Volume I Part 30 (1/2)

846 There is a description of this earthquake in Merivale's _Hist. of the Romans_, vol. viii. pp. 155-156. Orosius (_Hist._ vii. 12) thought it was a judgment on account of the persecution of the Christians.

847 Eusebius, iv. 8-9. See, too, Justin Martyr, _Apol._ i. 68-69.

848 This is mentioned incidentally by Lampridius in his _Life of A.

Severus_.

849 See this very curious letter in Vopiscus, _Saturninus_.

850 Justin Mart. _Ap._ i. 31. Eusebius quotes a pa.s.sage from Hegesippus to the same effect. (iv. 8.)

851 ”Praecepitque ne cui Judaeo introeundi Hierosolymam esset licentia, Christianis tantum civitate permissa.”-_Oros._ vii. 13.

852 A letter which Eusebius gives at full (iv. 13), and ascribes to Antoninus Pius, has created a good deal of controversy. Justin Mart.

(_Apol._ i. 71) and Tertullian (_Apol._ 5) ascribe it to Marcus Aurelius. It is now generally believed to be a forgery by a Christian hand, being more like a Christian apology than the letter of a Pagan emperor. St. Melito, however, writing to Marcus Aurelius, expressly states that Antoninus had written a letter forbidding the persecution of Christians. (Euseb. iv. 26.)

853 It is alluded to by Minucius Felix.

854 Eusebius, iv. 16.

855 St. Melito expressly states that the edicts of Marcus Aurelius produced the Asiatic persecution.

856 Eusebius, iv. 15.

857 See the most touching and horrible description of this persecution in a letter written by the Christians of Lyons, in Eusebius, v. 1.

858 Sulpicius Severus (who was himself a Gaul) says of their martyrdom (_H. E._, lib. ii.), ”Tum primum intra Gallias Martyria visa, serius trans Alpes Dei religione suscepta.” Tradition ascribes Gallic Christianity to the apostles, but the evidence of inscriptions appears to confirm the account of Severus. It is at least certain that Christianity did not acquire a great extension till later. The earliest Christian inscriptions found are (one in each year) of A.D.

334, 347, 377, 405, and 409. They do not become common till the middle of the fifth century. See a full discussion of this in the preface of M. Le Blant's admirable and indeed exhaustive work, _Inscriptions Chretiennes de la Gaule_.

859 It was alleged among the Christians, that towards the close of his reign Marcus Aurelius issued an edict protecting the Christians, on account of a Christian legion having, in Germany, in a moment of great distress, procured a shower of rain by their prayers. (Tert.

_Apol._ 5.) The shower is mentioned by Pagan as well as Christian writers, and is portrayed on the column of Antoninus. It was ”ascribed to the incantations of an Egyptian magician, to the prayers of a legion of Christians, or to the favour of Jove towards the best of mortals, according to the various prejudices of different observers.”-Merivale's _Hist. of Rome_, vol. viii. p. 338.

860 Xiphilin, lxxii. 4. The most atrocious of the Pagan persecutions was attributed, as we shall see, to the mother of Galerius, and in Christian times the Spanish Inquisition was founded by Isabella the Catholic; the ma.s.sacre of St. Bartholomew was chiefly due to Catherine of Medicis, and the most horrible English persecution to Mary Tudor.

861 Euseb. v. 21. The accuser, we learn from St. Jerome, was a slave. On the law condemning slaves who accused their masters, compare Pressense, _Hist. des Trois premiers Siecles_ (2me serie), tome i.

pp. 182-183, and Jeremie's _Church History of Second and Third Centuries_, p. 29. Apollonius was of senatorial rank. It is said that some other martyrs died at the same time.

862 ”Judaeos fieri sub gravi pna vetuit. Idem etiam de Christianis sanxit.”-Spartian. _S. Severus_. The persecution is described by Eusebius, lib. vi. Tertullian says Severus was favourable to the Christians, a Christian named Proculus (whom he, in consequence, retained in the palace till his death) having cured him of an illness by the application of oil. (_Ad Scapul._ 4.)

863 ”Of the persecution under Severus there are few, if any, traces in the West. It is confined to Syria, perhaps to Cappadocia, to Egypt, and to Africa, and in the latter provinces appears as the act of hostile governors proceeding upon the existing laws, rather than the consequence of any recent edict of the emperor.”-Milman's _Hist. of Christianity_, vol. ii. pp. 156-157.

_ 864 Adv. Cels._ iii. See Gibbon, ch. xvi.

865 Eusebius, vi. 28.

866 Lampridius, _A. Severus_. The historian adds, ”Judaeis privilegia reservavit. Christianos esse pa.s.sus est.”

867 Compare Milman's _History of Early Christianity_ (1867), vol. ii. p.

188, and his _History of Latin Christianity_ (1867), vol. i. pp.

26-59. There are only two cases of alleged martyrdom before this time that can excite any reasonable doubt. Irenaeus distinctly a.s.serts that Telesphorus was martyred; but his martyrdom is put in the beginning of the reign of Antoninus Pius (he had a.s.sumed the mitre near the end of the reign of Hadrian), and Antoninus is represented, by the general voice of the Church, as perfectly free from the stain of persecution. A tradition, which is in itself sufficiently probable, states that Pontia.n.u.s, having been exiled by Maximinus, was killed in banishment.