CA. XVI.] FICTITIOUS EDICTS. 133 persecutions has been determined by the ecclesiastical writers of the fifth century, who possessed a more distinct view of the prosperous 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. 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 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.† We are required to believe, that Pontius Pilate informed the emperor of the unjust sentence 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 ceding century. Shall we ascribe this to the superiority of their faith and courage, or to our less intimate knowledge of their history? * 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. 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. iií, p. 651, &c. [It is most probable that Pliny's letter to Trajan inspired, in some over-zealous believer, the idea of fabricating one from Pontius Pilate to Tiberius.—ED.] 134 A PERIOD OF PEACE. [CH. XVI. 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 of 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.* * 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. 81300. ["The rescript in favour of the Christians is given to Pius by some." (Clint, F. R. ii, 25.) It appears to have followed Justin Martyr's Apology. The philosophy of Marcus Aurelius was that of the Stoics, which had always been the least favourable to Christianity. It was by them and the Epicureans, that Paul was cited before the Areopagus at Athens. It is not, however, to be supposed that an emperor with a mind so temperate and generally equitable, should be influenced by the jealousies of the Greek schools, and prejudiced against a rival 'philosophy," as the new religion was then termed, for which so many Platonists wrote apologies and defences. His treatment of the Christians can in no way be accounted for, but by the motive to which it has been attributed in a preceding note, p. 101. This alone places in its true light, conduct which Gibbon has somewhat equivocally characterized, and affords a satisfactory solution of the doubts which pervade Dean Milman's commentary on the passage. If the Marcomannic war had any connection with the rigorous proceedings which commenced at the 66 CH. XVI.] INTESTINE DIVISIONS. 135 By a singular fatality, the hardships which they had endured under the government of a virtuous prince, imme diately ceased on the accession of a tyrant; and as none except themselves 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 impossible that she could reconcile the practice of vice with the precepts of the gospel, she might hope to atone for the frailties of her sex and profes sion by declaring herself the patroness of the Christians.* Under the gracious protection of Marcia, they passed in safety the thirteen years of a cruel tyranny; and when the empire was established in the house of Severus, they formed a domestic but more honourable connexion with the new court. The emperor was persuaded, that in a dangerous sickness, he had derived some benefit, either spiritual or physical, from the holy oil with which one of his slaves had anointed him. He always treated with peculiar distinction several persons of both sexes who had embraced the new religion. The nurse as well as the preceptor of Caracalla were Christians; and if that young prince ever betrayed a sentiment of humanity, it was occasioned by an incident, which, however trifling, bore some relation to the cause of Christianity. Under the reign of Severus, the fury of the populace was checked; the rigour of ancient laws was for some time suspended; and the provincial governors were satisfied with receiving an annual present from the churches within their jurisdiction, as the price, or as the reward, of their moderation. The controversy concerning the precise same time, it is to be found in the necessity, which it created, for appeasing the discontented pagans.-ED.] Dion Cassius, or rather his abbreviator Xiphilin, lib. 72, p. 1206. Mr. Moyle (p. 266), has explained the condition of the church under the reign of Commodus. + Compare the life of Caracalla in the Augustan History with the epistle of Tertullian to Scapula. Dr. Jortin (Remarks on Ecclesiastical History, vol. ii, p. 5, &c.) considers the cure of Severus, by the means of holy oil, with a strong desire to convert it into a miracle. Tertullian de Fuga, c. 13. The present was made during the feast of the Saturnalia; and it is a matter of serious concern to Tertul lian, that the faithful should be confounded with the most infamous professions which purchased the connivance of the government. 136 LONG REPOSE OF THE CHURCH. [CH. XVL time of the celebration of Easter, armed the bishops of Asia and Italy against each other, and was considered as the most important business of this period of leisure and tranquillity. Nor was the peace of the church interrupted, till the increasing numbers of proselytes seem at length to have attracted the attention, and to have alienated the mind, of Severus. With the design of restraining the progress of Christianity, he published an edict, which, though it was designed to affect only the new converts, could not be carried into strict execution, without exposing to danger and punishment the most zealous of their teachers and missionaries. In this mitigated persecution, we may still discover the indulgent spirit of Rome and of Polytheism, which so readily admitted every excuse in favour of those who practised the religious ceremonies of their fathers.+ But the laws which Severus had enacted soon expired with the authority of that emperor; and the Christians, after this accidental tempest, enjoyed a calm of thirty-eight years. Till this period they had usually held their assemblies in private houses and sequestered places. They were now permitted to erect and consecrate convenient edifices for the purpose of religious worship;§ to purchase lands, even at Rome itself, for the use of the community; and to conduct the elections of their ecclesiastical ministers in so public, but at the same time, in so exemplary a manner as to deserve the respectful attention of the Gentiles. This long repose of the church was accompanied with dignity. The reigns of those princes who derived their extraction from the Asiatic provinces, proved the most favourable to the Christians; the eminent persons of the sect, instead of being reduced to implore the protection of Euseb. 1. 5, c. 23, 24. Mosheim, p. 435-447. ✦ Judæos fieri sub gravi pœnâ vetuit. Idem etiam de Christianis sanxit. Hist. August. p. 70. Sulpicius Severus, 1. 2, p. 384. This computation (allowing for a single exception) is confirmed by the history of Eusebius, and by the writings of Cyprian. § The antiquity of Christian churches is discussed by Tillemont, (Mémoires Ecclesiastiques, tom. iii, part 2, p. 68-72), and by Mr. Moyle, (vol. i, p. 378-398). The former refers the first construction of them to the peace of Alexander Severus; the latter, to the peace of Gallienus. See the Augustan History, p. 130. The emperor Alexander adopted their method of publicly proposing the names of those persons who were candidates for ordination. It is true, that the honour of this practice is likewian CH. XVI.] INTERVIEW OF ORIGEN WITH MAMMEA. 137 a slave or concubine, were admitted into the palace in the honourable characters of priests and philosophers; and their mysterious doctrines, which were already diffused among the people, insensibly attracted the curiosity of their sovereign. When the empress Mammæa passed through Antioch, she expressed a desire of conversing with the celebrated Origen, the fame of whose piety and learning was spread over the east. Origen obeyed so flattering an invitation; and though he could not expect to succeed in the conversion of an artful and ambitious woman, she listened with pleasure to his eloquent exhortations, and honourably dismissed him to his retirement in Palestine.* The sentiments of Mammaa were adopted by her son Alexander; and the philosophic devotion of the emperor was marked by a singular, but injudicious, regard for the Christian religion. In his domestic chapel he placed the statues of Abraham, of Orpheus, of Apollonius, and of Christ, as an honour justly due to those respectable sages, who had instructed mankind in the various modes of addressing their homage to the supreme and universal Deity. A purer faith, as well as worship, was openly professed and practised among his household. Bishops, perhaps for the first time, were seen at court; and after the death of Alexander, when the inhuman Maximin discharged his fury on the favourites and servants of his unfortunate benefactor, a great number of Christians, of every rank and of both sexes, were involved in the promiscuous massacre, which, on their account, has improperly received the name of persecution.‡ attributed to the Jews. Euseb. Hist. Ecclesiast. lib. 6, c. 21. Hieronym. de Script. Eccles. c. 54. Mammaa was styled a holy and pious woman, both by the Christians and the Pagans. From the former, therefore, it was impossible that she should deserve that honourable epithet. + See the Augustan History, p. 123. Mosheim (p. 465), seems to refine too much on the domestic religion of Alex. ander. His design of building a public temple to Christ, (Hist. August. p. 129) and the object which was suggested either to him, or in similar circumstances to Hadrian, appear to have no other founda tion than an improbable report, invented by the Christians, and credulously adopted by an historian of the age of Constantine. Euseb. 1. 6, c. 28. It may be presumed, that the success of the Christians had exasperated the increasing bigotry of the Pagans. Dion Cassius, who composed his history under the former reign, had most probably intended for the use of his master those counsels of per secution, which he ascribes to a better age, and to the favourite of Augustus. Concerning this oration of Mecenas, or rather of Dion, I |