) [ The new Capitol was dedicated by Domitian. Sueton.
in Domitian. c. 5. Plutarch in Poplicola, tom. i. p. 230, edit.
Bryant. The gilding alone cost 12,000 talents (above two millions
and a half.) It was the opinion of Martial, (l. ix. Epigram 3,)
that if the emperor had called in his debts, Jupiter himself,
even though he had made a general auction of Olympus, would have
been unable to pay two shillings in the pound.]
46 (return) [ With regard to the tribute, see Dion Cassius, l.
lxvi. p. 1082, with Reimarus’s notes. Spanheim, de Usu
Numismatum, tom. ii. p. 571; and Basnage, Histoire des Juifs, l.
vii. c. 2.]
47 (return) [ Suetonius (in Domitian. c. 12) had seen an old man
of ninety publicly examined before the procurator’s tribunal.
This is what Martial calls, Mentula tributis damnata.]
48 (return) [ This appellation was at first understood in the
most obvious sense, and it was supposed, that the brothers of
Jesus were the lawful issue of Joseph and Mary. A devout respect
for the virginity of the mother of God suggested to the Gnostics,
and afterwards to the orthodox Greeks, the expedient of bestowing
a second wife on Joseph. The Latins (from the time of Jerome)
improved on that hint, asserted the perpetual celibacy of Joseph,
and justified by many similar examples the new interpretation
that Jude, as well as Simon and James, who were styled the
brothers of Jesus Christ, were only his first cousins. See
Tillemont, Mém. Ecclesiast. tom. i. part iii.: and Beausobre,
Hist. Critique du Manicheisme, l. ii. c. 2.]
49 (return) [ Thirty-nine, squares of a hundred feet each, which,
if strictly computed, would scarcely amount to nine acres.]
50 (return) [ Eusebius, iii. 20. The story is taken from
Hegesippus.]
But although the obscurity of the house of David might protect
them from the suspicions of a tyrant, the present greatness of
his own family alarmed the pusillanimous temper of Domitian,
which could only be appeased by the blood of those Romans whom he
either feared, or hated, or esteemed. Of the two sons of his
uncle Flavius Sabinus, 51 the elder was soon convicted of
treasonable intentions, and the younger, who bore the name of
Flavius Clemens, was indebted for his safety to his want of
courage and ability. 52 The emperor for a long time,
distinguished so harmless a kinsman by his favor and protection,
bestowed on him his own niece Domitilla, adopted the children of
that marriage to the hope of the succession, and invested their
father with the honors of the consulship.
51 (return) [ See the death and character of Sabinus in Tacitus,
(Hist. iii. 74 ) Sabinus was the elder brother, and, till the
accession of Vespasian, had been considered as the principal
support of the Flavium family]
52 (return) [ Flavium Clementem patruelem suum _contemptissimæ
inertiæ_.. ex tenuissimâ suspicione interemit. Sueton. in
Domitian. c. 15.]
But he had scarcely finished the term of his annual magistracy,
when, on a slight pretence, he was condemned and executed;
Domitilla was banished to a desolate island on the coast of
Campania; 53 and sentences either of death or of confiscation
were pronounced against a great number of who were involved in
the same accusation. The guilt imputed to their charge was that
of _Atheism_ and _Jewish manners;_ 54 a singular association of
ideas, which cannot with any propriety be applied except to the
Christians, as they were obscurely and imperfectly viewed by the
magistrates and by the writers of that period. On the strength of
so probable an interpretation, and too eagerly admitting the
suspicions of a tyrant as an evidence of their honorable crime,
the church has placed both Clemens and Domitilla among its first
martyrs, and has branded the cruelty of Domitian with the name of
the second persecution. But this persecution (if it deserves that
epithet) was of no long duration. A few months after the death of
Clemens, and the banishment of Domitilla, Stephen, a freedman
belonging to the latter, who had enjoyed the favor, but who had
not surely embraced the faith, of his mistress, 5411 assassinated
the emperor in his palace. 55 The memory of Domitian was
condemned by the senate; his acts were rescinded; his exiles
recalled; and under the gentle administration of Nerva, while the
innocent were restored to their rank and fortunes, even the most
guilty either obtained pardon or escaped punishment. 56
53 (return) [ The Isle of Pandataria, according to Dion. Bruttius
Præsens (apud Euseb. iii. 18) banishes her to that of Pontia,
which was not far distant from the other. That difference, and a
mistake, either of Eusebius or of his transcribers, have given
occasion to suppose two Domitillas, the wife and the niece of
Clemens. See Tillemont, Mémoires Ecclésiastiques, tom. ii. p.
224.]
54 (return) [ Dion. l. lxvii. p. 1112. If the Bruttius Præsens,
from whom it is probable that he collected this account, was the
correspondent of Pliny, (Epistol. vii. 3,) we may consider him as
a contemporary writer.]
5411 (return) [ This is an uncandid sarcasm. There is nothing to
connect Stephen with the religion of Domitilla. He was a knave
detected in the malversation of money—interceptarum pecuniaram
reus.—M.]
55 (return) [ Suet. in Domit. c. 17. Philostratus in Vit.
Apollon. l. viii.]
56 (return) [ Dion. l. lxviii. p. 1118. Plin. Epistol. iv. 22.]
II. About ten years afterwards, under the reign of Trajan, the
younger Pliny was intrusted by his friend and master with the
government of Bithynia and Pontus. He soon found himself at a
loss to determine by what rule of justice or of law he should
direct his conduct in the execution of an office the most
repugnant to his humanity. Pliny had never assisted at any
judicial proceedings against the Christians, with whose name
alone he seems to be acquainted; and he was totally uninformed
with regard to the nature of their guilt, the method of their
conviction, and the degree of their punishment. In this
perplexity he had recourse to his usual expedient, of submitting
to the wisdom of Trajan an impartial, and, in some respects, a
favorable account of the new superstition, requesting the
emperor, that he would condescend to resolve his doubts, and to
instruct his ignorance. 57 The life of Pliny had been employed in
the acquisition of learning, and in the business of the world.
Since the age of nineteen he had pleaded with distinction in the
tribunals of Rome, 58 filled a place in the senate, had been
invested with the honors of the consulship, and had formed very
numerous connections with every order of men, both in Italy and
in the provinces. From _his_ ignorance therefore we may derive
some useful information. We may assure ourselves, that when he
accepted the government of Bithynia, there were no general laws
or decrees of the senate in force against the Christians; that
neither Trajan nor any of his virtuous predecessors, whose edicts
were received into the civil and criminal jurisprudence, had
publicly declared their intentions concerning the new sect; and
that whatever proceedings had been carried on against the
Christians, there were none of sufficient weight and authority to
establish a precedent for the conduct of a Roman magistrate.
57 (return) [ Plin. Epistol. x. 97. The learned Mosheim expresses
himself (p. 147, 232) with the highest approbation of Pliny’s
moderate and candid temper. Notwithstanding Dr. Lardner’s
suspicions (see Jewish and Heathen Testimonies, vol. ii. p. 46,)
I am unable to discover any bigotry in his language or
proceedings. * Note: Yet the humane Pliny put two female
attendants, probably deaconesses to the torture, in order to
ascertain the real nature of these suspicious meetings:
necessarium credidi, ex duabus ancillis, quæ ministræ dicebantor
quid asset veri et _per tormenta_ quærere.—M.]
58 (return) [ Plin. Epist. v. 8. He pleaded his first cause A. D.
81; the year after the famous eruptions of Mount Vesuvius, in
which his uncle lost his life.]