Sidebilder
PDF
ePub

who actually performed what Ignatius had intended; who exasperated the fury of the lions, pressed the executioner to hasten his office, cheerfully leaped into the fires which were kindled to consume them, and discovered a sensation of joy and pleasure in the midst of the most exquisite tortures. Several examples have been preserved of a zeal impatient of those restraints which the emperors had provided for the security of the church. The Christians sometimes supplied by their voluntary declaration the want of an accuser, rudely disturbed the public service of Paganism,95 and, rushing in crowds round the tribunal of the magistrates, called upon them to pronounce and to inflict the sentence of the law. The behaviour of the Christians was too remarkable to escape the notice of the ancient philosophers; but they seem to have considered it with much less admiration than astonishment. Incapable of conceiving the motives which sometimes transported the fortitude of believers beyond the bounds of prudence or reason, they treated such an eagerness to die as the strange result of obstinate despair, of stupid insensibility, or of superstitious frenzy.96 "Unhappy men!" exclaimed the proconsul Antoninus to the Christians of Asia; "unhappy men! if you are thus weary of your lives, is it so difficult for you to find ropes and precipices?" 97 He was extremely cautious (as it is observed by a learned and pious historian) of punishing men who had found no accusers but themselves, the Imperial laws not having made any provision for so unexpected a case; condemning, therefore, a few as a warning to their brethren, he dismissed the multitude with indignation and contempt.98 Notwithstanding this real or affected disdain, the intrepid constancy of the faithful was productive of more salutary effects on those minds which nature or grace had disposed for the easy reception of religious truth.

95 The story of Polyeuctes, on which Corneille has founded a very beautiful tragedy, is one of the most celebrated, though not perhaps the most authentic, instances of this excessive zeal. We should observe that the 60th canon of the council of Illiberis refuses the title of martyrs to those who exposed themselves to death by publicly destroying the idols. [Polyeuctes is first mentioned in Gregory of Tours, Hist. Fr. vii. 6. His Acta are published by Aubé in Polyeucte dans l'histoire, 1882.]

96 See Epictetus, 1. iv. c. 7 (though there is some doubt whether he alludes to the Christians), Marcus Antoninus de Rebus suis, l. xi. c. 3, Lucian. in Peregrin.

97 Tertullian ad Scapul. c. 5. The learned are divided between three persons of the same name, who were all proconsuls of Asia. I am inclined to ascribe this story to Antoninus Pius, who was afterwards emperor; and who may have governed Asia under the reign of Trajan.

98 Mosheim, de Rebus Christ. ante Constantin. p. 235.

Gradual relaxation

Three

methods of

martyrdom

On these melancholy occasions, there were many among the Gentiles who pitied, who admired, and who were converted. The generous enthusiasm was communicated from the sufferer to the spectators; and the blood of martyrs, according to a wellknown observation, became the seed of the church.

But, although devotion had raised, and eloquence continued to inflame, this fever of the mind, it insensibly gave way to the more natural hopes and fears of the human heart, to the love of life, the apprehension of pain, and the horror of dissolution. The more prudent rulers of the church found themselves obliged to restrain the indiscreet ardour of their followers, and to distrust a constancy which too often abandoned them in the hour of trial.99 As the lives of the faithful became less mortified and austere, they were every day less ambitious of the honours of martyrdom; and the soldiers of Christ, instead of distinguishing themselves by voluntary deeds of heroism, frequently deserted their post, and fled in confusion before the enemy whom it was their duty to resist. There were three methods, however, of escaping the flames of persecution, which were not attended with an equal degree of guilt: the first, indeed, was generally allowed to be innocent; the second was of a doubtful, or at least of a venial, nature; but the third implied a direct and criminal apostacy from the Christian faith.

I. A modern inquisitor would hear with surprise that, whenescaping ever an information was given to a Roman magistrate of any person within his jurisdiction who had embraced the sect of the Christians, the charge was communicated to the party accused, and that a convenient time was allowed him to settle his domestic concerns and to prepare an answer to the crime which was imputed to him.100 If he entertained any doubt of his own constancy, such a delay afforded him the opportunity of preserving his life and honour by flight, of withdrawing himself into some obscure retirement or some distant province, and of patiently expecting the return of peace and security. A measure so consonant to reason was soon authorized by the advice and example of the most holy prelates, and seems to have been censured by few, except by the Montanists, who deviated into heresy by their strict and obstinate adherence to the rigour of

99 See the Epistle of the Church at Smyrna, ap. Euseb. Hist. Eccles. 1. iv. c. 15. 100 In the second apology of Justin, there is a particular and very curious instance of this legal delay. The same indulgence was granted to accused Christians in the persecution of Decius; and Cyprian (de Lapsis) expressly mentions the "Dies negantibus præstitutus ".

ancient discipline, 101 II. The provincial governors, whose zeal was less prevalent than their avarice, had countenanced the practice of selling certificates, (or libels as they were called), which attested that the persons therein mentioned had complied with the laws and sacrificed to the Roman deities. By producing these false declarations, the opulent and timid Christians were enabled to silence the malice of an informer and to reconcile, in some measure, their safety with their religion. A slight penance atoned for this profane dissimulation. 102 III. In every persecution there were great numbers of unworthy Christians who publicly disowned or renounced the faith which they had professed; and who confirmed the sincerity of their abjuration by the legal acts of burning incense or of offering sacrifices. Some of these apostates had yielded on the first menace or exhortation of the magistrate; whilst the patience of others had been subdued by the length and repetition of tortures. The affrighted countenances of some betrayed their inward remorse, while others advanced, with confidence and alacrity, to the altars of the gods.103 But the disguise which fear had imposed subsisted no longer than the present danger. As soon as the severity of the persecution was abated, the doors of the churches were assailed by the returning multitude of penitents, who detested their idolatrous submission, and who solicited, with equal ardour, but with various success, their readmission into the society of Christians.104

IV. Notwithstanding the general rules established for the Alternatives conviction and punishment of the Christians, the fate of those and toler sectaries, in an extensive and arbitrary government, must still, in a great measure, have depended on their own behaviour, the

101 Tertullian considers flight from persecution as an imperfect, but very criminal apostacy, as an impious attempt to elude the will of God, &c. &c. He has written a treatise on this subject (see p. 536-544, edit. Rigalt.), which is filled with the wildest fanaticism and the most incoherent declamation." It is, however, somewhat remarkable that Tertullian did not suffer martyrdom himself.

102 The Libellatici, who are chiefly known by the writings of Cyprian, are described, with the utmost precision, in the copious commentary of Mosheim, p. 483 -489.

103 Plin. Epistol. x. 97. Dionysius Alexandrin. ap. Euseb. 1. vi. c. 41. Ad prima statim verba minantis inimici maximus fratrum numerus fidem suam prodidit; nec prostratus est persecutionis impetu, sed voluntario lapsu seipsum prostravit. Cyprian. Opera, p. 89. Among these deserters were many priests, and even bishops.

104 It was on this occasion that Cyprian wrote his treatise De Lapsis and many of his epistles. The controversy concerning the treatment of penitent apostates does not occur among the Christians of the preceding century. Shall we ascribe this to the superiority of their faith and courage or to our less intimate knowledge of their history?

tion

The ten

persecutions

Lupposed edícts of

Marcus

Antoninus

circumstances of the times, and the temper of their supreme as
well as subordinate rulers. Zeal might sometimes provoke, and
prudence might sometimes avert or assuage, the superstitious
fury of the Pagans. A variety of motives might dispose the
provincial governors either to enforce or to relax the execution
of the laws; and of these motives the most forcible was their
regard not only for the public edicts, but for the secret inten-
tions of the emperor, a glance from whose eye was sufficient to
kindle or to extinguish the flames of persecution. As often as any
occasional severities were exercised in the different parts of the
empire, the primitive Christians lamented and perhaps magnified
their own sufferings; but the celebrated number of ten persecu-
tions has been determined by the ecclesiastical writers of the
fifth century, who possessed a more distinct view of the pros-
perous or adverse fortunes of the church, from the age of Nero
to that of Diocletian. The ingenious parallels of the ten plagues
of Egypt and of the ten horns of the Apocalypse first suggested
this calculation to their minds; and in their application of the
faith of prophecy to the truth of history they were careful to
select those reigns which were indeed the most hostile to the
Christian cause.1
105 But these transient persecutions served only
to revive the zeal, and to restore the discipline, of the faithful :
and the moments of extraordinary rigour were compensated by
much longer intervals of peace and security. The indifference
of some princes and the indulgence of others permitted the
Christians to enjoy, though not perhaps a legal, yet an actual
and public, toleration of their religion.

The apology of Tertullian contains two very ancient, very Tiberius and singular, but at the same time very suspicious, instances of Imperial clemency; the edicts published by Tiberius and by Marcus Antoninus, and designed not only to protect the innocence of the Christians, but even to proclaim those stupendous miracles which had attested the truth of their doctrine. The first of these examples is attended with some difficulties which might perplex the sceptical mind. 106 We are required to believe that Pontius Pilate informed the emperor of the unjust sentence

105 See Mosheim, p. 97. Sulpicius Severus was the first author of this computation; though he seemed desirous of reserving the tenth and greatest persecution for the coming of the Antichrist.

106 The testimony given by Pontius Pilate is first mentioned by Justin. The successive improvements which the story has acquired (as it passed through the hands of Tertullian, Eusebius, Epiphanius, Chrysostom, Orosius, Gregory of Tours, and the authors of the several editions of the acts of Pilate) are very fairly stated by Dom. Calmet, Dissertat. sur l'Ecriture, tom. iii. p. 651, &c.

of death which he had pronounced against an innocent, and, as
it appeared, a divine, person; and that, without acquiring the
merit, he exposed himself to the danger, of martyrdom; that
Tiberius, who avowed his contempt for all religion, immediately
conceived the design of placing the Jewish Messiah among the
gods of Rome; that his servile senate ventured to disobey the
commands of their master; that Tiberius, instead of resenting
their refusal, contented himself with protecting the Christians
from the severity of the laws, many years before such laws were
enacted, or before the church had assumed any distinct name or
existence; and lastly, that the memory of this extraordinary
transaction was preserved in the most public and authentic
records, which escaped the knowledge of the historians of Greece
and Rome, and were only visible to the eyes of an African
Christian, who composed his apology one hundred and sixty
years after the death of Tiberius. The edict of Marcus Antoninus
is supposed to have been the effect of his devotion and gratitude
for the miraculous deliverance which he had obtained in the
Marcomannic war. The distress of the legions, the seasonable
tempest of rain and hail, of thunder and lightning, and the
dismay and defeat of the barbarians, have been celebrated by
the eloquence of several Pagan writers.
If there were any

Christians in that army, it was natural that they should ascribe
some merit to the fervent prayers which, in the moment of
danger, they had offered up for their own and the public safety.
But we are still assured by monuments of brass and marble, by
the Imperial medals, and by the Antonine column, that neither
the prince nor the people entertained any sense of this signal
obligation, since they unanimously attribute their deliverance to
the providence of Jupiter and to the interposition of Mercury.
During the whole course of his reign, Marcus despised the
Christians as a philosopher, and punished them as a sovereign.107

Christians in

Commodus

A.D. 180

By a singular fatality, the hardships which they had endured state of the under the government of a virtuous prince immediately ceased the reigns of on the accession of a tyrant, and, as none except themselves and Severus. had experienced the injustice of Marcus, so they alone were protected by the lenity of Commodus. The celebrated Marcia, the most favoured of his concubines, and who at length contrived the murder of her Imperial lover, entertained a singular affection for the oppressed church; and, though it was impos

107 On this miracle, as it is commonly called, of the Thundering Legion, see the admirable criticism of Mr. Moyle, in his Works, vol. ii. p. 81-390.

« ForrigeFortsett »