The Early Christians in Rome

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Title: The Early Christians in Rome
Author: Spence-Jones, Henry Donald Maurice
Language: English
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THE
EARLY CHRISTIANS IN ROME

BY THE SAME AUTHOR

DREAMLAND IN HISTORY

THE WHITE ROBE OF CHURCHES

THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND: A HISTORY FOR THE PEOPLE (in Four Volumes)

CLOISTER LIFE IN THE DAYS OF CŒUR-DE-LION

CHRISTIANITY AND PAGANISM

THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE CHURCH

[Illustration: PAINTING IN THE CATACOMBS, CENTURY II OR III. THE GOOD
SHEPHERD IN THE CENTRE. ON THE LEFT DANIEL IN THE DEN OF LIONS. ON THE
RIGHT THE THREE CHILDREN IN THE FURNACE.]

THE
EARLY CHRISTIANS
IN ROME

BY THE VERY REV.

H. D. M. SPENCE-JONES
M.A., D.D.

DEAN OF GLOUCESTER

PROFESSOR OF ANCIENT HISTORY IN THE ROYAL ACADEMY

WITH A FRONTISPIECE IN COLOUR AND
TWELVE OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS

SECOND EDITION

METHUEN & CO. LTD.
36 ESSEX STREET W.C.
LONDON

_First Published_ _October 27th 1910_
_Second Edition_ _1911_

EDGAR SUMNER GIBSON, D.D.
LORD BISHOP OF GLOUCESTER

A GREAT SCHOLAR AND A WARM FRIEND

PREFACE

Of the five Books which make up this work, the _First Book_ relates
generally the history of the fortunes of the Church in Rome in the
first days.

The foundation stories of the Roman congregations were laid largely by
the Apostles Peter and Paul--Peter, so with one accord say the earliest
contemporary writers,[1] being the first apostle who preached in Rome.
Paul, who taught many years later in the Capital, was also reckoned
as a founder of the Roman Church; for his teaching, especially his
Christology, supplemented and explained in detail the teaching of S.
Peter and the early founders.

The First Book relates how, after the great fire of Rome in the days of
Nero, the Christians came into prominence, but apparently were looked
on for a considerable period as a sect of dissenting Jews.

From A.D. 64 and onwards they were evidently regarded as
enemies of the State, and were perpetually harassed and persecuted. No
real period of “quietness” was again enjoyed by them until the famous
edict of Constantine the Great, A.D. 313, had been issued.
Although, through the favour of the reigning Emperor, a temporary
suspension of the stern law of the State, sometimes lasting for several
years, left the Christian sect for a time, comparatively speaking, at
peace.

The Persecutions, which began in the days of Nero, with varying
severity continued all through the reigns of the Flavians (Vespasian,
Titus, Domitian).

Nerva, who succeeded Domitian, only reigned two years, and was followed
by the great Trajan: still the persecution of the sect continued. This
we learn from Pliny’s letter to Trajan, _circa_ A.D. 111-113.
Hadrian, who followed Trajan, virtually pursued the same policy.

In the latter years of Hadrian, from A.D. 134-5, the result of
the great Jewish rebellion definitely and for ever separated, in the
eyes of the government, the Christian from the Jew. Henceforth the Jew
generally pursued his quiet way, and found new ideals, new hopes. The
State feared the Jew no longer.

Not so the Christian. Rome saw clearly now that a new and influential
sect had arisen in their midst; a sect absolutely opposed to the old
Roman sacred traditions and worship, a sect, too, that evidently
possessed some mighty secret power which enabled the Christians
fearlessly to defy the magistracy of the Empire. This partly accounts
for the greater severity of the persecution under the Antonine Emperors.

The policy of the Antonines (Pius and Marcus), which endeavoured to
restore and to give fresh life to the old Roman traditions and worship,
which they looked upon as indissolubly bound up with the greatness
and power of Rome, was absolutely hostile to the spirit of Christian
thought and teaching.

The _First Book_ brings the history down to A.D. 180, the date
of the death of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus.

The “Inner Life” of the Christian congregations is now dwelt on, and
forms the subject-matter of Books II., III., IV.

The subject-matter of the _Second Book_ is the _everyday life_ of the
Christian in the first, second, and third centuries, during which
period the religion of Jesus of Nazareth was in the eyes of the Roman
government an unlawful cult, and its adherents were ever liable to the
severest punishment, such as confiscation of their goods, rigorous
imprisonment, torture, and even death.

After dwelling on the question of the numbers of Christians in very
early times, their public _assemblies_ or meetings together are
described with considerable detail in Book II. The importance of these
“meetings” in early Christian life is dwelt upon. _What took place
at these gatherings_ is commented upon at considerable length. The
position occupied by the _slave_ at these “meetings,” and in Christian
society generally, is examined briefly.

Some of the various difficulties which Christians in the age of
persecution had to face, and the way by which these difficulties were
combated, are described.

Instruction as to the way of meeting the difficulty of life for a
Christian living in pagan Rome, was given by two different schools of
thought. A sketch is given of (1) “Rigourists,” and (2) of the “gentler
and more practical” schools which strove to accommodate the Christian
life with the life of the ordinary Roman citizen.

The important part played by the “Rigourist” or ascetic school in the
ultimate conversion of the Roman World to Christianity is examined.

Finally, some of the inducements are indicated which persuaded the
Christian of the first three centuries to endure with brave patience
the hard and dangerous life which was ever the earthly lot of the
followers of Jesus.

The _Third Book_ treats especially of the hard and painful nature of
the “life” which, from A.D. 64, was the lot of the Christian
in the Roman Empire. For the members of the community ever lived under
the dark shadow of persecution. The severity of the persecution varied
from time to time, but the dark shadow lay on them, and constantly
brooded over all their works and days. We possess no direct detailed
history of this state of things, but all the early contemporary
writings of Christians, a good many of which, whole or in fragments,
have come down to us, are literally honeycombed with notices bearing
on this perpetual apprehension; and indeed so real, so constant was
the danger, and so grave were the consequences to Christianity of any
flinching in the hour of trial, that among the congregations of the
first days, numerous schools existed for the purpose of training men
and women to endure the sufferings of martyrdom.

The number of martyrs in these early years has been probably
understated. Pagan contemporary writers of the highest authority,
casually, but still definitely, allude to the great numbers of victims,
while the tone of early Christian writings (already referred to) is
deeply coloured with the pathetic memories of these blood-stained days.

Besides the references even of eminent pagan authorities and the
perpetual allusions in early Christian writings to the great numbers
of Martyrs and Confessors, a somewhat novel testimony to the vast
number of martyrs is quoted here at some length from the history
of the Catacombs, where the numbers of these Confessors are again
and again dwelt on in the “handbooks” to the Roman subterranean
cemeteries, compiled in the fifth and following centuries as “guides”
for the crowds of pilgrims from foreign lands visiting Rome. These
“Pilgrim Guides,” several of which have in later years come to light,
have been recently made the subject of careful study.

The _Fourth Book_ is devoted exclusively to the story of the Roman
Catacombs. In the course of the second half of the nineteenth century,
the vast subterranean City of the Dead, known as the Roman Catacombs,
has been in parts patiently excavated, and carefully studied by eminent
scholars. This study, which is still being actively pursued, has
thrown much light upon the “life” lived among the early generations
of Christians. The inscriptions and epitaphs graved and painted, the
various symbols carved upon the countless tombs in the Catacombs, have
told us very much of the relations between the rich and the poor. They
have disclosed to us something of the secret of the intense faith of
these early believers on the “Name,” and have shown us what was the
sure and certain hope which inspired their wonderful endurance of pain
and agony, and their marvellous courage in the hour of trial.

All this and much more the inscriptions on the thousand thousand
graves, the dim fading pictures, the rough carvings, speak of in a
language none can mistake. It is, indeed, a voice from the dead,
bearing its strange, weird testimony which none can gainsay or doubt.

The work of excavation and the patient study of these Catacombs are yet
slowly proceeding, but from what has been already discovered we have
learned much of the “Inner Life” of this early Christian folk.

The history of these wonderful Catacombs, this subterranean city of the
dead beneath the suburbs of ancient Rome, is told at some length and
with considerable detail in the Fourth Book.

The _Fifth Book_ may be considered as a supplement to the work, which
in the first four Books has dwelt on (1) the very early history, and
(2) on the “Inner Life” of the Christian Church in the first three
centuries, especially in Rome.

Christianity sprang from the heart of the Chosen People, the Jews.
The Divine Founder in His earthly life was pleased to be a Son of the
Chosen People, and His disciples, who laid the early stories of the
Faith, were all Jews, as were the earliest converts to the religion of
Jesus.

The history of the Jews--their past and present condition--is
indissolubly bound up with the records of Christianity. It constitutes
the most important confirmation which we possess of the truth of early
Christian history. It is the weightiest of all evidential arguments
here, and it cannot be refuted or disproved.

The general account of the Chosen People before the coming of Messiah
is well known, and the historical accuracy of the Old Testament records
is generally admitted. But the memories of the fortunes of the Jewish
race after A.D. 70, when the Temple and City were destroyed,
and when the heart of Judaism, as it were, ceased to beat, are
comparatively little known.

The Fifth Book tells something of that eventful history. It sketches
first, very briefly, the last fatal wars of the Jews. Then it tells how
directly after the Temple was burnt a remarkable group of Rabbis arose,
who, undismayed by what seemed the hopeless ruin of their race, at once
proceeded to the reconstruction of Judaism upon totally new foundation
stories.

These strange and wonderful scholars gathered together a mass of
memories, traditions, and precepts which from the days of Moses
had gradually been grouped round the sacred Torah,--the Law of the
Lord,--and which had formed the subject-matter of the teaching of the
Rabbinic schools of the Holy Law during the five centuries which had
elapsed since the Return from the Captivity.

All these memories--traditions--comments, the great scholar Rabbis
and their disciples arranged, codified, amplified. This work went on
for some three hundred years or more; their labours resulted in the
production of the Talmud.

The great object of this marvellous book, or rather collection of
books, the Talmud, was the glorification of Israel; but no longer as a
separate, a distinct nation, but what was far greater, as a separate
People, a People specially beloved of God, for whom a glorious destiny
was reserved in a remote future, a destiny which only belonged to the
Jews.

In the several sections of this Fifth Book the Talmud is
described:--the materials out of which it was composed, the method of
the composition, the marvellous power which it exercised upon the sad
Remnant of the Jewish people, how it bound them, exiles though they
were in many lands, and kept them together,--all this is told at some
length.

The ten or twelve millions of Jews, scattered through many hostile
nations, living in the world of to-day, more powerful, more influential
by far than they were in the golden age of David and Solomon, linked
together by a bond which has never snapped, are indeed an ever-present
evidence of the truth of the story of the early Christians dwelt on in
the first four Books of this work.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

BOOK I

THE BEGINNINGS OF CHRISTIANITY
IN ROME

PART I

INTRODUCTORY

PAGE

A sketch of the early Jewish colony in Rome--Allusion to
Jews by Cicero--Favour shown them by Julius Cæsar--Mention
of Jews by the great poets of the Augustine
age--Characteristic features and moral power of Jews--Their
numbers in the days of Nero 3

(_a_) FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH IN ROME--INFLUENCE OF
S. PETER

Into this colony of Jews came the news of the story of Jesus
Christ--Was S. Peter among the first preachers of
Christianity in Rome?--Quotations from early Christian
writers on this subject--Traditional memories of S. Peter in
Rome 7

EARLY REFERENCES

Quotations from patristic writers of the first three
centuries, bearing on the foundation of the Church in Rome,
including the oldest Catalogues of the Bishops of
Rome--Deduction from these quotations 13

PART II

(_b_) FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH IN ROME--INFLUENCE OF
S. PAUL

S. Paul in Rome--His share in laying the foundation stories
in the Capital--Paul’s Christology more detailed than that
contained in S. Mark’s Gospel, which represents S. Peter’s
teaching 21

POSITION OF CHRISTIANS AFTER A.D. 64

The great fire of Rome in the days of Nero brought the
unnoticed sect of Christians into prominence--The games of
Nero--Never again after A.D. 64 did Christians enjoy
“stillness”--The policy of the State towards them from this
time was practically unaltered 25

III

THE VEILED SHADOW OF PERSECUTION--POLICY OF THE
FLAVIAN EMPERORS

Silence respecting details of persecutions in pagan and in
Christian writings--Reason for this--These writings contain
little history; but the Christian writings are coloured with
the daily expectation of death and suffering--In spite of
persecution the numbers of Christians increased rapidly--What
was the strange attraction of Christianity?--Persecution of
the sect under the Flavian Emperors Vespasian, Titus,
Domitian 35

PART III

INTRODUCTORY

The correspondence between Trajan and Pliny, and the
Imperial Rescript--Genuineness of this piece in Pliny’s
Letters 45

THE LETTERS OF PLINY

Nerva--Character of Trajan--Story of correspondence here
referred to--Pliny’s Letters--Reply of Trajan, which
contained the famous Rescript--Tertullian’s criticism of
Rescript--Pliny’s Letters--They were no ordinary letters,
but were intended for public reading--Pliny’s character--The
vogue of writing letters as literary pieces for public
reading--Pliny’s Letters briefly examined--The letter here
under special consideration--Its great importance in early
Christian history 48

VOGUE OF EPISTOLARY FORM OF LITERATURE

Letters of public men considered as pieces of literature--After
Trajan there were very few Latin writings until the close
of the fourth century--In that period some celebrated
letters again appear (written by Symmachus and by Sidonius
Apollinaris a few years later)--These letters were evidently
written as pieces of literature intended for public
circulation 63

III

THE NEW TESTAMENT EPISTLES, AND LETTERS OF APOSTOLIC
FATHERS

Adoption of favourite letter-form as literary pieces--in
Epistles of the New Testament, and in letters of Apostolic
Fathers 69

PART IV

(_a_) HADRIAN--HIS POLICY TOWARDS CHRISTIANITY

_Hadrian_--His life of travel--His character--Early policy
towards Christians--He insults Christianity in his building
of Aelia Capitolina on site of Jerusalem--The great Jewish
war--Its two results--(_a_) Complete change in the spirit of
the Jews--(_b_) A new conception of the Christian sect on
part of Roman Government--It was now recognized that the
Christian was no mere Jewish dissenter, but a member of a
distinct sect, dangerous to Roman policy 75

(_b_) HADRIAN--HIS ENMITY TOWARDS CHRISTIANITY GRADUALLY
INCREASED

Last years of Hadrian--Persecution of Christians more
pronounced--Undoubted authorities for this graver position
of Christians throughout the Empire--Table showing succession
of Antonines to the Empire 81

III

ANTONINUS PIUS AND MARCUS ANTONINUS--THEIR IDEALS

Character of Antoninus Pius--His intense love for Rome--His
determination to restore the old simple life to which Rome
owed her greatness--His devotion to ancient Roman traditions,
and to the old Roman religion--Antoninus Pius and
his successor Marcus lived themselves the simple austere life
they taught to their court and subjects 84

INTENSE ANTIPATHY OF THE ANTONINES TO CHRISTIANITY

Reason of the Antonines’ marked hostility to the Christian
sect--The Christians stood resolutely aloof from the ancient
religion which these two great sovereigns believed was
indissolubly bound up with the greatness of Rome--With such
views of the sources of Roman power and prosperity, only
a stern policy of persecution was possible--This policy,
pursued in days of Pius, was intensified by his yet greater
successor Marcus--The common idea that the Christians were
tolerated in the days of the Antonines must be
abandoned--Their sufferings under the rule of these great
Emperors, especially in the days of Marcus, can scarcely be
exaggerated 91

BOOK II

THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN IN THE EARLY
DAYS OF THE FAITH

INTRODUCTORY 101

NUMBERS OF CHRISTIANS IN THE EARLY DAYS

Certain reasons to which the rapid acceptance of
Christianity was owing--The great numbers of the early
converts is borne witness to by pagan authors, such as
Tacitus and Pliny, and by Christian contemporary writers
such as Clement of Rome, Hermas, Irenæus, and others--The
testimony of the Roman catacombs described in detail in
Fourth Book is also referred to 102

THE ASSEMBLIES OF CHRISTIANS

These “assemblies” constituted a powerful factor in the
acceptance and organization of the religion of Jesus--Their
high importance is recognized by the great teachers of
the first days--Quotations from these are given 107

III

OF WHOM THESE PRIMITIVE “ASSEMBLIES” WERE COMPOSED

Information respecting these early meetings of Believers
is supplied by leading Christian teachers--Quotations from
these are given 110

WHAT WAS TAUGHT AND DONE IN THESE “ASSEMBLIES”

A general picture of one of them by Justin Martyr--(_A_)
Dogmatic teaching given in these meetings--(_B_)
Almsgiving--Is shown to be an inescapable duty--Is pressed
home by early masters of Christianity on the faithful--All
offerings made were, however, purely voluntary--No communism
was ever taught or hinted at in the early Church--(_C_)
Special dogmatic instruction respecting the value of
almsgiving was given by some early teachers--Several of these
instructions are given here--(_D_) Apart from this somewhat
strange dogmatic teaching on the value of almsgiving, the
general duty of almsgiving was most strongly impressed on the
faithful--Passages emphasizing this from very early writers
are here quoted--(_E_) Special recipients of these alms are
particularized; amongst these, in the first place, widows and
orphans, and the sick, appear--(_F_) These alms in some cases
were not to be confined to the Household of Faith--(_G_)
Hospitality to strangers is enjoined--References here are
given from several prominent early teachers--Help to prisoners
for the Name’s sake enjoined--Assistance to be given to poorer
Churches is recommended--(_H_) Burial expenses for the dead
among the poorer brethren are to be partly defrayed from the
“alms” contributed at the assemblies, partly from private
sources--Lactantius, in his summary of Christian duties,
dwells markedly on this duty--Important witness of the Roman
catacombs here 113

THE SLAVE IN EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

Position in Christian society--How the slave was regarded
in the “assemblies”--Paulinus of Nola quoted on the general
Christian estimate of a slave--How this novel view of the
slave was looked on by pagans 134

A general summary of the effect which all this teaching
current in the primitive “assemblies” had on the policy
and work of the Church in subsequent ages 137

DIFFICULTIES IN ORDINARY LIFE AMONG THE EARLY CHRISTIANS

Difficulties in common life for the Christian who
endeavoured to carry out the precepts and teaching given
in the “assemblies” are sketched--In family life--In
trades--In the amusements of the people--In civil
employments--In the army--In matters of education--A
general summary of such difficulties is quoted from De
Broglie (_l’Église et l’Empire_) 140

VII

THE ASCETIC AND THE MORE PRACTICAL SCHOOLS OF TEACHING

Two schools of teaching, showing how these difficulties
were to be met, evidently existed in the early Church--(_A_)
_The school of Rigourists_--Tertullian is a good example of
a teacher of this school--Effect of this school on
artisans--On popular amusements--On soldiers of the
Legions--On slaves--On family life--From this stern school
came the majority of the martyrs--(_B_) _The gentler and
more practical school_--exemplified in such writings as the
Dialogue of Minucius Felix and in writings of Clement of
Alexandria, etc.--Results of the teaching of the _gentler
school_--Art was still possible among Christians, although
permeated with heathen symbols--The Christian might still
continue to live in the Imperial court--might remain in the
civil service--in the army, etc.--Examples for such
allowances found in Old Testament writings--(_C_) The
_Rigourist_ school again dwelt on--Its great influence on
the pagan empire--The final victory of Christianity was
largely owing to the popular impression of the life and
conduct of followers of this school--This impression was
voiced by fourth century writers such as Prudentius and
Paulinus of Nola, and is shown in the work of Pope Damasus
in the catacombs 144

VIII

WHAT THE RELIGION OF JESUS OFFERED IN RETURN FOR THIS HARD
LIFE TO RIGOURISTS, AND IN A SLIGHTLY LESS DEGREE TO ALL
FOLLOWERS OF THE SECOND SCHOOL

(_A_) Freedom from ever-present fear of death--S. Paul,
Ignatius, and especially epitaphs in the Roman catacombs
are referred to here--(_B_) New terminology
for death, burial, etc., used--(_C_) The ever-present
consciousness of forgiveness of sins--(_D_) Hope of
immediate bliss after death--The power of the revelation
of S. John in early Christian life--(_E_) Was
Christian life in the early centuries after all a dreary
existence, as the pagans considered it? 153

BOOK III

THE INNER LIFE OF THE CHURCH

PART I

A.D. 64-A.D. 180

INTRODUCTORY

The early Church remained continually under the veiled
shadow of persecution--This state of things we learn, not
from the “Acts of the Martyrs,” which, save in a certain
number of instances, are of questionable authority, but from
fragments which have come down to us of contemporary
writings--Extracts from two groups of the more important of
these are quoted 163

QUOTATIONS FROM APOSTLES, ETC.

_First Group._--From writings of apostles and apostolic men,
including the Epistle to the Hebrews--1 Peter--Revelation
of S. John--First letter of S. Clement of Rome--The seven
genuine letters of S. Ignatius 166

QUOTATIONS FROM WRITINGS OF THE SECOND CENTURY

_Second Group._--Early writings, dating from the time of
Trajan to the death of Marcus Antoninus (A.D. 180);
including--“Letters of Pliny and Trajan”--“Letter to
Diognetus”--“The Shepherd of Hermas”--“1st Apology of Justin
Martyr”--“Minucius Felix”--“Writings of Melito of
Sardis”--“Writings of Athenagoras”--“Writings of Theophilus
of Antioch”--“Writings of Tertullian”--the last-named a very
few years later, but bearing on same period 177

PART II

TRAINING FOR MARTYRDOM

INTRODUCTORY

The sight of the martyrs’ endurance under suffering had a
marked effect on the pagan population. This was noticed and
dreaded by the Roman magistracy. Efforts were constantly
made by the Government to arrest or at least to limit the
number of martyrs 193

OF THE SPECIAL TRAINING FOR MARTYRDOM

The Church conscious of the powerful effect of a public
martyrdom upon the pagan crowds--established a training
for--a preparation in view of a possible martyrdom--This
training included: (_a_) A public recitation in the
congregations of Christians of the “Acts,” “Visions,” and
“Dreams” of confessors--(_b_) The preparation of special
manuals prepared for the study of Christians--In these
manuals our Lord’s words were dwelt on--(_c_) A prolonged
practice of austerities, with the view of hardening the
body for the endurance of pain 197

QUOTATIONS FROM TERTULLIAN, ETC.

Certain of Tertullian’s references to this preparation, and
to the austerities practised with this view, are quoted.
(His words, written _circa_ A.D. 200, indicate what was in
the second century a common practice in the Church.) S.
Ignatius’s words in his letter to the Roman Church are a good
example of what was the use of the Church in the early years
of the second century--Some of the words in question are
quoted 202

PART III

THE GREAT NUMBERS OF MARTYRS IN THE FIRST
TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS

INTRODUCTORY

Christian tradition by no means exaggerates the number of
martyrs--the contrary, indeed, is the case--In the first two
hundred and fifty years the general tone of the early
Christian writings (above quoted) dwells on those
blood-stained days--But the great pagan authors of the
second century, Tacitus and Pliny, are the most definite on
the question of the vast number of martyrs--Here is cited a
new piece of evidence concerning these great numbers from
notices in the “Pilgrim Itineraries” or “Guides” to the
catacombs of the sixth and following centuries--These tell
us what the pilgrims visited--The vast numbers of martyrs
in the different cemeteries again and again are dwelt upon 207

List of the various cemeteries and their locality, with
special notice of numbers of martyrs buried in each 210

SPECIAL REFERENCE IN THE “MONZA” PAPYRUS, ETC.

The “Monza” Catalogue--made for Queen Theodolinda by
Gregory the Great, with notices of number of martyrs from
the catalogue in question--Inscriptions of Pope
Damasus--References by the poet Prudentius on the number
of martyrs 214

III

DEDUCTIONS FROM THE “MONZA” CATALOGUE AND
“PILGRIM” GUIDES

General summary, allowing for some exaggeration in the
“Pilgrim” Guides and in the “Monza” Catalogue, on the great
numbers of these confessors and martyrs 215

BOOK IV

THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

PART I

INTRODUCTORY

The nature of the catacombs’ witness to the secret of the
“Inner Life” of the Church--A brief sketch of the contents
of the Fourth Book 219

THE ROMAN CATACOMBS--THEIR PLACE IN ECCLESIASTICAL
HISTORY

Early researches--Their disastrous character--De Rossi--His
view of the importance of the testimony of the catacombs
in early Christian history--Much that has been considered
legendary is really historic--Witness of catacombs to the
faith of the earliest Christians 223

DE ROSSI’S WAY OF WORKING IN HIS INVESTIGATIONS

Among the materials with which De Rossi worked may be cited:
Acta Martyrum of S. Jerome, Liber Pontificalis, the
“Pilgrim Itineraries,” and the “Monza” Catalogue, which is
specially described--Decoration of certain crypts--Basilica
(ruins) above ground--Luminaria--Graffiti of
pilgrims--Inscriptions of Pope Damasus _in situ_, and also
preserved in ancient syllogæ 226

Certain of his more important discoveries in the cemeteries
of SS. Domitilla, Priscilla, Callistus--The yet later
discoveries of Marucchi and others 230

III

GENERAL ACCOUNT OF THE VASTNESS AND SITUATION OF
THE CATACOMBS

(1) The Vatican cemetery and the groups of catacombs on the
right bank of the Tiber 232

(2) On the Via Ostiensis--Basilica of S. Paul--Cemeteries on
the Via Ardeatina--Grandeur of cemetery of S. Domitilla--The
small basilica of S. Petronilla 236

(3) Groups of cemeteries on the Via Appia--S. Sebastian (_ad
Catacumbas_)--Group of S. Callistus--The Papal crypt--S.
Soteris--Catacomb of Prætextatus on left hand of the
Via Appia--Tomb of S. Januarius in this catacomb 242

(4) Cemeteries on the Via Latina and Via Tiburtina--S.
Hippolytus--S. Laurence--S. Agnes’ cemetery on the Via
Nomentana 248

VII

(5) Cemeteries on the Via Salaria Nova--S. Felicitas; the
great cemetery of S. Priscilla, and the ancient Roman
churches connected with it--Legends--Remains of basilica
of S. Sylvester over the cemetery of S. Priscilla--Memories
of S. Peter in this cemetery--Its waters--Recent
discoveries--Popes buried in the basilica of S. Sylvester 258

VIII

(6) Unimportant cemeteries on the Via Salaria Vetus--S.
Pamphylus--S. Hermes--S. Valentinus, etc. 274

APPENDIX I.--S. PETRONILLA

Suggested derivation of Petronilla--De Rossi and other
scholars still hold to the ancient Petrine
tradition--Reasons for maintaining it--Early mediæval
testimony here--Traces of the early cult of this Saint 277

APPENDIX II.--TOMB OF S. PETER

Probable situation of the tomb in present basilica of
S. Peter--Account of what was found in the course of the
excavations in the seventeenth century, by Ubaldi, Canon
of S. Peter’s, who was an eye-witness of the discoveries
made in A.D. 1626, when the works required for the great
bronze Baldacchino of Bernini were being carried out 279

PART II

TWO EXAMPLES OF RECENT DISCOVERIES

THE CRYPT OF S. CECILIA

The old story of the famous Saint no longer a mere
legend--Reconstruction of S. Cecilia’s life--The crypt
is described--Her basilica in the Trastevere
quarter--once S. Cecilia’s house 289

REMOVAL OF S. CECILIA TO HER BASILICA

Discovery of remains of S. Cecilia by Paschal I., A.D.
821--Appearance of the body, which he translated from the
crypt in the catacomb of Callistus to her basilica--Her
tomb in the basilica opened in A.D. 1599 by Clement
VIII.--Appearance of the body--Maderno copied it in
marble--How De Rossi discovered and identified in the
original catacomb the crypt of S. Cecilia 292

III

THE TOMB OF S. FELICITAS, AND OF HER SONS

Discovery and identification of the burial-places of S.
Felicitas, of S. Januarius, and of her other
sons--Reconstruction of her story--Tomb of S. Januarius
found in cemetery of Prætextatus on the Via Appia--Original
tomb of S. Felicitas found in the cemetery bearing her name
(Via Salaria Nova)--Identification of the burial-places of
her other sons 298

PART III

TEACHING OF THE INSCRIPTIONS AND CARVINGS
ON THE TOMBS

EPITAPHS IN THE CATACOMBS--THEIR SIMPLICITY

Uncounted numbers of graves in this silent city of the
dead; computed at three, four, or five millions--belonging
to all ranks--Some of these were elaborately adorned--Greek
often the language of very early epitaphs--Great simplicity
as a rule in inscriptions--No panegyric of dead--just a
name--a prayer--an emblem of faith and hope--Communion of
saints everywhere asserted 307

EPITAPHS IN THE CATACOMBS CONTRASTED WITH PAGAN
INSCRIPTIONS

A few of these epitaphs quoted--never a word of sorrow for
the departed found in them--Question of the catacomb teaching
on efficacy of prayers of the dead for the living--S. Cyprian
quoted here--Desire of being interred close to a famous
martyr--Marked difference in the pagan conception of the
dead--Some pagan epitaphs quoted 310

III

EPITAPHS IN THE CATACOMBS--THEIR DOGMATIC TEACHING

The epitaphs on the catacomb graves tell us with no
uncertain voice how intensely real among the Christian
folk was the conviction of the future life--They talk, as
it were, with the dead as with living ones--Dogmatic
allusions in these short epitaphs necessarily are very
brief, but yet are quite definite--The supreme divinity of
Jesus Christ constantly asserted--The catacombs are full
of Christ--Of the emblems carved on the graves--Jesus
Christ as “the Good Shepherd” most frequent--The
“Crucifixion” became a favourite subject of representation
only in later years 314

APPENDIX

On the wish to be interred close to a saint or
martyr--Quotation from S. Augustine here 321

BOOK V

THE JEW AND THE TALMUD

INTRODUCTORY

The story of the Jew--his past--his condition now, is the
weightiest argument that can be adduced in support of the
truth of Christianity--What happened to the “sad remnant”
of the people after the exterminating wars of Titus
and Hadrian, A.D. 70 and 134-5, is little known; yet the
wonderful story of the Jew, especially in the second and
third centuries, is a piece of supreme importance--How
Rabbinic study and the putting out of the Talmud have
influenced the general estimate of the Old Testament among
Christian peoples 325

THE LAST THREE GREAT WARS OF THE JEWS

_The First War_, A.D. 66-70--Revolt of the Jews--The
dangerous revolt was eventually crushed by Vespasian, and
when he succeeded to the Empire his son Titus completed
the conquest--Fate of the city of Jerusalem, A.D. 70--Why
was the Temple burned?--The recital of Sulpicius Severus
gives the probable answer--The account in question was
apparently quoted from a lost book of Tacitus--The Roman
triumph of Titus--The memories of the conquered Jews on
the Arch of Titus in the Forum--The great change in
Judaism after A.D. 70, when the Temple and city were
destroyed--The change was completed after the war of
Hadrian in A.D. 134-5 (the third war)--Brief account of
the _second and third wars_--The bitter persecution after
the third war soon ceased, and the sad Jewish remnant was
left virtually to itself 329

RABBINISM (_a_)

The conservation of the remnant of the Jews was owing to
the development of Rabbinism--Rabbinism, however, existed
before A.D. 70--Traditional story of the rise of Rabbinism
contained in the “Mishnah” treatise Pirke Aboth--Effect
of the great catastrophe of A.D. 70--Mosaism was destroyed,
and was replaced by Rabbinism 338

III

RABBINISM (_b_)

Extraordinary group of eminent Rabbis who arose after the
catastrophe of A.D. 70--Their new conception of the future
of Israel--The Torah (Law of Moses) and other writings of
the Old Testament from the days of Ezra had been esteemed
ever more and more highly--The “Halachah” or (Rules
round the Torah) gradually multiplied--The elaboration
of these “Halachah” and “Haggadah” (traditions) formed
the “Mishnah”--this work roughly occupied the new Jewish
schools during the whole of the second century--Explanation
of term “Mishnah”--The next two or three centuries were
occupied by the Rabbis in their schools of Palestine and
Babylonia in a further commentary on the “Mishnah”--This
second work of the Rabbis was termed the “Gemara” 342

THE TALMUD

Portions of the “Talmud” had existed before A.D.
70--probably some few of the “Halachah” and “Haggadah”
even dating from the days of Moses--some from the times of
the Judges, and others belonging to the schools of the
Prophets--In the times of Ezra arose the strange and unique
“Guild of Scribes,” devoted to the study and interpretation
of the sacred writings and the traditions which had gathered
round them in past ages--R. Hillel a little before the
Christian era began the task of arranging the results of the
labours of the scribes--R. Akiba after A.D. 70 continued the
work of arrangement, but was interrupted--His fame and
story--R. Meir further worked at the same task, which was
finally completed by R. Judah the Holy, who generally
arranged the Mishnah in the form in which it has come down
to us--This “Mishnah” served as the text for the great
academies of Palestine and Babylonia to work on in the third
and two following centuries--Their writings are known as the
“Gemara”--The Mishnah and Gemara together form the Talmud--A
picture of the great Rabbinic academies of Palestine and
Babylonia--Their methods of study 347

HOW THE TEXT OF THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT WAS
PRESERVED

Description of the Massorah--The work of the Massorites in
the preservation of the text of the sacred books--Present
condition of the Massorah 361

CONCLUDING MEMORANDA

Inspiration of the Old Testament Scriptures, according to
the Talmud account 364

The story of the Talmud through the ages 365

The Talmud and the New Testament 366

Influence of the Talmud on Judaism 368

Influence of the Talmud on Christianity 370

VII

(_A_) AN APPENDIX ON THE “HAGGADAH”

“Haggadah” in the Talmud and in other ancient Rabbinical
writings--Signification of the “Haggadah”--Its great
importance--Its enduring popularity 371

Examples of “Haggadah” quoted from the Palestinian Targum
on Deuteronomy 373

VIII

(_B_) ON THE “HALACHAH” AND “HAGGADAH”

The general purport of the “Halachah”--Some
illustrations--Further details connected with the
“Haggadah”--It is not confined to the later Books of the
Old Testament--The “Haggadah” also belongs to the
Pentateuch--Examples of this quoted--Instances of the
influence of “Haggadah” in the New Testament Books 376

WOMEN’S DISABILITIES 380

INDEX 381

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAINTING IN THE CATACOMBS, SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES.
THE GOOD SHEPHERD IN THE CENTRE. ON THE LEFT,
DANIEL IN THE DEN OF LIONS. ON THE RIGHT, THE THREE
CHILDREN IN THE FURNACE _Frontispiece_

From Palmer’s _Early Christian Symbolism_. By permission
of KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO.

FACING PAGE

THE “COME AND DINE” OF THE LAST CHAPTER OF ST. JOHN’S
GOSPEL--THE MYSTIC REPAST OF THE SEVEN DISCIPLES
(CEMETERY OF CALLISTUS, SECOND CENTURY. A FAVOURITE
PICTURE IN THE CATACOMBS) 219

ENTRANCE TO THE CEMETERY OF S. DOMITILLA (CRYPT OF THE
FLAVIANS, FIRST CENTURY) 240

From _Roma Sotterranea Cristiana_. By permission of the
Author, ORAZIO MARUCCHI

PAINTINGS IN A CHAPEL OF CATACOMB OF S. CALLISTUS, SHOWING
A TOMB SUBSEQUENTLY EXCAVATED ABOVE THE ORIGINAL TOMB OF
THE SAINT 245

Photo, S. J. BECKETT

MOSAIC IN THE APSE OF THE CHURCH OF STA. PUDENZIANA, ROME 263

Photo, MOSCIONI

IN THE CATACOMB OF S. PRISCILLA (SECOND OR THIRD CENTURY) 267

Photo, S. J. BECKETT

CHAPEL OF THE TOMBS OF THE THIRD-CENTURY BISHOPS OF ROME,
PARTLY RESTORED--CATACOMB OF S. CALLISTUS 273

Photo, S. J. BECKETT

S. PETER’S, ROME--THE CONFESSION 281

Photo, S. J. BECKETT

A REPLICA OF MADERNO’S EFFIGY OF S. CECILIA--AS SHE WAS
FOUND--IS IN THE NICHE OF THE S. CALLISTUS CHAMBER, WHERE
THE BODY ORIGINALLY WAS DEPOSITED 293

Photo, S. J. BECKETT

SEPULCHRAL INSCRIPTIONS FROM THE ROMAN CATACOMBS 310

Photo, S. J. BECKETT

THE TEMPLE--JERUSALEM--THE HOLY PLACE 330

From the _Jewish Encyclopædia_. By permission of FUNK &
WAGNALLS CO.

THE “WAILING-PLACE” OF THE JEWS, BEFORE THE RUINED WALLS
OF THE TEMPLE 332

Photo, THE PHOTOCHROM CO.

THE TEMPLE, JERUSALEM, BEFORE ITS DESTRUCTION BY TITUS,
A.D. 70 340

From a drawing in the _Jewish Encyclopædia_. By permission.

“Assured the trial, fiery, fierce, but fleet,
Would, from his little heap of ashes, lend
Wings to that conflagration of the world
Which Christ awaits ere He makes all things new:
So should the frail become the perfect, rapt
From glory of pain to glory of joy.”
BROWNING, _The Ring and the Book_, x. 1797

BOOK I

THE BEGINNINGS OF CHRISTIANITY IN ROME

PART I

INTRODUCTORY

THE JEWISH COLONY IN ROME

At the beginning of the first century of the Christian era the
Jewish colony in Rome had attained large dimensions. As early as
B.C. 162 we hear of agreements--we can scarcely call them
treaties--concluded between the Jews under the Maccabean dynasty and
the Republic. After the capture of Jerusalem by Pompey, B.C.
63, a number more of Jewish exiles swelled the number of the chosen
people who had settled in the capital. Cicero when pleading for
Flaccus, who was their enemy, publicly alludes to their numbers and
influence. Their ranks were still further recruited in B.C.
51, when a lieutenant of Crassus brought some thousands of Jewish
prisoners to Rome. During the civil wars, Julius Cæsar showed marked
favour to the chosen people. After his murder they were prominent among
those who mourned him.

Augustus continued the policy of Julius Cæsar, and showed them much
favour; their influence in Roman society during the earlier years of
the Empire seems to have been considerable. They are mentioned by the
great poets who flourished in the Augustan age. The Jewish Sabbath
is especially alluded to by Roman writers as positively becoming a
fashionable observance in the capital.

A few distinguished families, who really possessed little of the
Hebrew character and nationality beyond the name, such as the Herods,
adopted the manners and ways of life of the Roman patrician families;
but as a rule the Jews in foreign lands preferred the obscurity to
which the reputation of poverty condemned them. Some of them were
doubtless possessors of wealth, but they carefully concealed it; the
majority, however, were poor, and they even gloried in their poverty;
they haunted the lowest and poorest quarters of the great city.
Restlessly industrious, they made their livelihood, many of them, out
of the most worthless objects of merchandise; but they obtained in
the famous capital a curious celebrity. There was something peculiar
in this strange people at once attractive and repellent. The French
writer Allard, in the exhaustive and striking volumes in which he
tells the story of the persecutions in his own novel and brilliant
way, epigrammatically writes of the Jew in the golden age of Augustus
as “one who was known to pray and to pore over his holy national
literature in Rome which never prayed and which possessed no religious
books” (“Il prie et il étudie ses livres saintes, dans Rome qui n’a pas
de théologie et qui ne prie pas”).

They lived their solitary life alone in the midst of the crowded
city--by themselves in life, by themselves, too, in death; for they
possessed their own cemeteries in the suburbs,--catacombs we now term
them,--strange God’s acres where they buried, for they never burned,
their dead, carefully avoiding the practice of cremation, a practice
then generally in vogue in pagan Rome. Upon these Jewish cemeteries the
Christians, as they increased in numbers, largely modelled those vast
cities of the dead of which we shall speak presently.

They watched over and tenderly succoured their own poor and needy, the
widow and the orphan; on the whole living pure self-denying lives,
chiefly disfigured by the restless spirit, which ever dwelt in the
Jewish race, of greed and avarice. They were happy, however, in their
own way, living on the sacred memories of a glorious past, believing
with an intense belief that they were still, as in the glorious
days of David and Solomon, the people beloved of God--and that ever
beneath them, in spite of their many confessed backslidings, were
the Everlasting Arms; trusting, with a faith which never paled or
faltered, that the day would surely come when out of their own people
a mighty Deliverer would arise, who would restore them to their loved
sacred city and country; would invest His own, His chosen nation, with
a glory and power grander, greater than the world had ever seen.

There is no doubt but that the Jew of Rome in Rome’s golden days, in
spite of his seeming poverty and degradation, possessed a peculiar
moral power in the great empire, unknown among pagan nations.[2]

In the reign of Nero, when the disciples of Jesus in Rome first emerged
from the clouds and mists which envelop the earliest days of Roman
Christianity, the number of Jews in the capital is variously computed
as amounting to from 30,000 to 50,000 persons.

The Jewish colony in Rome was a thoroughly representative body of
Jews. They were gathered from many centres of population, Palestine
and Jerusalem itself contributing a considerable contingent. They
evidently were distinguished for the various qualities, good and bad,
which generally characterized this strange, wonderful people. They
were restless, at times turbulent, proud and disdainful, avaricious
and grasping; but at the same time they were tender and compassionate
in a very high degree to the sad-eyed unfortunate ones among their own
people,--most reverent, as we have remarked, in the matter of disposing
of their dead,--on the whole giving an example of a morality far higher
than that which, as a rule, prevailed among the citizens of the mighty
capital in the midst of whom they dwelt.

The nobler qualities which emphatically distinguished the race were
no doubt fostered by the intense religious spirit which lived and
breathed in every Jewish household. The fear of the eternal God, who
they believed with an intense and changeless faith loved them, was ever
before the eyes alike of the humblest, poorest little trader, as of the
wealthiest merchant in their company.

THE FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH IN ROME--“A”

Into this mass of Jewish strangers dwelling in the great city came
the news of the wonderful work of Jesus Christ. As among the Jews
at Jerusalem, so too in Rome, the story of the Cross attracted
many--repelled many. The glorious news of salvation, of redemption,
sank quietly into many a sick and weary heart; these hearts were
kindled into a passionate love for Him who had redeemed them--into a
love such as had never before been kindled in any human heart. While,
on the other hand, with many, the thought that the treasured privileges
of the chosen people were henceforward to be shared on equal terms
by the despised Gentile world, excited a bitter and uncompromising
opposition--an opposition which oftentimes shaded into an intense hate.

The question as to who _first_ preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to
this great Jewish colony will probably never be answered. There is a
high probability that the “story of the Cross” was told very soon after
the Resurrection by some of those pilgrims to the Holy City who had
been eye-witnesses of the miracle of the first Pentecost.

There is, however, a question connected with the beginnings of
Christianity in Rome which is of the deepest interest to the student of
ecclesiastical history, a question upon which much that has happened
since largely hangs.

Was S. Peter in any way connected with the laying of the foundation
of the great Christian community in Rome; can he really be considered
as one of the founders of that most important Church? An immemorial
tradition persists in so connecting him; upon what grounds is this most
ancient tradition based?

Scholars of all religious schools of thought now generally allow that
S. Peter visited Rome and spent some time in the capital city; wrote
his great First Epistle from it, in which Epistle he called “Rome”
by the not unusual mystic name of “Babylon,” and eventually suffered
martyrdom there on a spot hard by the mighty basilica called by his
name.

The only point at issue is, did he--as the favourite tradition
asserts--pay his first visit to Rome quite early in the Christian
story, _circa_ A.D. 42, remaining there for some seven or
eight years preaching and teaching, laying the foundations of the great
Church which rapidly sprang up in the capital?

Then when the decree of the Emperor Claudius banished the Jews, A.D.
49-50, the tradition asserts that the apostle returned to the East,
was present at the Apostolic Council held at Jerusalem A.D. 50, only
returning to Rome _circa_ A.D. 63. Somewhere about A.D. 64 the First
Epistle of Peter was probably written from Rome.[3] His martyrdom there
is best dated about A.D. 67.

A careful examination of the most ancient “Notices” bearing especially
on the question of the laying of the early stories of the Roman Church,
determines the writer of this little study to adopt the above rough
statement of S. Peter’s work at Rome. Some of the principal portions of
these “notices” will now be quoted, that it may be seen upon what basis
the conclusion in question is adopted. The quotations will be followed
by a sketch of the traditional and other evidence specially drawn from
the testimony of the very early Roman catacomb of S. Priscilla. This
sketch, which is here termed the “traditional evidence,” it will be
seen, powerfully supports the deduction derived from the notices quoted
from very early Christian literature.

THE QUOTATIONS

_Clemens Romanus_, A.D. 95-6. In the fifth chapter of the
well-known and undoubtedly authentic _Letter of Clement of Rome to
the Corinthians_, the writer calls the attention of the Corinthians
to the examples of the Christian “athletes” who “lived very near to
our own time.” He speaks of the apostles who were persecuted, and who
were faithful to death. “There was Peter, who after undergoing many
sufferings, and having borne his testimony, went to his appointed place
of glory. There was Paul, who after enduring chains, imprisonments,
stonings, again and again, and sufferings of all kinds ... likewise
endured martyrdom, and so departed from this world.”

The reason why Clement of Rome mentions these two special apostles
(other apostles had already suffered martyrdom) is obvious. Clement was
referring to examples of which they themselves had been eye-witnesses.
Paul, it is universally acknowledged, was martyred in Rome; is not the
inference from the words of Clement, that Peter suffered martyrdom in
this same city also, overwhelming?

_Ignatius_, _circa_ A.D. 108-9, some twelve or thirteen years
after Clement had written his _Epistle to the Corinthians_, on his
journey to his martyrdom at Rome, thus writes to the Roman Church:
“I do not command you like Peter and Paul: they were apostles; I am
a condemned criminal.” Why now did Ignatius single out Peter and
Paul? So Bishop Lightfoot, commenting on this passage, forcibly says:
“Ignatius was writing from Asia Minor. He was a guest of a disciple of
John at the time. He was sojourning in a country where John was the
one prominent name. The only conceivable reason why he specially named
Peter and Paul was that these two apostles had both visited Rome and
were remembered by the Roman Church.”

_Papias_ of Hierapolis, born _circa_ A.D. 60-70. His writings
probably date somewhat late in the first quarter of the second century.
On the authority of Presbyter John, a personal disciple of the Lord,
Papias tells us about Mark: he was a friend and interpreter of S.
Peter, and wrote down what he heard his master teach, and there (in
Rome) composed his “record.” This notice seems to have been connected
by Papias with 1 Pet. v. 13, where Mark is alluded to in connexion with
the fellow-elect in Babylon (Rome).

“It seems,” concludes Bishop Lightfoot, referring to Irenæus (_S.
Clement of Rome_, ii. 494), “a tolerably safe inference, therefore,
that Papias represented S. Peter as being in Rome, that he stated Mark
to have been with him there, and that he assigned to the latter a
Gospel record (the second Gospel) which was committed to writing for
the instruction of the Romans.”

_Dionysius_ of Corinth, A.D. 170, quoted by Eusebius (_H. E._
II. xxv.), wrote to Soter, bishop of Rome, as follows: “Herein
by such instructions (to us) ye have united the trees of the Romans and
Corinthians (trees) planted by Peter and Paul. For they both alike came
also to our Corinth, and taught us; and both alike came together to
Italy, and having taught there, suffered martyrdom at the same time.”

_Irenæus_, _circa_ A.D. 177-90, writes: “Matthew published
also a written Gospel among the Hebrews in their own language, while
Peter and Paul were preaching and founding the Church in Rome. Again
after their departure, Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter,
himself also handed down to us in writing the lessons preached by
Peter.”--_H. E._ III. i. 1.

_Clement_ of Alexandria, _circa_ A.D. 193-217 (_Hypotyposes_,
quoted by Eusebius, _H. E._ vi. 14) tells us how, “when Peter had
preached the word publicly in Rome, and declared the gospel by the
Spirit, the bystanders, being many in number, exhorted Mark as having
accompanied him for a long time, and remembering what he had said,
to write out his statements, and having thus composed his Gospel, to
communicate it to them; and that when Peter learnt this, he used no
pressure either to prevent him or to urge him forwards.”

_Tertullian_, _circa_ A.D. 200, adds his testimony thus: “We
read in the lives of the Cæsars, Nero was the first to stain the rising
faith with blood. Thus Peter is girt by another (quoting the Lord’s
words) when he is bound to the Cross. Thus Paul obtains his birthright
of Roman citizenship when he is born again there by the nobility of
Martyrdom.”--_Scorpiace_, 15.

_Tertullian_ again writes: “Nor does it matter whether they are among
those whom John baptized in the Jordan, or those whom Peter baptized in
the Tiber.”--_De Baptismo_, 4.

_Tertullian_ once more tells us: “The Church of the Romans reports that
Clement was ordained by Peter.”--_De Præscriptione Hær._ 36.

_Tertullian_ again bears similar testimony: “If thou art near to Italy,
thou hast Rome.... How happy is that Church on whom the apostles shed
all their teaching with their blood, where Peter is conformed to the
passion of the Lord, where Paul is crowned with the death of John (the
Baptist), where the Apostle John after having been plunged in boiling
oil, without suffering any harm, is banished to an island!”--_De
Præscriptione_, 36.

_Caius_ (or Gaius) the Roman presbyter, _circa_ A.D. 200-20,
who lived in the days of Pope Zephyrinus, and was a contemporary
of Hippolytus, if not (as Lightfoot suspects) identical with him
(Hippolytus of Portus), gives us the following detail: “I can show you
the trophies (the Memoriæ or Chapel-Tombs) of the apostles. For if you
will go to the Vatican or to the Ostian Way, thou wilt find (there) the
trophies (the Memoriæ) of those who founded the Church.”

Caius is here claiming for his own Church of Rome the authority
of the Apostles SS. Peter and Paul, whose martyred bodies rest in
Rome.--Quoted by Eusebius, _H. E._ II. xxv.

Thus at that early date when Caius wrote, the localities of the graves
of the two apostles were reputed to have been the spots where now stand
the great basilicas of SS. Peter and Paul.

_Eusebius_, _H. E._ II. xiv., gives a definite date for the
first coming of Peter to Rome, and his preaching there. The historian
was describing the influence of Simon Magus at Rome. This, he adds, did
not long continue, “for immediately under the reign of Claudius, by the
benign and gracious providence of God, Peter, that powerful and great
apostle who by his courage took the lead of all the rest, was conducted
to Rome against this pest of mankind. He (S. Peter) bore the precious
merchandise of the revealed light from the East to those in the West,
announcing this light itself, and salutary doctrine of the soul, the
proclamation of the kingdom of God.”

_Eusebius_ also writes that “Linus, whom he (Paul) has mentioned in his
Second Epistle to Timothy as his companion at Rome, has been before
shown to have been the first after Peter that obtained the Episcopate
at Rome.”--Eusebius, _H. E._ III. iv.

* * * * *

The _traditional_ memories of Peter’s residence in Rome and his
prolonged teaching there are very numerous. De Rossi while quoting
certain of these as legendary, adds that an historical basis underlies
these notices. Some of the more interesting of these are connected with
the house and family of Pudens on the Aventine, and with the cemetery
of Saint Priscilla on the Via Salaria.

To the pilgrims of the fifth and following centuries were pointed out
the chair in which Peter used to sit and teach (Sedes ubi prius sedit
S. Petrus), and also the cemeterium fontis S. Petri--cemeterium ubi
Petrus baptizaverat. Marucchi, the pupil and successor of De Rossi,
believes that this cemetery where it was said S. Peter used to baptize,
is identical with parts of the vast and ancient catacomb of Priscilla.
These and further traditional notices are dwelt on with greater detail
presently when the general evidence is summed up.[4]

A SUMMARY OF LITERARY NOTICES

And now to sum up the evidence we have been quoting:

The _Literary Notices_ have been gathered from all parts of the Roman
world where Christianity had made a lodgment.

From _Rome_ (Clement of Rome) in the first and second centuries and
early in the third century.

From _Antioch_ (Ignatius, Papias) (including Syria and Asia Minor) very
early in the second century.

From _Corinth_ (Greece) (Dionysius) in the second half of the second
century.

From _Lyons_ (Gaul) (Irenæus) in the second half of the second century.

From _Alexandria_ (Egypt) (Clement of Alexandria) in the second half of
the second century.

From _Carthage_ (North Africa) (Tertullian) in the close of the second
century.

These and other literary notices, more or less definitely, all ascribe
the laying of the foundation stories of the Church of Rome to the
preaching and teaching of the Apostles Peter and Paul. All without
exception in their notices of this foundation work place the _name of
Peter first_. It is hardly conceivable that these very early writers
would have done this had Peter only made his appearance in Rome for
the first time in A.D. 63 or 64, _after_ Paul’s residence in
the capital for some two years, when he was awaiting the trial which
resulted in his acquittal.

Then again, the repeated mention of the two great apostles as the
_Founders_ of the Roman Church would have been singularly inaccurate if
neither of them had visited the capital before A.D. 60-1, the
date of Paul’s arrival, and A.D. 63-4, the date of S. Peter’s
coming, supposing we assume the later date for S. Peter’s coming and
preaching.

When we examine the literary notices in question we find in several of
them a more circumstantial account of Peter’s work than Paul’s; for
instance:

_Papias_ and _Irenæus_ give us special details of S. Mark’s position
as the interpreter of S. Peter, and tell us particularly how the
friend and disciple of S. Peter took down his master’s words, which he
subsequently moulded into what is known as the second Gospel.

_Tertullian_ relates that S. Peter baptized in the Tiber, and mentions,
too, how this apostle ordained Clement.

_Eusebius_, the great Church historian to whom we owe so much of
our knowledge of early Church history, writing in the early years
of Constantine’s reign, in the first quarter of the fourth century,
goes still more into detail, and gives us approximately the date of
S. Peter’s first coming, which he states to have been in the reign of
Claudius, who was Emperor from A.D. 41 to A.D. 54 (Eusebius, _H. E._
II. xiv.). The same historian also repeats the account above referred
to of Mark’s work as Peter’s companion and scribe in Rome (_H. E._ II.
xv.), adding that the “Church in Babylon” referred to by S. Peter (1
Ep. v. 13) signified the Church of Rome.

_Jerome_, writing in the latter years of the same century (the fourth),
is very definite on the question of the early arrival of S. Peter
at Rome--“Romam mittitur,” says the great scholar, “ubi evangelium
prædicans XXV annis ejusdem urbis episcopus perseverat.” Now, reckoning
back the twenty-five years of S. Peter’s supervision of the Roman
Church would bring S. Peter’s first presence in Rome to A.D.
42-3; for Jerome tells us how “Post Petrum primus Romanam ecclesiam
tenuit Linus,” and the early catalogues of the Roman Bishops--the
Eusebian (Armenian version), the catalogue of Jerome, and the catalogue
called the Liberian--give the date of Linus’ accession respectively as
A.D. 66, A.D. 68, A.D. 67.

The early lists or catalogues of the Bishops of Rome, just casually
referred to, are another important and weighty witness to the ancient
and generally received tradition of the early visit and prolonged
presence of S. Peter at Rome.

The first of these in the middle of the second century was drawn up,
as far as Eleutherius, A.D. 177-90 by Hegesippus, a Hebrew
Christian. Eusebius is our authority for this. This list, however, has
not come down to us. It is, however, probable that it was the basis, as
far as it went, of the list drawn up by Irenæus _circa_ A.D.
180-90. This is the earliest catalogue of the Roman Bishops which we
possess. Irenæus, after stating that the Roman Church was founded by
the Apostles Peter and Paul, adds that they entrusted the office of the
Episcopate to Linus.

In the Armenian version of the _Chronicles_ of Eusebius, the only
version in which we possess this Eusebian Chronicle, Peter appears
at the head of the list of Roman Bishops, and twenty years is given
as the duration of his government of the Church. Linus is stated to
have been his successor. In the list of S. Jerome a similar order is
preserved--with the slight difference of twenty-five years instead
of twenty as the duration of S. Peter’s rule. The deduction which
naturally follows these entries in the two lists has been already
suggested. The Liberian Catalogue, compiled _circa_ A.D. 354,
places S. Peter at the head of the Roman Bishops--giving twenty-five
years as the duration of his government. Linus follows here.

The Liberian Catalogue was the basis of the great historical work now
generally known as the “Liber Pontificalis,” which in its notices of
the early Popes embodies the whole of the Liberian Catalogue--only
giving fresh details. The “Liber Pontificalis” in its first portion
in its present form is traced back to the earlier years of the sixth
century.

The traditional notices of the early presence of S. Peter in Rome
are many and various. Taken by themselves they are, no doubt, not
convincing--some of them ranking as purely legendary--though we
recognize even in these “purely legendary” notices an historical
foundation; but taken together they constitute an argument of no little
weight.

Among the “purely legendary” we have touched upon the memories which
hang round the house of Pudens, and the church which in very early
times arose on its site.[5] Of far greater historical value are the
memories which belong to the Catacomb of Priscilla, memories which
recent discoveries in that most ancient cemetery go far to lift many of
the old traditions into the realm of serious history.

The historical fact of the burial (_depositio_) of some ten or eleven
of the first Bishops round the sacred tomb of the Apostle S. Peter
(_juxta corpus beati Petri in Vaticano_), gives additional colour to
the tradition of the immemorial reverence which from the earliest times
of the Church of Rome encircles the memory of S. Peter.

From the third century onward we find the Roman Bishops claiming as
their proudest title to honour their position as successors of S.
Peter. In all the controversies which subsequently arose between Rome
and the East this position was never questioned. Duchesne, in his last
great work,[6] ever careful and scholarly, does not hesitate to term
the “Church of Rome” (he is dwelling on its historical aspect) the
“Church of S. Peter.”

This study on the work of S. Peter in the matter of laying the early
stories of the great Church which after the fall of Jerusalem in
A.D. 70 indisputably became the metropolis of Christianity,
has been necessarily somewhat long--the question is one of the highest
importance to the historian of ecclesiastical history. Was this lofty
claim of the long line of Bishops of Rome to be the successors of S.
Peter, ever one of their chief titles to honour, based on historic
evidence, or was it simply an invention of a later age?

All serious historians now are agreed that S. Peter taught in Rome,
wrote his Epistle from Rome, and subsequently suffered martyrdom there.

But historians, as we have stated, are not agreed upon the date of
his first appearance in the queen city. Now the sum of the evidence
massed together in the foregoing brief study, leads to the indisputable
conclusion that the date of his coming to Rome must be placed very
early in the story of Christianity, somewhere about A.D. 41-3.

Everything points to this conclusion. How could Peter be, with any
accuracy, styled the “Founder of the Church of Rome” if he never
appeared in Rome before A.D. 64? Long before this date the
Church of the metropolis had been “founded,” had had time to become a
large and flourishing Christian community. This estimate of the signal
importance of the Church of Rome is based on various testimonies, among
which may be ranked the long list of salutations in S. Paul’s Epistle
to the Romans, written _circa_ A.D. 58.

All the various notices of the leading Christian writers of the first
and second centuries in all lands carefully style him as such. Paul,
it is true, in most, not in all these early writings, is associated
with him as a joint founder: this in a real sense can also be
understood; for although Paul came at a later date to Rome and dwelt
there some two years, the presence of one of the greatest of the early
Christian teachers would surely add enormously to the stability of the
foundations laid years before. The teaching of the great Apostle of the
Gentiles, continued for two years, was, of course, a very important
factor in the “foundation work,” and was evidently always reckoned as
such.

But even then, as we have seen, while the two apostles are frequently
joined together as founders in the writings of the early Christian
teachers, in several notable instances Peter’s work is especially dwelt
upon by them.

Then again in the traditional “Memories” preserved to us, some of them
of the highest historical value, it is Peter, not Paul, who is ever the
principal figure. Paul rarely, if ever, appears in them. Great though
undoubtedly Paul was as a teacher of the Christian mysteries and as an
expounder of Christian doctrine, it is emphatically Peter, not Paul,
who lives in the “memories” of the Roman Christian community.

The place which the two basilicas of S. Peter and S. Paul on the
Vatican Hill and on the Ostian Way have ever occupied in the minds
and hearts not only of the Roman people, but of all the innumerable
pilgrims in all ages to the sacred shrines of Rome, seems accurately
to measure the respective places which the two apostles hold in the
estimate of the Roman Church.

The comparative neglect of S. Paul’s basilica in Rome when measured
with the undying reverence shown to, and with the enormous pains and
cost bestowed on the sister basilica of S. Peter, is due not to any
want of reverence or respect for the noble Apostle of the Gentiles,
but solely because Rome and the pilgrims to Rome were deeply conscious
of the special debt of Rome to S. Peter, who was evidently the real
founder of the mighty Church of the capital.

The writer of this work is fully conscious that the conclusion to
which he has come after massing together all the available evidence,
is not the usual conclusion arrived at by one great and influential
school of thought in our midst; nor does it accord with the conclusion
of that eminently just scholar-Bishop Lightfoot, who while positively
affirming the presence of S. Peter in Rome, whence, as he allows, he
wrote his First Epistle, and where through pain and agony he passed to
his longed-for rest in his Master’s Paradise, yet cannot accept the
tradition of his early presence in the metropolis.

The writer of this study has no doubt whatever that the teaching of the
vast majority of the Roman Catholic writers on this point is strictly
accurate, and that S. Peter at a comparatively early date, probably
somewhere about the year of grace 42-3, came to Rome confirmed in the
faith--taught--strengthened with his own blessed memories of his adored
Master--the little band of Christians already dwelling in the capital
of the Empire. Under his pious training the little band, in the six,
seven, or eight years of his residence in their midst, became the
strong nucleus of the powerful Church of Rome.

Then, most probably, he left Rome when the decree of the Emperor
Claudius, A.D. 49, was promulgated: the decree which was the result of
the disturbances among the turbulent Jewish colony,--disturbances no
doubt owing to bitter and relentless opposition to the fast spreading
of the Christian faith in their midst. As Suetonius (Claudius, 25)
tersely but clearly tells us: “Judæos, impulsore Christo assidue
tumultuantes Roma expulit.”

From the year 49, when he left the Queen City, S. Peter apparently was
absent from the Church in which for some seven or eight years he had
laboured so well and so successfully, continuing his work, however, in
other lands. Then in A.D. 63-4 he returned, resumed his Roman
work, wrote the First Epistle which bears his name, and eventually
suffered martyrdom.

This conclusion, of such deep importance in early ecclesiastical
history, has been arrived at--as the student of the foregoing pages
will see--from no one statement, from no whole class, so to speak,
of evidences, but from the _cumulative_ evidence afforded by the
massing together the statements of early writers, the testimony of the
catacombs, the witness of tradition, and the voice of what may almost
be accurately termed immemorial history.[7]

PART II

THE FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH IN ROME--“B”

The Roman Church in the year of grace 61 was evidently already a
powerful and influential congregation: everything points to this
conclusion: its traditions, we might even say its history, and, above
all, the notices contained in S. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans written
not later than A.D. 58.

Virtually alone among the Churches of the first thirty years of
Christianity does S. Paul give to this congregation unstinting,
unqualified praise--very different to his words addressed to the Church
in Corinth in both of his Epistles to that notable Christian centre,
or to the Galatian congregation in his letter to the Church of that
province; or even to the Thessalonians, the Church which he loved well,
where reproach and grave warnings are mingled with and colour his
loving words.

But to the Church of Rome, in which in its many early years of struggle
and combat he bore no part whatever, his praise is quite unmingled
with rebuke or warning. As regards this congregation (Rom. i. 8), Paul
thanks God for them all that their faith is spoken of throughout the
whole world. In the concluding chapter of the Epistle, some twenty-five
specially distinguished members of the Roman congregation are saluted
by name, though it by no means follows that S. Paul was personally
acquainted with all of those who were named by him.

About three years after writing his famous letter to the Romans,--just
referred to,--Paul came as a prisoner to the capital city. But
although a prisoner awaiting a public trial, the imperial government
gave him free liberty to receive in his own hired house members of
the Christian Church, and indeed any who chose to come and listen to
his teaching; and this liberty of free access to him was continued
all through the two years of his waiting for the public trial. The
words of the “Acts of the Apostles,” a writing universally received
as authentic, are singularly definite here: “And Paul dwelt two whole
years in his own hired house (in Rome), and received all that came unto
him, preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which
concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding
him” (Acts xxviii. 30-31).

It was during these two years of the imprisonment that the great
teacher justified his subsequent title, accorded him by so many of the
early Christian writers, of joint founder with S. Peter of the Roman
Church. The foundations of the Church of the metropolis we believe
certainly to have been laid by another leading member of the apostolic
band, S. Peter.[8] But S. Paul’s share in strengthening and in building
up this Church, the most important congregation in the first days of
Christianity, was without doubt very great.

At a very early period, certainly after the fall of Jerusalem and
the destruction of the Temple, Rome became the acknowledged centre
and the metropolis of Christendom. The great world-capital was the
meeting-place of the followers of the Name from all lands. Thither,
too, naturally flocked the teachers of the principal heresies in
doctrinal truth which very soon sprang up among Christian converts.
Under these conditions something more, in such a centre as Rome, was
imperatively needed than the simple direct Gospel teaching, however
fervid: something additional to the recital of the wondrous Gospel
story as told by S. Peter and repeated possibly verbatim by his
disciple S. Mark. A deeper and fuller instruction was surely required
in such a centre as Rome quickly became. Men would ask, Who and what
was the Divine Founder of the religion,--what was His relation to the
Father, what to the angel-world? What was known of His preexistence?
These and such-like questions would speedily press for a reply in such
a cosmopolitan centre as imperial Rome. Inspired teaching bearing on
such points as these required to be welded into the original foundation
stories of the leading Church which Rome speedily became, and this
was supplied by the great master S. Paul, to whom the Holy Ghost had
vouchsafed what may be justly termed a double portion of the Spirit.
The Christology of Paul, to use a later theological term, was, in view
of all that was about to come to pass in the immediate future, a most
necessary part of the equipment of the Church of God in Rome.

The keynote of the famous master’s teaching during those two years of
his Roman imprisonment may be doubtless found in the letters written
by him at that time. Three of these, the “Ephesian,” “Colossian,”
and “Philippian” Epistles, were emphatically massive expositions of
doctrine--especially that addressed to the Colossians. From these
we can gather what was the principal subject-matter of the Pauline
teaching at Rome. His thoughts were largely taken up with the
great doctrinal questions bearing on the person of the Founder of
Christianity.

We will quote one or two passages from the great doctrinal Epistle to
the Colossians as examples of the Pauline teaching at this juncture
of his life when he was engaged in building up the Roman Church, and
furnishing it with an arsenal of weapons which would soon be needed in
_their_ life and death contest with the dangerous heresies[9] which so
soon made their appearance in the city which was at once the metropolis
of the Church and the Empire.

“The Father, ... who hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear
Son, ... who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every
creature: for by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and
that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or
dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by
Him, and for Him: and He is before all things, and by Him all things
consist. And He is the head of the body, the Church: who is the
beginning, the first-born from the dead; that in all things he might
have the pre-eminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him should all
fulness dwell; and, having made peace through the blood of His Cross,
by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him (I say), whether
they be things in earth, or things in heaven” (Col. i. 12-20).

And once more: “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and
vain deceit, after the tradition of men, ... and not after Christ. For
in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are
complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power.”

Preaching on such texts, which contain those tremendous truths which
just at this time he embodied in his Colossian letter, did S. Paul
lay the foundation of the “Christology” of the Church of Rome. With
justice, then, was he ranked by the early Christian writers as one
of the founders of the Roman Church, for he was without doubt the
principal teacher of the famous congregation in the all-important
doctrinal truths bearing on the person and office of Jesus Christ.

S. Peter, whose yet earlier work at Rome, we believe, stretching over
some eight or nine years, we have already dwelt on, was evidently
absent from the capital when S. Paul in A.D. 58 wrote his
famous Letter to the Romans; nor had he returned in A.D. 61,
when Paul was brought to the metropolis as a prisoner; but that he
returned to Rome somewhere about A.D. 63-4 is fairly certain.

THE FIRE OF ROME, AND ITS RESULTS AS REGARDS CHRISTIANS--A.D.
64. HENCEFORTH THEY WERE REGARDED AS ENEMIES OF THE STATE

For a little more than thirty years, dating back to the Resurrection
morning, with the exception of the occasion of that temporary and
partial banishment of the Jews and Christians from Rome in the days of
the Emperor Claudius, had the Christian propaganda gone on apparently
unnoticed, certainly unheeded by the imperial government.

The banishment decree of Claudius, the outcome of a local disturbance
in the Jewish quarter of the capital, was after a brief interval
apparently rescinded, or at least ignored by the ruling powers; but
in the middle of the year 64, only a few months after S. Paul’s
long-delayed trial and acquittal and subsequent departure from Rome,
a startling event happened which brought the Christians into a sad
notoriety, and put an end to the attitude of contemptuous indifference
with which they had been generally regarded by the magistrates both in
the provinces and in the capital.

A terrible and unlooked for calamity reduced Rome to a state of
mourning and desolation. The 19th July, A.D. 64,--the date
of the commencement of the desolating fire,--was long remembered. It
broke out in the shops which clustered round the great Circus; a strong
summer wind fanned the flames, which soon became uncontrollable. The
narrow streets of the old quarter and the somewhat crumbling buildings
fed the fire, which raged for some nine days, destroying many of the
ancient historic buildings. Thousands of the poorer inhabitants were
rendered homeless and penniless. At that period Rome was divided into
fourteen regions or quarters; of these three were entirely consumed;
seven more were rendered uninhabitable by the fierce fire; only four
were left really unharmed by the desolating calamity.

The passions of the mob, ever quickly aroused, were directed in the
first instance against the Emperor Nero, who was accused--probably
quite wrongfully--of being the incendiary: there is indeed a long, a
mournful chronicle of evil deeds registered against the memory of this
evil Emperor; but that he was the guilty author of this special outrage
is in the highest degree unlikely. His wild life, his cruelties,
his ungovernable passions, his insanity,--for no reader of history
can doubt that in his case the sickness which so often affects an
uncontrolled despot had with Nero resulted in insanity,--indeed, all
his works and days, gave colour to the monstrous and absurd charges
which a fickle and angry mob brought against the once strangely popular
tyrant.

All kinds of wild stories connected with the fire were circulated; he
had no doubt many remorseless enemies. Men said, Nero sitting high on
one of the towers of Rome, watched with fiendish joy and exultation the
progress of the devouring flames, and as Rome burned before his eyes,
played upon his lyre and sung a hymn of his own composition, for he
imagined himself a poet, in which he compared the burning of his Rome
with the ruin of Troy.

Another legend was current, averring that the slaves of the Emperor’s
household had been seen fanning the flames in their desolating course;
another rumour was spread abroad which whispered that the mad and
wicked Emperor desired to see Old Rome, with its narrow and crowded
streets, destroyed, that he might be able to rebuild it on a new and
stately scale, and thus, regardless of the immemorial traditions of
the ancient city, to render his name immortal through this notable and
magnificent work.

At all events these improbable stories more or less gained credence in
many quarters, and the Emperor found himself execrated by thousands
of thoughtless men and women who had suffered the loss of their all
in the fire, and who were glad to vent their fury on one whom they
once admired and even loved, though their admiration and love had
been often mingled with that fierce envy with which the people too
frequently view the great and rich and powerful.

Prompted by his evil advisers, among whom the infamous Tigellinus
was the most conspicuous, the Emperor in the first instance accused
the Jews of being the incendiaries: curiously enough the quarter of
the city where they mostly congregated had been spared in the late
conflagration. It was no difficult task to persuade the fickle people
that the strange race of foreigners, who hated Rome and Rome’s gods,
had avenged themselves and the wrongs they had suffered at the hands of
the Roman nation, by firing the capital city.

Up to this time--in the eyes of most of the Romans--the Jew and the
Christian were one people; they considered that if any difference at
all existed, it was simply that the Christian was a dissenting Jew.
Now apparently, after the burning of Rome, for the first time was any
distinction made. It happened on this wise: the Jews had powerful
friends in the court of the despotic Emperor. Poppæa the Empress, if
not a Jewess, was at least a devoted proselyte of the chosen race.
There is no doubt but that her influence, backed up no doubt by others
about her person at the court, diverted the suspicions which had been
awakened, from the Jews to the Christians. These, it was pointed out,
were no real Jews, but were their deadly enemies; they were a hateful
and hated sect quite improperly confounded with the chosen people.
The Christians were now formally accused of being the real authors of
the late calamity, and the accusation seems to have been generally
popular among the masses of the Roman population. Our authorities for
this popular hatred--we may style them contemporary--are Tacitus and
Suetonius and the Christian Clement of Rome. The testimony of Pliny
the Younger, who governed Bithynia under the Emperor Trajan, will be
discussed later.

Under the orders of Nero--who turned to his own purposes the popular
dislike to the new sect of Jewish fanatics, as they generally were
supposed to be--the Christians were sought for. It turned out that
there was a vast multitude of them in the city, “ingens multitudo,”
says Tacitus; and Clement of Rome, the Christian bishop and writer,
_circa_ A.D. 96, also speaks of their great numbers. Many
of the accused were condemned on the false charge of incendiarism, to
which was added an accusation far harder to disprove--general hostility
to society, and hatred of the world (_odio generis humani_).

A crowd of Christians of both sexes was condemned to the wild beasts.
It was arranged that they should provide a hideous amusement for the
people who witnessed the games just then about to be celebrated in
the imperial gardens on the Vatican Hill--on the very spot where the
glorious basilica of S. Peter now stands.

Nero, anxious to restore his waning popularity with the crowd, and to
divert the strange suspicion which had fixed upon him as the incendiary
of the great fire, was determined that the games should surpass any
former exhibition of the like kind in the number of victims provided,
and in the refined cruelty of the awful punishment to which the
sufferers were condemned. He had in good truth an array of victims
for his ghastly exhibition such as had never been seen before. A like
exhibition indeed was never repeated; the hideousness of it positively
shocking the Roman populace, cruel though they were, and passionately
devoted to scenic representations which included death and torture,
crime and shame. Numbers of these first Christian martyrs were simply
exposed to the beasts; others clothed in skins were hunted down by
fierce wild dogs; others were forced to play a part in infamous dramas,
which ever closed with the death of the victims in pain and agony.

But the closing scene was the most shocking. As the night fell on the
great show, as a novel delight for the populace, the Roman people being
especially charmed with brilliant and striking illuminations, the outer
ring of the vast arena was encircled with crosses on which a certain
number of Christians were bound, impaled, or nailed. The condemned were
clothed in tunics steeped in pitch and in other inflammable matter,
and then, horrible to relate, the crucified and impaled were set on
fire, and in the lurid light of these ghastly living torches the famous
chariot races, in which the wicked Emperor took a part, were run.

But _this_ was never repeated; as we have just stated, the sight of
the living flambeaux, the protracted agony of the victims, was too
dreadful even for that debased and hardened Roman crowd of heedless
cruel spectators; the illuminations of Nero’s show were never
forgotten; they remained an awful memory, but only a memory, even in
Rome!

There is good reason to suppose that one of the lookers on at the games
of that long day and sombre evening in the gardens of the Vatican Hill
was Seneca, the famous Stoic philosopher, once the tutor and afterwards
for a time the minister of Nero. Seneca had retired from public life,
and in two of his letters written during his retirement to his sick
and suffering friend Lucilius, encouraging him to bear his distressing
malady with brave patience, reminds him of the tortures which were now
and again inflicted on the condemned; in vivid language picturing the
fire, the chains, the worrying of wild beasts, the prison horrors, the
cross, the tunic steeped in pitch, the rack, the red-hot irons placed
on the quivering flesh. What, he asks his friend, are _your_ sufferings
compared with sufferings caused by these tortures? And yet, he adds,
his eyes had seen these things endured; from the sufferer no groan
was heard--no cry for mercy--nay, in the midst of all he had seen the
bravely patient victims smile!

Surely here the great Stoic was referring to what he had witnessed in
Nero’s dread games of the Vatican gardens; no other scene would furnish
such a memory at once weird and pathetic. The strange ineffable smile
of the Christian in pain and agony dying for his God, had gone home
to the heart of the great scholar statesman. Like many another Roman
citizen of his day and time, Seneca had often seen men die, but he had
never before looked on any one dying after this fashion!

From the days of that ever memorable summer of the year 64 until
Constantine and Licinius signed the edict which in the name of the
Emperors gave peace and stillness to the harassed Church, A.D.
313, roughly speaking a long period of two centuries and a half, the
sword of persecution was never sheathed. For practically from the year
64, the date of the famous games in the Vatican gardens, there was a
continuous persecution of those that confessed the name of Christ.
The ordinary number of the ten persecutions is after all an arbitrary
computation. The whole principle and constitution of Christianity on
examination were condemned by the Roman government as irreconcilably
hostile to the established order; and mere membership of the sect,
if persisted in, was regarded as treasonable, and the confessors
of Christianity became liable to the punishment of death. And this
remained the unvarying, the changeless policy of the Government of the
State, though not always put in force, until the memorable edict of
Constantine, A.D. 313.

After the terrible scenes in the games of the Vatican gardens,
the persecution of the Christians still continued. The charges of
incendiarism were dropped, no one believing that there was any truth in
these allegations; but in Rome and in the provinces the Christian sect
from this time forward was generally regarded as hostile to the Empire.

The accusation of being the authors of the great fire had revealed many
things in connexion with the sect; the arrests, the judicial inquiries,
had thrown a flood of new light upon the tenets of the new religion,
had disclosed its large and evidently rapidly increasing numbers. Most
probably for many years were they still confused with the Jews, but
it was seen that the new sect was something more than a mere body of
Jewish dissenters.

It was universally acknowledged that the Christians were innocent of
any connexion with the great fire; but something else was discovered;
they were a very numerous company (_ingens multitudo_) intensely in
earnest, opposed to the State religion, preferring in numberless
instances torture, confiscation, death, rather than submit to the State
regulations in the matter of religion.

For some time before the fire they had been generally disliked,
possibly hated by very many of the Roman citizens, by men of different
ranks, for various reasons; by traders who lost much by their
avoidance of all idolatrous feasts; by pagan families who resented the
proselytism which was constantly taking place in their homes, thus
causing a breach in the family circle; by priests and those specially
connected with the network of rites and ceremonies, sacrifices and
offerings belonging to the temples of the old gods. But, after all,
this widespread popular dislike to the sect was not the chief cause
of the steady persecution which set in after the wild and intemperate
scenes which followed the great fire.

For the first time the imperial government saw with whom they had to
do. It was the settled policy of Rome steadily to repress and to stamp
out all organizations, all self-governing communities, or clubs, as
highly dangerous to the spirit of imperial policy; and as the result
of the trials and inquiries which followed the fire of Rome, it found
in the Christian community a living embodiment of this tendency which
hitherto Rome had succeeded in crushing--found that in their midst,
in the capital and in the provinces, an extra-imperial unity was fast
growing up--an Empire within the Empire.

In other words, the whole of the principles and the constitution of
Christianity were considered as hostile to the established order,
and if persisted in were to be deemed treasonable; thus after the
discoveries made in the course of the judicial proceedings which were
instituted after the great fire, the Christians, even after their
innocence on the incendiary charge was generally acknowledged, were
viewed by the imperial authorities as a politically dangerous society,
being an organized and united body having its ramifications all over
the Empire; but after the hideous and revolting cruelties to which
so many of them had been subjected in the famous Vatican games, the
original charge made against them came universally to be considered as
an infamous device of the Emperor Nero to divert public attention from
himself, to whom, although probably falsely, the guilt of causing the
fire was popularly attributed.

Still there is no doubt that although the alleged connexion of the
Christian sect with the crime of incendiarism seems to have been
quickly forgotten, from the year 64 onward “the persecution was
continued as a permanent police measure, under the form of a general
prosecution of Christians as a sect dangerous to the public safety.”

This, after a lengthened discussion of the whole question, is Professor
Ramsay’s conclusion,[10] who considers it doubtful if any “edict,” in
the strict sense of the word, was promulgated by the Emperor Nero; and
this he deduces from the famous correspondence which took place between
Pliny, the governor of Bithynia, and the Emperor Trajan, some fifty
years after the events just related in the days of Nero.

The words of Pliny when he asked for more definite directions from
Trajan in the matter of Christian prosecutions, apparently indicate
that he considered the Christian question not as one coming under some
definite law, but as a matter of practical administration.

The more general opinion, however, held by modern Church historians is
that an edict against the Christians was promulgated by Nero, and that
Domitian specially acted upon the edict in the course of the severe
measures taken against the sect in the later years of his reign; the
words of Melito of Sardis (second century), of Tertullian (beginning
of third century), of the Christian historians writing in the fourth
century and early years of the fifth century Sulpitius Severus and
Lactantius, being quoted in support of this view.

The expressions used by Sulpitius Severus here are certainly very
definite in the matter of the imperial edict. This historian founds his
account of the persecution under Nero on “Tacitus,” and then comments
as follows: “This was the beginning of severe measures against the
Christians. Afterwards the religion was forbidden by formal laws, and
the profession of Christianity was made illegal by published edicts”
(_Chron._ ii. 29).

It is not, however, of great importance if the profession of
Christianity was formally interdicted, or if a persecution was a
matter of practical administration, the profession of the faith being
considered dangerous to law and order, and deserving of death--as
Ramsay supposes. The other conclusion is of far greater moment. It is
briefly this:

The first step taken by the imperial government in persecution dates
certainly from the reign of Nero, immediately after the scenes in
the Vatican games, when a Christian was condemned after evidence had
been given that he or she had committed some act of hostility to
society--no difficult task to prove. Subsequent to Nero’s reign, a
further development in the persecutions had taken place (probably
in the time of Vespasian), in which all Christians were assumed to
have been guilty of such hostility to society, and might be condemned
off-hand on confession of the Name. This was the state of things when
Pliny wrote to Trajan for more detailed instructions. The great number
of professing Christians alarming that upright and merciful official,
he asked the Emperor was he to send them all to death?

The leading feature of the instruction of the Emperor Trajan in
reply to Pliny’s question, as we shall presently see, was, although
Christians were to be condemned if they confessed the Name, they were
not to be sought out. This “instruction” held good until the closing
years of the Empire, when a sterner policy was pursued; while it is
indisputable that under Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius, a yet more
hostile practice was adopted towards the Christians.

One great point is clear--that from the days of Nero the Christians
were never safe; they lived as their writings plainly show, even
under the rule of those Emperors who were, comparatively speaking,
well disposed to them, with the vision of martyrdom ever before their
eyes; they lived, not a few of them, positively training themselves to
endure the great trial as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. During the
first and second centuries, comparatively speaking, only a few names
of these martyrs and confessors have come down to us: we possess but a
few really well-authenticated recitals (Acts and Passions), but these
names and stories do not read like exceptional cases;[11] irresistibly
the grave truth forces itself upon us, that there were many heroes and
heroines whose names have _not_ been preserved--whose stories have not
been recorded.

The sword of persecution ever hung over the heads of the members
of the Christian flocks--ready to fall at any moment. The stern
instructions, modified though they were by the kindly policy of some of
the rulers of the State, were never abrogated, never forgotten; they
were susceptible, it is true, of a gentler interpretation than the
harsh terms in which they were couched at first seemed to warrant,
but these interpretations constantly varied according to the policy of
the provincial magistrate and the tone for the moment of the reigning
Emperor; but we must never think of the spirit of persecution really
slumbering even for one short year.

III

SILENCE RESPECTING PERSECUTION

It has been asked, How comes it that for much of the first and second
centuries there is a remarkable silence respecting these persecutions
which we are persuaded harassed the Christian congregations in the
provinces as in the great metropolis? The answer here is not difficult
to find.

The pagan writers of these centuries held the Christian sect in deep
contempt;[12] they would never think the punishments dealt out to a
number of law-breakers and wild fanatics worthy of chronicling; the
mere loss of life in that age, so accustomed to wholesale destruction
of human beings, would not strike them as a notable incident in any
year.

While as regards Christian records, the practice of celebrating the
anniversary days of even famous martyrs and confessors only began in
Rome far on in the third century.

But, as we shall see, although we possess no Christian records
definitely telling us of any special persecution between the times of
Nero and the later years of Domitian, the pages of the undoubtedly
genuine Christian writings of very early date, from which we shall
presently quote, were unmistakably all written under the shadow of
a restless relentless hostility on the part of the Roman government
towards the Christian sect. The followers of Jesus we see ever lived
under the shadow of persecution.

Never safe for a single day was the life of one who believed in the
Name; his life and the life of his dear ones were never for an instant
secure: he and his family were at the mercy of every enemy, open and
secret. Confiscation, degradation from rank and position, banishment,
imprisonment, torture, death, were ever threatening him. A hard, stern
combat, indeed, was the daily life of every Christian disciple. Many
came out as victors from the terrible trial; this we learn from such
writings as the _Shepherd_ of Hermas, but some, alas! we learn from
that same vivid and truthful picture of Hermas, flinched and played the
traitor when the hour of decision between Christ and the pagan gods
struck, as it often, very often, did in the so-called quiet days of the
Flavian Emperors.

But it is only from the general character and spirit of the early
Christian writers that we gather this; it is only from the allusions
scattered up and down these striking and pathetic pages, which after
all had other and nobler work before them than to record the many
sufferings and martyrdoms of the brethren, that we learn what was the
character of the hard life the followers of Jesus had to lead. So far
from exaggerating, these writers give a very imperfect account of the
sufferings of that period.

But in spite of this dark shadow of danger under which the Christian
always lived, a cloud which for two hundred and fifty years
never really lifted; in spite of popular dislike and of public
condemnation,--the numbers of the persecuted sect multiplied with
startling rapidity in all lands, among all the various peoples massed
together under the rule of the Empire, and called by the name of
Romans. Their great number attracted the attention of pagan writers
such as Tacitus, writing of the martyrdoms of A.D. 64; of
Pliny, speaking of what he witnessed in A.D. 112; of Christian
writers like Tertullian, giving a picture of the sect at the end of the
second century.

In the middle years of this second century, only a little more than a
hundred years after the Resurrection morning, when the Antonines were
reigning, we know that there were large congregations in Spain and
Gaul, in Germany, in North Africa, in Egypt and in Syria, besides the
great and powerful Church in Rome.

All that we learn of the busy, earnest, strenuous life of these early
Christian communities, of their noble charities, of their active
propaganda, of their grave and successful contentions with the
heretical teachers who successively arose in their midst, makes it
hard to believe that they were ever living, as it were, under the
very shadow of persecution which might burst upon them at any moment;
and yet well-nigh all the writings of these early days are coloured
with these anticipations of torture, confiscation, imprisonment and
death,--a death of pain and agony. The Apocalypse refers to these
things again and again--Clement of Rome in his grave and measured
Epistle--Hermas and Ignatius, Justin and Tertullian, and somewhat later
Cyprian writing in the middle of the third century--allude to these
things as part of the everyday Christian life. They give us, it is
true, few details, little history of the events which were constantly
happening; but as we read, we feel that the thought of martyrdom was
constantly present with them.

* * * * *

Now what was the attraction to this Christianity, the profession of
which was so fraught with danger--so surrounded with deadly peril?

“Le candidat au Christianisme, était, par le fait même, candidat au
Martyre,” graphically writes the brilliant and careful French scholar
Duchesne. The Christian verily exposed himself and his dear ones to
measureless penalties. Now what had he to gain by such a dangerous
adventure?

It is true that martyrdom itself possessed a special attraction for
some. The famous chapters of Ignatius’ Letter to the Roman Church,
written _circa_ A.D. 109-10, very vividly picture this strange
charm. The constancy of the confessor, the calm serenity with which he
endured tortures, the smiling confidence with which he welcomed a death
often of pain and suffering--his eyes fixed upon something invisible to
mortal eyes which he saw immediately before him,--all this was new in
the world of Rome; it was at once striking and admirable. Such a sight,
and it was a frequent one, was indeed inspiring--“Why should not I,”
thought many a believer in Jesus, “share in this glorious future? Why
should not I form one of this noble band of elect and blessed souls?”

Then again another attraction to Christianity was ever present in the
close union which existed among the members of the community.

In this great Brotherhood, without any attempt to level down the
wealthier Christians, without any movement towards establishing a
general community of goods, the warmest feelings of friendship and love
were cultivated between all classes and degrees. The Christian teachers
pointed out with great force that in the eyes of the divine Master no
difference existed between the slave and the free-born, between the
patrician and the little trader; with Him there was perfect equality.
Sex and age, rank and fortune, poverty and riches, country and race,
with Him were of no account. All men and women who struggled after the
life He loved, were His dear servants. The result of all this was shown
in the generous and self-denying love of the wealthier members of the
flock towards their poor and needy brothers and sisters.

This is conspicuously shown in the wonderful story of the vast
cemeteries of the suburbs of Rome, where at a very early date the rich
afforded the hospitality of the tomb to their poor friends.

Most of the so-called “catacombs” began in the gardens of the rich and
noble, where the little family God’s acre was speedily opened to the
proletariat and the slave, who after death were tenderly and lovingly
cared for, and laid to sleep with all reverence alongside the members
of the patrician house to whom the cemetery belonged, and which in
numberless instances was enlarged to receive these poor and humble
guests.

But, after all, great and different though these various attractive
influences were,--and which no doubt in countless cases brought
unnumbered men and women of all ranks and orders into the ranks of
Christianity,--there was something more which united all these various
nationalities, these different grades, with an indissoluble bond of
union; something more which enabled them to live on year after year in
the shadow of persecution--in daily danger of losing all that men most
prize and hold dear; something more which gave them that serene courage
at the last, which inspired the great army of bravely patient martyrs
to witness a good confession for the Name’s sake. It was that burning,
that living faith in the great sacrifice of their loving Master--the
faith which in the end vanquished even pagan Rome--the faith which
comes from no books or arguments, no preaching and no persuasion--from
no learning however profound and sacred--from no human arsenal, however
furnished with truth and righteousness.

It was that strong and deathless faith which is the gift of God alone,
and which in a double portion was the gift of the Holy Ghost to the
sorely tried Church in the heroic age of Christianity.

* * * * *

After the death of Nero, during the very brief reigns of Galba Otho
and Vitellius, probably the persecution of Christians, owing to the
disturbed state of Rome and the Empire, languished. When, however, the
Flavian House in the person of Vespasian was firmly placed in power,
the policy of the government of Nero, which held that the Christians
were a sect the tendency of whose beliefs and practice was hostile
to the very foundations and established principles of the Roman
government, was strictly adhered to, and possibly even developed.

The followers of the sect were deemed outlaws, and the name of a
Christian was treated as a crime.

There is a famous passage in Sulpicius Severus (fourth century) which
most modern scholars consider to have been an extract from a lost
book of Tacitus. It is an account of a Council of War held after the
storming of Jerusalem, A.D. 70. In this Council, Titus the
son and heir of Vespasian--the hero of the great campaign which closed
with the fall of Jerusalem--is reported to have expressed the opinion
that the Temple ought to be destroyed in order that the religion of
the Jews and of the Christians might be more completely rooted up; for
these religions, though opposed to each other, had yet the same origin.
The Christians had sprung from the Jews, and when the root was torn
up the stem issuing from the root would easily be destroyed. There
is no doubt but that this report of Titus’ speech at the Council of
War is an historical document of the utmost importance. It tells us
exactly what was the feeling of the imperial Flavian House towards the
Christians--they represented an evil which it was well to extirpate.

It is possible that in a mutilated passage of Suetonius a reference
occurs to Vespasian’s actions at this period (in the year following
A.D. 70) in respect to the Christians. The passage runs as
follows: “Never in the death of any one did Vespasian (take pleasure,
and in the case of) merited punishments he even wept and groaned.”
This is clearly a reference to some class of individuals whose
punishment Vespasian felt bound to accept, while he regretted it. “It
is inconceivable that Vespasian, a Roman soldier of long experience in
the bloody wars of Britain and Judæa, wept and groaned at every merited
execution.... We think of the punishments which by the principle of
Nero attached to the Christians ... the principle in question continued
permanently, and Suetonius alluded to it on account of the detail,
interesting to a biographer, that Vespasian wept while he confirmed its
operation.”[13]

But a yet more precise statement, that persecution was actively
continued under Vespasian, is to be found in the Latin Father,
Hilary of Poitiers, who ranks Vespasian between Nero and Decius as a
persecutor of the Faith.[14] Some critics have supposed this notice an
error. Lightfoot, however, thinks it more probable that it was based
upon some facts of history known to Hilary, but since blotted out by
time from the records of history.[15]

Towards the end of Domitian’s reign, _circa_ A.D. 95, the
persecution became more bitter. Indeed, so severely were the Christians
hunted out and prosecuted that the period had become memorable in
history. Domitian is constantly mentioned as the second great
persecutor, Nero being the first. The reason doubtless for this general
tradition is that in A.D. 95, persons of the highest rank,
some even belonging to the imperial family, were among the condemned;
notably Flavius Clemens the Consul, and the two princesses bearing the
name of Domitilla--all these being very near relatives of the Emperor.

The violent outbreak of persecution, fierce and terrible as it seems
to have been in the last year and a half of Domitian’s reign, does not
appear to have been owing to any special movement among the Christian
subjects of the Empire which aroused attention and suggested distrust,
but was solely owing to the Emperor’s private policy and personal
feelings. There is nothing to show that any edict against the sect
was promulgated in this reign. Since the time of Nero the persecution
of Christians was a standing matter, as was that of persons who were
habitual law-breakers, robbers, and such-like. Probably under the
princes of the Flavian dynasty, as we have said, this policy of the
government was somewhat developed throughout the Empire, and now and
again, owing to local circumstances and the disposition of the chief
magistrate, was more or less severe. It is said that some governors
boasted that they had brought back from their province their lictors’
axes unstained with blood; but others were actuated with very different
feelings.

In the case of the so-called Domitian persecution, the ill-will of the
autocratic Emperor naturally intensified it. Various motives seem to
have influenced the sovereign Lord of the Empire here.

Domitian was a sombre and suspicious tyrant, and no doubt his cruel
action in the case of his relatives, the consul Flavius and the
princesses of his House, was prompted by jealousy of those who stood
nearest his throne, and the fact that they were found to belong to
the proscribed sect gave him a pretext of which he was glad to avail
himself. But his bloody vengeance was by no means only wreaked upon
his own relatives. We learn from the pagan writer Dion Cassius (in the
epitome of his work by the monk Xiphilin) and also from Suetonius,
that he put to death various persons of high position, notably Acilius
Glabrio who had been consul in A.D. 91. This Acilius Glabrio
was also a Christian. The researches and discoveries of De Rossi and
Marruchi in the older portion of the vast Catacomb of S. Priscilla have
conclusively proved this.

There was another reason, however, for Domitian’s special hatred of
the Christian sect. The Emperor was a vigilant censor, and an austere
guardian of the ancient Roman traditions. In this respect he has
with some justice been cited as pursuing the same policy as did his
great predecessor Augustus, and, like him, he looked on the imperial
cultus[16] as part of the State religion. Domitian felt that these
ancient traditions which formed a part of Roman life were compromised
by the teaching and practices of the Christian sect. No doubt this
was one of the principal reasons which influenced him in his active
persecution of the followers of Jesus.

But although he struck at some of the noblest and most highly placed
in the Empire, especially, as it seems, those suspected of being
members of the hated sect, he appears to have vented his fury also
upon many who belonged to the lower classes of the citizens. Juvenal
in a striking passage evidently alludes to his pursuit of these
comparatively unknown and obscure ones, and traces the unpopularity
which eventually led to his assassination to this persecution of the
poor nameless citizen.[17]

Domitian was assassinated A.D. 96, and was succeeded by the
good and gentle Emperor Nerva. The active and bitter persecution which
Domitian carried on in the latter years of his reign, as far as we
know, ceased, and once more the Christian sect was left in comparative
quiet, that is to say, they were still in the position of outlaws,
the sword of persecution ever hanging over their heads. The law which
forbade their very existence was there, if any one was disposed to
call it into action. The passion of the populace, the bigotry of a
magistrate, or the malice of some responsible personage, might at any
moment awake the slumbering law into activity. These various malicious
influences, ever ready, were constantly setting the law in motion. This
we certainly gather from Pliny’s reference to the “Cognitiones” or
inquiries into accusations set on foot against Christians in his famous
letter to the Emperor Trajan.

PART III

CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN PLINY AND TRAJAN

PLINY’S LETTER TO TRAJAN AND THE EMPEROR’S “RESCRIPT”--GENUINENESS
OF CORRESPONDENCE

INTRODUCTORY

A flood of light is poured upon the early history of Christianity in
the correspondence which passed between the Emperor Trajan and his
friend and minister Pliny the Younger, who had been appointed to the
governorship[18] of Bithynia and Pontus, the district lying in the north
of Asia Minor.

The letter of Pliny, containing his report of the trial and inquiry
into the matter of the accused Christians of his province, and asking
for direction, was written to the Emperor Trajan in the autumn of
A.D. 111; and the reply of Trajan, which contained the famous
_rescript_ concerning the Christian sect--an ordinance which regulated
the action of the government of Rome towards the disciples of Jesus for
many long years--was dispatched a few months later.

The correspondence was quoted and commented upon at some length by
the Latin Father Tertullian before the close of the second century.
Eusebius again refers to it, translating the quotations of Tertullian
from a Greek version of the celebrated Christian Father.[19]

For various reasons, some critics have thrown doubt upon the
genuineness of these two famous letters. The main cause of the
hesitation in receiving them is the strong evidence contained in the
correspondence bearing upon the existence and influence and great
numbers of the Christian sect at the beginning of the second century.
That a _pagan_ author should supply us with the information--and
especially a pagan author of the rank and position which the younger
Pliny held--the adversaries of the Faith misliked.

These very doubts, however, as in other cases of doubt respecting the
authenticity of some of our Christian and pagan writings bearing on the
facts of very early Christianity, have established the genuineness of
the pieces in question, the doubts requiring an answer, and the answer
involving a careful and thoughtful investigation. It is singular, in
their scarcely veiled hostility to the religion of Jesus, how some
scholars attempt to discredit all the references to the Christians in
early heathen writers.

In this case the investigation has completely proved the genuineness of
the correspondence in question. Bishop Lightfoot, in the course of his
thorough and scholarly examination, does not hesitate to write that the
genuineness of the important Letters “can now only be questioned by a
scepticism bordering on insanity.”

Amongst other critics who completely brush away all doubts here, he
quotes Aldus Manutius, Mommsen, and the French writer (no friend
to Christianity) Renan. The same view is also unhesitatingly taken
by Allard and Boissier in France, and Ramsay in England. In any
controversy which may arise here obviously the attestation of
Tertullian in the last years of the century in which the Letters were
written is of the highest value.[20]

THE CHARACTER OF TRAJAN

When Domitian was assassinated, and Nerva was proclaimed Emperor, a new
spirit was introduced into the occupants of the imperial dignity. Nerva
represented the old conservative and aristocratic spirit of the Roman
Senate. He only reigned a short two years, but his great act was the
association in the supreme power of one who in all respects would and
could carry out the ancient traditions of Roman government, of which
Nerva was a true representative.

Nerva died early in 98, and his associate Trajan at once became
sole Emperor. In many respects this Trajan was the greatest of the
despotic masters who in succession ruled the Roman world. At once a
renowned soldier and a far-seeing statesman, his complex personality is
admirably and tersely summed up by Allard (_Histoire des Persécutions_,
i. 145), who writes of him: “On eût cru voir le sénat romain lui-même
prenant une âme guerrière et montant sur le trône.”

* * * * *

As a rule, writers of sacred history treat the memory of Trajan with
great gentleness. The Christian writers in the second half of the
second century shrink from seeing in him a persecutor of the Church.
They were, of course, biassed in their judgment, being loth to think
of a great Emperor like Trajan as a persecutor of their religion. As
we have already remarked, the written Acts of Martyrs were very few
during the first and second centuries; and the name and memory of the
earliest brave confessors of the Name, save in a few very notable
instances, quietly and quickly faded away; so the recollections of
the second-century Fathers in the matter of the State policy in the
past, with regard to Christianity, were somewhat vague and uncertain.
Later, in the early and middle years of the fourth century, Eusebius,
though in his time the fact of continuous persecution in the past had
become generally known, tries to exculpate the memory of Trajan as a
persecutor, but with very doubtful success.

This favourable and somewhat generous view of Trajan held its own
through the early Middle Ages. A striking and beautiful story
illustrative of these estimates is told of Pope Gregory the Great
(A.D. 590-604) by both his biographers, Paul the Deacon (close
of eighth century) and John the Deacon (close of ninth century). The
Bishop of Rome once, walking through the Forum of Trajan, was attracted
by a sculptured bas-relief representing the great Emperor showing pity
to a poor aged widow whose only son had perished through the violence
of the Emperor’s soldiers.

Struck by this proof of the just and loving nature of Trajan, the Pope,
kneeling at the tomb of S. Peter, prayed earnestly that mercy might be
showed to the great pagan emperor. The prayer, so runs the story, was
granted; and it was revealed to Gregory that the soul of Trajan was
released from torment in answer to his intercession. The beauty and
noble charity which colour the legend are, however, spoiled and marred
by the words of the traditional revelation which follow. The generous
Pope, while hearing that his prayers were granted, was warned never
again to presume to pray for those who had died without holy baptism.

Not a few modern scholars, however, read the famous interposition of
Trajan at the time of Pliny’s request for guidance as manifesting
a hostile spirit towards Christianity; so, to quote a few of
the better-known writers, interpret Gieseler, Overbach, Aubé,
Friedlander, Uhlhorn, etc., while Renan (_Les Évangiles_) perhaps more
accurately writes: “Trajan fut le premier persécuteur systématique de
Christianisme”; and again, “à partir de Trajan le Christianisme est un
crime.”

The truth, however, really lies between these two divergent opinions.
The “rescript” of Trajan promulgated no _new_ law on the subject of
the treatment of the Christian believers. It evidently presupposed
the existence of a law, and that a very stern and very harsh mode
of procedure. From it Trajan neither subtracted anything _nor_
added anything; still, as has been very justly said, the humane and
upright character of the Emperor and his minister Pliny--Pliny, by his
evident, though carefully veiled, advice and suggestions based upon his
protracted inquiries into the tenets and customs of the sect; Trajan,
by his formal imperial “rescript”--secured some considerable mitigation
in its enforcement.

* * * * *

The story of the correspondence between Pliny the Younger and the
Emperor Trajan, which was fraught with such momentous consequences to
the Christians of Rome and the Empire generally, is as follows:

When Pliny, about the middle of the year 111, came to the scene of his
government,--the provinces of Bithynia and Pontus,--apparently somewhat
to his surprise he found a very considerable portion of the population
members of the Christian community. The religion professed by these
people, Pliny was well aware, was unlawful in the eyes of the State,
and the sect generally was unpopular; and evil rumours were current
respecting its traditional practices.

The new governor knew of the existence of the sect in Rome, but little
more. He was clearly aware that these Christians had been the object of
many State persecutions and judicial inquiries, “cognitiones” he terms
them, and no doubt knew something, too, of the public severity with
which these adherents of an unlawful religion had been treated by the
State when convicted of the crime of Christianity.

The horrors of the amphitheatre in the case of these condemned ones
could not have been unknown to one like Pliny. But the great world in
which Pliny lived and moved and worked, cared little for human life or
human suffering in the case of a despised and outlawed community.

The Roman teacher and patrician of the days of Trajan held human life
very cheaply. The amphitheatre games, to take one phase only of Roman
life in the days of the Empire, were an evil education for Rome. The
execution, the sufferings of a few score Christian outlaws, however
frequently repeated, would attract very little attention in Pliny’s
world.

But now in his new government he was brought face to face with
grave difficulties occasioned by the practices and teaching of this
Christianity. And when he discovered in addition how numerous a body
these followers of the forbidden religion were, Pliny set himself in
good earnest to investigate the Christian question.

More than fifty years had passed since S. Peter first preached the
gospel and laid the foundation stories of the Christian Church in these
northern provinces of Asia Minor. The religion of Jesus had rapidly
taken root in these districts. This we gather from the First Epistle of
Peter, which he wrote to the followers of Jesus in the north of Asia
Minor from Rome in the closing years of his ministry; and now Pliny
found in his province no novel faith growing up, but a faith which had
taken deep root in the hearts of the population, not only in the towns,
but also in the more remote villages (_neque enim civitates tantum sed
vicos etiam atque agros superstitionis istius contagio pervagata est_),
with the result that the old pagan cult was being gradually abandoned.
The temples were being fast deserted (_prope jam desolata templa_), the
sacred rites were being given up, and what evidently excited bitter
complaints on the part of the traders who suffered, there was no
longer any market for the fodder of the beasts sacrificed (_pastum ...
victimarum quarum adhuc rarissimus emptor inveniebatur_).

From the report of Pliny to the Emperor, it is evident that there had
been several judicial inquiries (_cognitiones_), conducted by him as
the responsible governor of Bithynia and Pontus, into the charges
brought against the adherents of the unlawful faith.

In the first “cognitio” the more prominent Christians were brought
before him. These all at once avowed their religion. Three times they
were interrogated by Pliny. As they persisted in the avowal that they
were Christians, the provincials were at once condemned to death. Those
who claimed Roman citizenship were sent to Rome for their sentences to
be confirmed.

The publicity of these first inquiries stimulated further accusations;
various degrees of guilt were alleged, and subsequently an anonymous
paper was put before the governor implicating a whole crowd of persons.

Of these, some denied that they were, or ever had been, Christians.
These, on offering incense before the image of the Emperor and cursing
Christ, were at once liberated.

Others confessed, but professed repentance. These he reserved for the
decision of the Emperor. It is not explicitly said that of this second
and larger group of “accused,” some persisted in their adherence to the
“Name.” There is no doubt that such were treated as in the first group,
some being put to death; others, as Roman citizens, reserved for the
imperial decision.

It was then that Pliny, especially disturbed at the numbers of accused
Christians, determined upon a more searching investigation into the
manners and customs of these numerous adherents of the unlawful
religion. He would learn for himself more of the “detestable” rites and
other crimes with which these persons were charged.

Two Christian deaconesses are mentioned as being examined under
torture; others were closely questioned, and the result of the
inquiries to Pliny was startling.

He satisfied himself that the monstrous charges were absolutely
unproven. All their rites were simple, perfectly harmless, and
unostentatious. Pliny in the course of his inquiry found that they
were in the habit of meeting together, on a day appointed, before
sunrise; that they would then sing together a hymn to Christ as God;
that they would bind themselves by a solemn vow--_sacramentum_ (Pliny
was evidently not aware that the _sacramentum_ in question was the Holy
Eucharist; indeed the whole narrative is evidently told by one who
very imperfectly grasped the Christian idea, although it is strangely
accurate in many of the details). The purport of the vow was that they
would commit neither theft nor adultery; that they would never break
their word; never betray a trust committed to them.

The just magistrate was evidently deeply impressed with the result
of his careful and searching examinations. This strange sect, he
was convinced, was absolutely innocent of all those dark offences
with which they were commonly charged--like another and more sadly
notorious Roman judge sitting in another and more awful judgment-scene,
who after hearing the case, _from that time sought to release the
pale prisoner before him_. So at once after hearing the Christian
story, Pliny too, convinced of the perfect innocence of the accused,
altered his opinion concerning Christians; but for State reasons would
not release them, and while acquitting them of all wrong-doing, in
the ordinary sense of the word, chose to see an evil and exaggerated
superstition colouring all their works and days.[21] Innocent though
they were of anything approaching crime in the ordinary sense of the
term, the Roman magistrate deemed the inflexible obstinacy of the
Christian deserved the severest punishment that could be inflicted,
even death; for when the individual Christian in question was examined,
he proved to be immovable on questions of vital importance. He refused
to swear by the genius of the Emperor. He would not scatter the
customary grains of incense on the altar of Rome and Augustus, or of
any of the pagan gods. His religious offence was inextricably bound up
with the political offence. He stood, as it had been well expressed,
self-convicted of “impiety,” of “atheism,” of “high treason.”

Still, after all these points had been taken into consideration, there
is no doubt that Pliny was deeply moved by what he learned from his
close examination of the Christian cause; and this new, this gentle,
this more favourable estimate of his concerning the “outlawed” sect of
Christians, was scarcely veiled in his official report of the case when
he asked for the Emperor Trajan’s advice and direction.

He was, we learn, especially induced to write to the Emperor when he
became aware of _the vast numbers_ of Christians who had been, or were
about to be, brought before his tribunal. The numbers of the accused
evidently appalled him. How would the Emperor wish him to deal with
such a multitude?

Very brief but very clear was the answer of Trajan to his friend and
confidant the governor of Bithynia and Pontus. This answer contained
the famous imperial “rescript”--which in the matter of the Christians
was “to run” not only in Rome itself, but in all the provinces of the
wide Empire, and which, as is well known, guided the State persecution
of Christians for many a long year.

The “rescript” bore unmistakably the impress of Pliny’s mind on the
subject; and severe though it was, it inaugurated a gentler and more
favourable interpretation of the stern law in the case of convicted
Christians than had prevailed from the days of Nero onward.

The following are the principal points of the “rescript.” In the first
place--and this point must be pressed--_no fresh law_ authorizing any
special persecution of the Christians was needed or even suggested by
Pliny. They had evidently for a long period, apparently from the days
of Nero, been classed as outlaws (_hostes publici_) and enemies to the
fundamental principles of law and order, and the mere acknowledgment on
the part of the accused of the name Christian was sufficient in itself
to warrant an immediate condemnation to death.

Trajan’s reply, which constituted the famous rescript, was studiedly
brief, eminently courteous, but imperious and decisive. The friendly
bias of Pliny’s report and unmistakably favourable opinion of the
Christian sect, lives along every line.

He begins with a few graceful words approving Pliny’s action in the
matter. (“Actum quem debuisti mi Secunde ... secutus es.”)

Then follow the stern, unalterable words which attach the penalty of
death to any person who persisted in claiming the name of Christian.

But extenuating circumstances, such as youth, may be taken into
account, if the magistrate please to do so.

Any approach to repentance, accompanied with compliance with the law of
the Empire, in the matter of offering incense on the pagan altars, is
to be accepted, and the offender at once is to be pardoned.

The magistrate is by no means to search for Christians; but if a formal
accusation be made by an open accuser, then inquiry must follow; and
if the accused recognizes the justice of the charge, and declines to
recant, then _death must_ follow.

The accusation of an anonymous person, however, must _never_ be
received; the Emperor adding his strongest condemnation of all
anonymous denunciations. “This kind of thing does not,” writes Trajan,
“belong to our age and time.”

Tertullian (closing years of second century) quotes and sharply
criticizes Trajan’s “rescript.” He writes somewhat as follows:
“What a contradictory pronouncement it is. The Emperor forbids the
Christians should be searched for--he therefore looks on them surely
as innocent persons; and then he directs that if any are brought
before the tribunal, they must be punished with death as though they
were guilty ones! In the same breath he spares them and rages against
them. He stultifies himself; for if Christians are to be condemned as
Christians, why are they not to be searched for? If, on the other hand,
they are to be considered as innocent persons and in consequence not to
be searched for, why not acquit them at once when they appear before
the tribunal?... You condemn an accused Christian, yet you forbid him
to be inquired after. So punishment is inflicted, not because he is
guilty, but because he has been discovered,--though anything which
might bring him to light is forbidden.” (Apology 2.)

The brilliant and eloquent Latin Father, with the acuteness of a
trained and skilful lawyer, lays bare the illogical character of the
imperial rescript. The truth was that after carefully weighing the
facts laid before him by Pliny, the Emperor clearly recognized that
such an organization--so far-reaching, so numerous and powerful,
was contrary to the established principles of Roman government. The
Christian sect must be discouraged, and if possible suppressed;
but Trajan saw at the same time that the spirit of the Christians,
their teaching and practice, were absolutely innocent, even morally
excellent; so he shrank from logically carrying out the severe measures
devised by the Roman government in such cases. In other words, his
really noble and generous nature prevented him sanctioning the
wholesale destruction which a strictly logical interpretation of the
Roman law would have brought upon a very numerous body of his subjects.

But in spite of the evident goodwill of the great Emperor and his
eminent lieutenant, the sword of persecution was left hanging over the
heads of the Christian sect suspended by a very slender cord. How often
the slender cord snapped is told in the tragic story of the Christians
in the pagan empire during the two hundred years which followed the
correspondence between Pliny and Trajan.

* * * * *

The information supplied by these Letters respecting Christianity at
the beginning of the second century, emanating as they do from so
trusted a statesman, so distinguished a writer, as the younger Pliny,
supplemented by a State communication containing an imperial rescript
of far-reaching importance from the hands of one of the greatest of
the Roman Emperors, is so weighty that it seems to call for a slightly
more detailed notice than the particulars which appear in the foregoing
pages of this work.

There is no doubt but that “Letters” such as those written by Pliny
during the eventful period extending from the days of the Dictatorship
of Julius Cæsar to the reign of Honorius--a period roughly of some four
hundred and fifty years--occupied in the literature of Rome a singular
and important position.

They were in many cases most carefully prepared and designed for a far
larger “public” than is commonly supposed. Long after the death of
the writer these Letters, gathered together and “published” as far as
literary works could be published in those ages when no printing-press
existed--were read and re-read, admired and criticized, by very many in
the capital and in the provinces.

The first great Letter-writer undoubtedly was Cicero, who flourished as
a statesman, an orator, and a most distinguished writer from the days
of the first consulship of Pompey and Crassus, in 70 B.C.,
down to the December of 43 B.C., when he was murdered during
the proscription of the Triumvirate.

Of the multifarious works of the great orator, possibly the most
generally interesting is the collection of his Letters, a large portion
of which have come down to us.

The art of “Letter-writing” suddenly arose in Cicero’s hands in Rome
to its full perfection. It has been well and truly said that all the
great letter-writers of subsequent ages have more or less consciously
or unconsciously followed the model of Cicero.

But it was in the Roman Empire that the fashion was most generally
adopted; of course, in common with so much of classical literature, the
majority of this interesting and suggestive literature has perished,
but some of it--perhaps the best portion of it--has survived. The great
name of Seneca is specially connected with this form of literature.
L. Annæus Seneca wrote the _Epistolæ Morales_, probably “publishing”
the first three books himself _circa_ A.D. 57. Among these
precious reliquiæ the “Letters of Pliny,” including his famous Letter
to Trajan and the response, are very highly prized by the historian and
annalist.

The younger Pliny was the nephew and adopted son of the elder Pliny.
He was a successful lawyer, and was highly trained in all branches of
literature. During his brilliant career he filled most of the public
offices of State in turn, and in the end became consul. Of the Emperor
Trajan he was the trusted and intimate friend. Trajan appointed him, as
we have seen, imperial legate of Bithynia and Pontus, and when holding
this important post the famous correspondence between the Emperor and
his friend took place. Pliny died some time before his imperial master,
not many years after the famous letter respecting the Christians in his
province was written.

His was a charming character,--kindly, beneficent, charitable,--deeply
impressed with the grave responsibilities of his position and fortune.
Carefully educated and trained under the auspices of the elder
Pliny,--a profound scholar and one of the most weighty writers of
the early Empire,--the younger Pliny, as he is generally called, won
distinction at a comparatively early age as a forensic orator. He
became Prætor at the age of thirty-one. During the reign of Domitian,
however, he took no share in public life. Under Nerva he again was
employed in the State service. Trajan loved and trusted him, and we
read of Pliny being consul in A.D. 100. He subsequently obtained the
government of the great provinces of Bithynia and Pontus, and during
his tenure of office there must be dated the correspondence between
Trajan and Pliny which has come down to us as the tenth Book of the
“Letters of Pliny.”

This Pliny has been described as the kindliest of Roman gentlemen, but
he was far more than that. He was a noble example of the trained and
cultured patrician, an ardent and industrious worker, an honest and
honourable statesman of no mean ability,--very learned, ambitious only
of political distinction when he felt that high rank and authority
gave him ampler scope to serve his country and his fellows. He was, we
learn from his own writings, by no means a solitary specimen of the
chivalrous and noble men who did so much to build up the great Empire,
and to render possible that far-reaching “Pax Romana” which for so many
years gave prosperity and a fair amount of happiness to the world known
under the immemorial name of Rome.

What we know of Pliny and his friends goes far to modify the painful
impressions of Roman society of the first two centuries which we
gather from the pages of Juvenal and other writers, who have painted
their pictures of Roman life in the first and second centuries of the
Christian era in such lurid and gloomy colours.

* * * * *

It is in the “Letters of Pliny” that the real story of his life and
work has come down to us. These letters are no ordinary or chance
collection. They are a finished work of great deliberation and thought.

About a century and a half earlier, the large collection of Cicero’s
correspondence was given to an admiring and regretful world. A renowned
statesman, a matchless orator, and even greater, the creator of the
Latin language, which became a universal language--the Letters of
Cicero set, as it were, a new fashion in literature. They were really
the first in this special form of writing which at once became popular.

The younger Pliny was a pupil of Quintilian, who was for a long
period--certainly for twenty years--the most celebrated teacher in the
capital. Quintilian is known as the earliest of the Ciceronians. The
cult of Ciceronianism established by Quintilian, Pliny’s tutor, was
the real origin of the wonderful Pliny Letters.

Pliny was one of the ablest scholars of his age. He, like many of
his countrymen, was ambitious of posthumous fame--he would not be
forgotten. He was proud of his position--of his forensic oratory--of
his statesmanship--of his various literary efforts; but he was too
far-seeing to dream of any of his efforts in forensic oratory, or in
the service of the State, or even in his various literary adventures
which amused his leisure hours, winning him that posthumous fame which
in common with so many other earnest pagan Romans he longed for.[22]

Pliny was an ardent admirer of Cicero; but Cicero the statesman and the
orator, he felt, moved on too high a plane for him to aim at emulating;
but as a writer of Latin, as a chronicler of his own day and time, as a
word-painter of the society in which he moved, he might possibly reach
as high a pitch of excellence as Cicero had reached in his day.

To accomplish this end became the great object of Pliny’s life. To
this we owe the inimitable series of Letters by which the friend and
minister of Trajan has lived, and will live on.

In some respects the Letters of Pliny are even more valuable than the
voluminous and many-coloured correspondence of Cicero. Cicero lived in
a momentous age. He was one of the chief actors in a great revolution
which materially altered the course of the world’s history. Pliny lived
in a comparatively “still” period, when one of the greatest of the
Roman sovereigns was at the helm of public affairs; so in his picture
we find none of the stress and storm which live along the pages of
Cicero’s correspondence.

It is an everyday life which Pliny depicts with such skill and vivid
imagery, the life, after all, which “finds” the majority of men and
women.

But it was the bright side of ancient society which Pliny loved to
describe. Without his Letters we should have had no notion of the
warm and tender friendships--of the simple pleasures--of the loving
charities--of the lofty ideals of so many of the _élite_ of Roman
society in the second century.

It has been well said that Pliny felt that he lacked the power to write
a great history, such as that which Tacitus, with whom he was closely
associated, or even his younger friend Suetonius in an inferior degree,
have given us. So he chose, fortunately for us, to strike out another
line altogether, a perfectly new line, and in his ten Books[23] of
Letters he gives us simply a domestic picture of everyday life in his
time.

* * * * *

They were no ordinary Letters; we can without any great effort of
imagination picture to ourselves the famous Letter-writer touching and
retouching his correspondence. Some modern critics in judging his style
do not hesitate to place his Latinity on a level with that of Cicero.
Renan, no mean judge of style, in words we have already quoted, speaks
of “la langue précieuse et raffinée de Pline.”

The subjects he loved to dwell on were sometimes literature, at others,
the beauties of nature, the quiet charms of country life--“me nihil
æque ac naturæ opera delectant,” he wrote once. He eloquently describes
the Clitumnus fountain, and the villa overlooking the Tiber valley;
very elaborate and graceful are his descriptions of scenery; yet more
attractive to us are his pictures of the “busy idleness” of the rich
and noble of his day.

Curious and interesting are the allusions to and descriptions of the
reading of new works, poems, histories, correspondence, etc., before
large gatherings of friends. Some of these “readings,” which evidently
formed an important feature in the society of the Empire, must often
have been sadly wearisome. Our writer, for instance, describes Sentius
Augurinus reciting his own poems during three whole days. Pliny
expresses his delight at this lengthy recitation, but he confesses that
these constant and lengthy recitations were deemed by some tiresome.
His own Letters were read aloud to an appreciative audience, who would
suggest corrections and changes.

Pliny was quite conscious when he wrote these famous Letters, that he
was writing for no mere friend or relative, but for a wide public. He
evidently hoped that they would live long after he had passed away; it
is doubtful, though, if he had ever dreamed that they would be read
with interest and delight for uncounted centuries. For instance, he
naively expresses his delight that his writings were sold and read in
Lyons, on the banks of the distant Rhone.

He has been accused by some, not otherwise unkindly critics, of
writing for effect--of putting upon paper finer feeling than was
absolutely natural to him; some of his descriptions of nature, for
instance, savoured of affectation. There may be some truth in this
criticism. But it only proves, what we have taken some pains to assert,
that this intensely interesting correspondence was most carefully
prepared--revised and redacted possibly several times--that he wrote to
impress the public. Indeed, throughout the whole collection there are
numerous marks of the most careful arrangement.

At the same time there are many natural touches in which his very
faults are curiously manifest; so in reading these letters, in spite of
occasional bursts of a possible artificial enthusiasm, we are sensible
that his inner life, his real self, live along his charming pages; for
instance, his curious conceit in his own literary power comes out in
such passages as that in which he compares himself not unfavourably
with his dear friend, that greatest master of history, Tacitus. There
were other writers of great power and of brilliant genius, but “You,”
so he writes to Tacitus, “so strong was the affinity of our natures,
seemed to me at once the easiest to imitate, and the most worthy of
imitation. Now we are named together; both of us have, I may say, some
name in literature; for as I include myself, I must be moderate in my
praise of you.”

In the midst of these striking pictures of the day and of the
society of the quiet and comparatively happy times of the Emperor
Trajan--in the last and perhaps the least interesting Book of his
correspondence--the one generally known as the tenth Book, which
contains his semi-official Letters to the Emperor, and some of Trajan’s
replies,--stands out the great Christian episode in his government of
Bithynia and Pontus, by far the most valuable notice that we possess
of the numbers and of the influence of the Christian sect in the first
years of the second century, only a few years after the death of S.
John.

The reference in Tacitus to the cruel persecution of Nero, and the yet
briefer notices in Suetonius, are, of course, of the highest value;
but the detailed story of Pliny, where he tells the Emperor actually
what was taking place in the province of which he was governor, and
gives us his own impressions of the works and days of the Christians,
is and ever will be to the ecclesiastical historian the most precious
testimony of a great pagan to the position which the Christians held in
the Roman Empire some eighty years after the Resurrection morning.

We have already, it will be remembered, dwelt at some length on what
was evidently in Pliny’s mind on the subject--on the impressions,
after a careful and lengthy investigation, which this unpopular sect
made upon him. He tells his imperial friend and master exactly what he
thought; and it is clear that the great Emperor was strangely moved
by Pliny’s words, and framed his famous rescript upon the report in
question on the gentler lines we have dwelt upon above.

The value of such a picture of very early Christian life, painted by
an eminent pagan statesman and scholar in the midst of such a work,
so carefully arranged, so thought out, prepared, as we have seen,
for posterity, as the Letters of Pliny were, can never be too highly
valued.

VOGUE OF EPISTOLARY FORM OF LITERATURE

How Pliny was admired and copied in the Roman world of literature we
learn from the subsequent story of Roman literature preserved to us.

With the exception of the writings of Suetonius, Pliny’s friend, for
a lengthened period after the reign of Trajan, an age splendidly
illustrated by the writings of Tacitus and Pliny, little literature has
come down to us; very silent, indeed, after Trajan’s age seems to have
been the highly cultured and literary society of Rome of which Pliny
writes in such vivid and appreciative terms.

Thoughtful men seem to consider that in the Roman Empire, under
Hadrian, under the noble Antonine princes and their successors, “the
soil, the race, the language were alike exhausted.” Be that as it may,
there is no doubt that from the time of Trajan until the latter days
of the wondrous story of Rome, late in the fourth century, apart from
a group of purely Christian writers, Latin literature was practically
extinct; certainly it produced nothing worthy to be transmitted to
later ages.

Perhaps a solitary but not a very notable exception might be made in
the few fragments that have come down to us of Fronto, the tutor and
dear friend of Marcus Aurelius. These fragments are chiefly pieces of
his correspondence with his pupils Marcus and his shortlived colleague
in the Empire, Lucius Verus. It is not, however, probable that these
letters were ever intended for publication or for general reading. It
has been said with some truth that the Emperor Marcus and his scholar
friend and tutor wrote to each other with the effusiveness of two
schoolgirls.[24] In one particular these correspondents evidently
agreed--they both disliked, and tried to despise, the fast growing
Christian community.

Towards the close of the fourth century, however, when the great
Emperor Theodosius was fast fading away, worn out with cares and
anxieties for the future of an empire which even his splendid abilities
were powerless to preserve even for a little season, in a period which
has been graphically compared to the “wan lingering light of a late
autumnal sunset,” arose a few, a very few distinguished writers, whose
works posterity has judged worthy of preservation.[25]

With two of the best known of these, the pagan poet Claudian, whose
splendid claims for posthumous fame are undoubted, and somewhat later
the half-pagan, half-Christian poet Ausonius, we are not concerned in
this study; they were purely poets. Two other authors, however, in
this late evening of Roman story especially interest us, as they carry
on the tradition on which we have been dwelling,--the love for and
interest in “letters,” in carefully studied “correspondence,” which the
Letters of Cicero and Pliny made the fashion in the literary society of
imperial Rome.

Symmachus, in the last years of the fourth century, and Sidonius
Apollinaris, some half-century later in the fifth century, were close
imitators of Pliny. Their Letters have come down to us; and the
popularity which they enjoyed in their own time, a popularity which has
endured more or less in all succeeding ages, tells us what a powerful
and enduring influence the correspondence of Pliny must have exercised
over the old world of Rome.

Both these writers belonged to the highest class in the society of
the dying Empire. Q. Aurelius Symmachus had held some of the highest
offices open to the patrician order, he had been governor of several
important provinces, prefect of the city, and consul; in his later
years he was regarded and generally treated as the chief of the Senate,
for whose privileges he was intensely jealous at a time when the
despotic rule of the Emperor had reduced the once proud assembly to a
group of shadowy names whose principal title to honour and respect was
the splendid tradition of a great past.

This Symmachus, statesman and ardent politician, was a writer of no
mean power. Like Pliny, whom in common with all the literary society
of Rome he admired and longed to imitate, he determined to go down to
posterity as a writer of Letters.

These Letters of his were read and re-read in his day and time; his
contemporaries classed him as on a level with Cicero, and loved to
compare him with the younger Pliny, whom Symmachus adopted as his
model. Many copies were made of his correspondence; his letters were
treasured up in precious caskets, and after he had passed away, his
son, Memmius Symmachus, collected them all together, dividing them,
as Pliny’s had been divided, into ten Books. Nine of them, like the
compositions of the great writer whom he strove to imitate, are mainly
concerned with private and domestic matters; the tenth, as in the case
of Pliny, being made up of official communications which had passed
between his father and the reigning Emperor.

It is somewhat dull reading this “Symmachus” correspondence, but it
gives us a picture of the nobler and purer portion of Roman society in
the closing years of the fourth century. He was too good a scholar, too
able a man, not to see his inferiority to Pliny; and evidently he had
his doubts respecting the claim of his correspondence to immortality,
and he apologizes for their barrenness of interesting incident; but
his contemporaries and his devoted son thought otherwise, and to their
loyal admiration we owe the preservation of his carefully prepared and
corrected, though somewhat tedious, imitation of the charming Letters
of Pliny.

Sidonius Apollinaris, who flourished a little more than half a century
later, belonged also to the great Roman world; he was born at Lyons
about A.D. 430, and partly owing to the elevation of his
father-in-law Avitus to the imperial throne, was rapidly preferred
to several of the great offices of the Empire--amongst these to the
prefecture of Rome. His undoubted ability, his high character, and
great position and fortune led to his election by popular voice to the
bishopric of Clermont (though not in Holy orders), the episcopal city
of his native Auvergne in Gaul. In his new and to him strange position
there is no doubt that he fulfilled the expectation of the people who
chose him as bishop; and when, some fifteen or twenty years after his
election, in the great Auvergne diocese, he passed away, he was deeply,
even passionately, mourned by his flock. He had been their devoted
pastor, their helper and defender in the troublous and anxious period
of the Visigothic occupation of Southern Gaul.

Sidonius Apollinaris was a poet of some power, and a graceful and
fluent writer of panegyrics of great personages which in that age were
much in vogue. He was also deeply read in the literature to which so
many of the leaders of Roman society in the late evening of the Empire
were ardently devoted.

But it is from his “_Correspondence_” that this eminent representative
of the patrician order in the last days of the Empire will ever be
remembered. We possess some hundred and forty-seven of his letters.
They were collected and revised by him after he became Bishop of
Clermont. Their publication is usually dated between the years 477
and 488. The letters were divided according to ancient models, Pliny
being the principal model, into nine Books. (There was no tenth Book of
official correspondence in his case.)

In their present form, revised and redacted by the writer himself,
very many of the letters read as though intended for a public far
wider than the individuals to whom the communications were originally
addressed; and it is more than probable that from a comparatively
early period, Sidonius intended to follow a well-known practice, and
wrote many of his letters with a view to their being preserved as
pieces of literature. He even tells us he proposed to be an imitator
of Symmachus, his predecessor in this special form of writing by some
fifty or sixty years; and Symmachus, we know, was an ardent admirer and
imitator of Pliny.

The Letters, however, of Sidonius possess a far wider interest for
us than the correspondence of Symmachus. Symmachus is dull and
even prosy, partly from his exaggerated attention to Pliny’s rule
which he suggested to one of his correspondents on the subject of
letter-writing. The letter-writer, said Pliny, must aim at a style
at once compressed and accurate in its form of expression (_pressus
sermo purusque ex Epistolis petitur_). Sidonius, on the other hand,
is diffuse and often picturesque, and his language is enriched or
disfigured by an ample and often a barbarous vocabulary, drawn from
the popular dialect into which the Latin of Cicero and Pliny was fast
declining when the Bishop of Clermont wrote. His correspondents were
many and various, including, it appears, some seventeen contemporary
bishops.

On the whole, the Letters of Sidonius give a vivid and even a brilliant
picture of the highly cultivated life of the noble and upper classes of
the fast fading Empire of the fifth century.

* * * * *

Briefly to sum up what we have said in this second study of Pliny’s
Letters. We have dwelt on the great importance of Pliny’s picture of
Christianity in the first years of the second century; for it was

1st. A picture painted by a great Roman (pagan) statesman; and

2nd. Though it appears in a letter, the letter was one of a
collection of Letters intended for future generations. Pliny
here copied Cicero, who really may be said to have “invented”
this novel and peculiar form of literature, _i.e._ letters
written not merely for private friends and officials, but for
the public, and intended to be handed down, if they were found
worthy, to after ages.

The “silence” of all Latin literature after the age of Pliny for some
two hundred and seventy years, of course prevents citing any examples
of such letters, written for public use and for posterity, during this
“silent” period.

But _after_ this “silence,” a brief renaissance of Latin literature
took place.

In this renaissance the works of only two prose writers of great
reputation have been preserved for us. Both these were most
distinguished men in the political world and in the world of
literature.

And these two chose to copy Pliny’s plan of letter-writing, _i.e._,
letters composed for public use and intended for posterity.

The two were Symmachus and Sidonius Apollinaris.

After this brief renaissance of Letters a veil of darkness fell over
the Roman world.

III

VOGUE OF EPISTOLARY FORM IN LITERATURE--THE NEW TESTAMENT EPISTLES

When we consider how in the first century of the Christian era it
was a frequent custom to clothe literature of all kinds in the
letter form, and how popular amongst all classes and orders was this
method--so to speak--of literary expression, when associated with it
were, among a crowd of comparatively undistinguished authors, such
personalities as Cicero, Seneca, and Pliny, whose letters as pieces
of literature obtained at once an enormous popularity which has never
really waned,[26] it becomes a grave and interesting question: Did
this fashion, this method, this singularly popular form of writing,
affect the great New Testament writers, and induce them to cast their
sublime inspired thoughts in this special form, which certainly, when
the apostles put out their writings, was a loved and admired literary
method?

The fact of so large a portion of the New Testament writings being cast
in “letter form” is striking; it is quite different from anything that
we find in the Old Testament Scriptures, where, save in one solitary
instance (Jer. xxix.), nothing in the letter form appears in that
wonderful compilation which embraces so many subjects, and which in the
composition spread over many centuries; but we are so accustomed to the
New Testament writings, that the fact of a very large portion of the
collection of its inspired writings being in “letter” form does not at
first appear strange or unusual.

We may preface the few suggestions which follow with the remark,
that whether or no the suggestion be entertained as a possible, even
as a probable thought, the fact of “inspiration”--the fact of the New
Testament writings referred to being “the word of God”--is not in
the slightest degree affected. For it is the substance of the divine
message, not the “colour” or “material” of the clothing of the message,
which is of such paramount importance.

The question of the “colour” and “material” of the message’s clothing,
the consideration in what it is clothed, is deeply interesting; but,
after all, is nothing more.

The “message” which we believe to be from God remains the same--be it
enclosed in a “pamphlet,” in a “treatise,” in a “study” (_étude_), or
in a “letter” form.

Nothing like an analysis of the New Testament Epistles, some of which
will be briefly referred to in the course of this study, will be
attempted. Such an analysis would not, of course, enter into the scheme
of the present work.

We would first indicate some at least of the New Testament Letters
which certainly seem to be more than letters in the ordinary sense of
the word--which, indeed, are “settings” to short theological treatises
containing statements of the highest doctrinal import.

These “Letters” were evidently intended for a far more extended circle
of readers than the congregations immediately addressed.

We have already in a previous section quoted the three Epistles of S.
Paul written during his first imprisonment,[27] A.D. 61-3
(viz. the Epistles to the Colossians, Philippians, and Ephesians), as
embodying some of the more weighty and important doctrinal teachings
of the great apostle put out during the period in which S. Paul
preached to the Christians of the capital, and thus and then earned his
well-known and acknowledged claim to be one of the two “founders” of
the Church of Rome--S. Peter being the other.

One of the reasons, no doubt, of the vast and long-enduring
popularity of the “letter” form of literature was the introduction
of quasi-confidential remarks, which gave a freshness, a breath of
everyday life to the composition; or, to use another image, the
“Letter” might even be termed a picturesque and attractive “setting” to
the graver, the more serious thoughts contained in the writing.

This is well exemplified in the famous collection of the correspondence
of Cicero, of whose Letters it has been happily written that the
majority are “brief confidential outpourings of the moment.” The same
purely human colouring is manifest in the Letters of Seneca, written
from the year 57 and onwards; this is even more especially noticeable
in the Letters of the younger Pliny.

There are, however, certain of the Pauline Epistles which partake more
closely of the nature of _private_ letters, and which scarcely seem
intended for public circulation--notably the Second Epistle to the
Corinthians and the little letter to Philemon.

Professor Deissmann, of Heidelberg, who has written at some length on
the subject, differs somewhat from the general view taken here of S.
Paul’s writings; but while expressing his doubts as to whether any of
the Pauline Epistles were really written by the apostle with a view to
publication, he unhesitatingly decides that amongst the New Testament
writings the Epistle to the Hebrews, the First Epistle of John, the
First Epistle of Peter, the Epistles of James and Jude, were most
certainly written in “letter” form for general circulation.

As early certainly as the third century, the Christian Church placed
the so-called Catholic Epistles as a group apart among the canonical
writings and termed them “Catholic” or universal, as addressed to no
one special congregation. This is absolutely true in the cases of the
Epistles of 1 Peter, James, Jude, and 1 John, above referred to.

The First Epistle of _Peter_ is addressed to a vast number of the
“Dispersion,” who, the apostle says, were sojourning in the provinces
of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, and Bithynia,--these provinces almost
covering the region now popularly known as Asia Minor.

_James_ wrote to the twelve tribes scattered abroad.

_John_ in his First Epistle gives no address at all, leaving his Letter
perfectly general--or universal.

_Jude_, too, names no particular congregation, but simply writes to
those that are “sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus
Christ and called.”

In the Epistle “to the Hebrews” the writer is unnamed, and there is no
mention of those to whom the anonymous “Letter” is addressed. It is,
however, clear from the tenor of the “Letter” that it was addressed to
Jewish Christians, and probably to Jewish Christians settled in Rome.

The “Pastoral” Epistles, so called (including 1 and 2 Timothy and
Titus), were evidently intended for general circulation.

We may therefore conclude that the greater number of the New Testament
Letters--certainly the four principal “Catholic” Epistles and the great
Epistle to the Hebrews, and the Epistles of S. Paul with the exceptions
above noted, influenced by the analogy of other collections of Letters
made in the same age, were written in “letter” form, but were intended
for a large group of readers. This particular “letter” form being
adopted owing to the great popularity, throughout the Roman Empire, of
this special description of literature.

Thus it is evident that the great Christian teachers to a certain
extent adopted the most loved popular literary forms of the age in
which they lived, especially choosing the letter form which such
distinguished writers as Cicero, Seneca, and a little later the younger
Pliny adopted.

While the “_Acts_ of the Apostles” more or less followed the literary
method of profane historical literature, with its picturesque
insertion of “speeches,” “letters,” and “official papers”; while the
“Revelation of S. John” more or less followed the method adopted in
Jewish apocalyptic literature of the famous Alexandrian school: alone
the _Gospels_ are absolutely an original form--a literary form which
originated _within_ Christianity itself--a literary form which stands
out alone. It imitated nothing, it followed no classical or Jewish
examples--no models, however beautiful, attractive, or popular; nor has
it ever been imitated in all the Christian ages, stretching over more
than eighteen centuries, simply because it is inimitable.

THE APOSTOLIC FATHERS

And when the Catholic Church judged, and as we see now wisely judged,
that the Voice of Inspiration was hushed, we find that the literary
remains of the primitive age of Christianity which have been preserved
to us are cast in the same “letter” form, those few literary remains
which have received the lofty title of “Apostolic.” The word comes to
us from Ignatius, and seems to bear the meaning that the writers of
these “remains” were historically connected with the apostles.

These writings properly so styled come from four persons--from (1)
_Clement_ (of Rome), of whom the tradition, constant and definite,
tells us he was the disciple of Peter and also of Paul.

(2) From _Ignatius_, whose early date and connexion with Antioch, a
chief centre of apostolic work, render, as Lightfoot well urges, his
personal intercourse with apostles at least probable. The earliest
tradition represents Ignatius as the second of the Antiochene bishops.
His martyrdom must be dated _circa_ A.D. 110. He was evidently
then an old man. He was certainly a younger contemporary of some of the
apostles.

(3) From _Polycarp_, whose close connexion in youth with S. John is
indisputable, since his own disciple, the well-known Irenæus, tells
us that Polycarp was a scholar of the beloved disciple; and that he
(Irenæus) had heard from his master, Polycarp, many anecdotes of the
apostles, which he had treasured up in his memory.

(4) From _Barnabas_, whose immediate connexion with the apostle is less
certain; but the early date of his Epistle, written apparently during
the days of the Flavian dynasty, would render the ancient traditions of
this connexion at least highly probable.

These writings, few and humble, which have come down to us, are all
we can with any certainty ascribe to “Apostolic” men; and they _are
all cast in “letter form,”_ viz., the one somewhat lengthy Epistle
of Clement, the seven authentic Epistles of Ignatius, the one brief
Epistle of Polycarp, the one (of considerable length) Epistle of
Barnabas. These Epistles are genuine “Letters,” and “represent the
natural outpouring of personal feeling arising out of personal
relations”; but they contain doctrinal statements of the deepest
importance, notably emphatic or positive statements bearing on the
Godhead of Jesus Christ.[28]

These Epistles[29] were obviously meant by the writers for a far more
extended circle of readers than the congregations of Corinth, Philippi,
Rome, etc., to whom the Letters were formally addressed.

PART IV

HADRIAN, A.D. 117-A.D. 138

Some four years after his correspondence with Pliny on the subject of
the Christians in Bithynia, the Emperor Trajan died somewhat suddenly
in the course of his Eastern campaign, at the Cilician, town of Selinus
(A.D. 117).

Trajan was succeeded by his kinsman Hadrian, who had married the
Emperor’s great-niece Julia Sabina. The circumstances of Hadrian’s
succession are somewhat confused. It was given out generally that he
had been adopted by Trajan as his successor. It is certain, however,
that his pretensions to the imperial power were favoured by Trajan’s
Empress, Plotina, and some even ascribe his succession largely to a
palace intrigue; it is clear that no real opposition to his peaceable
assumption of the imperial power was offered.

It is regrettable that we possess no notable contemporary history
of one of the most remarkable of the Roman Emperors. How intensely
interesting would have been a picture by Tacitus of so extraordinary
and unique a personality!

What we know of Hadrian and his reign of twenty-one years we gather
principally from the pages of Spartianus, one of the six writers of
the Augustan history who lived in the days of Diocletian, more than a
century and a half later, and from some brief notices of Dion Cassius,
of the Emperor Julian, and of three or four other writers who have
given us short sketches of his life, and also from a somewhat longer
account of the eleventh century monk Xiphilinus, and from notices on
medals and inscriptions.

The Emperor Hadrian was no ordinary man. Rarely gifted with various
and varied talents, he delighted to appear before the Roman world as
a soldier and a statesman, as an artist and a poet; and in each of
them, certainly in the first two characters, he occupied a fairly
distinguished position. To the world he has gone down as a great
traveller. He was not content with sitting at the helm of his Empire
in Rome, or in one of his magnificent villas in Italy; he would see
each of his many provinces and their chief cities with his own eyes,
and then judge what was best for them,--how he could best improve their
condition and develop their resources.

During his reign there were few, indeed, of the chief cities of the
Roman world which he had not visited,--few which did not receive in
some fashion or other the stamp of his presence among them. He was
accompanied usually with a vast trained staff, as we should term it,
of experts in arts and crafts, of painters, sculptors, architects, and
skilled builders.

He had, of course, immense resources at his command, for he was a
great financier, and was able with little effort to draw vast sums
for the magnificent works he carried on in all parts of the Empire.
The world had never seen, will probably never see again, a great
building sovereign like Hadrian; and though he restored, decorated,
rebuilt baths, amphitheatres, stately municipal buildings, and in many
instances whole cities, often named after himself,[30] he never seems
to have neglected Rome; for the traces of his expensive works there are
still to be seen, while he watched over and lavishly kept up the costly
amusements so dear to the luxurious and pleasure-loving capital. In one
day, for instance, we read of a hundred lions being slain in the arena
of the great Roman theatre, while his doles to the people were ever on
a lavish scale. Rome was never allowed to suffer for the absence or for
the immense foreign expenditure of the imperial traveller.

But Hadrian was not a good man, though he was a magnificent sovereign.
His life was made up of the strangest contradictions. At times he
played the part almost of an ascetic, abstaining from wine in his
repasts, and even submitting to the work and fatigues of an ordinary
legionary soldier. At times his life was disfigured by the grossest
excesses and debauchery.[31] His attitude towards Christianity
especially concerns us. He had no religion, no faith. He was interested
in all cults to a certain extent, was even initiated into the mysteries
of some of the old pagan beliefs; and while he accepted nothing, he
denied nothing.

His famous rescript to Serenus Granianus, now generally accepted as
genuine, gives us some conception of his estimate of Christianity, at
least in the earlier portion of his reign. It virtually endorses what
Trajan had written to Pliny in the matter of the Bithynian Christians.
They were not to be hunted out, but if legally convicted as Christians
they were to suffer. Hadrian, certainly in his earlier years, even
went further in the direction of toleration than his predecessor. An
informer, unless he could prove the truth of his accusation, would be
subject to the severest penalties of the law.

But Hadrian, like Trajan who reigned before him, and Antoninus Pius who
succeeded him on the imperial throne, knew very little of Christianity.
It is more than doubtful if he had ever seen a Gospel; and although his
sense of justice and his perfect indifference to all religions dictated
the terms and inspired the tone of the famous rescript in question, in
common with all Roman statesmen he evidently disliked and even feared
the strange faith which was gradually gaining ground so rapidly in the
world of Rome.

This dislike of Christianity, which some historians characterize in
Hadrian’s case as positively hatred of the faith, was shown markedly in
the latter years of his life by the deliberate insults which he offered
to the most sacred Christian memories in Jerusalem after the close of
the terrible Jewish war in A.D. 135. Some modern writers have
pleaded that no special profanation was intended by Hadrian when the
building of Ælia Capitolina on the site of Jerusalem was proceeded
with after the Jewish war; but the testimony of Christian writers[32]
here is very positive. An image of Jupiter was placed on the Mount of
the Ascension; a statue of Venus was adored on the hill of Golgotha;
Bethlehem was dedicated to Adonis, and a sacred grove was planted
there; and the impure Phœnician rites were actually celebrated in the
grotto of the Nativity.

But for the historian of the first days of Christianity, by far the
most important event in this brilliant reign of Hadrian was the fatal
Jewish war of A.D. 133-5 and its striking results. This was
the war of extermination, as the Talmud subsequently termed it; the
war in which the false Messiah Bar-cochab and the famous Rabbi Akiba
were the most prominent figures. The outcome of this terrible war was
the absolute destruction of the nationality of the Jewish people. From
henceforth, _i.e._ after A.D. 134-5, the whole spirit of the
Jews was changed; they lived from this time with new ideals, with new
and different hopes and aims. This wonderful change we have described
at some length and with many details in Book V. of this work.

From this time forward, there is no doubt that the conception which
Roman statesmen had formed of Christianity underwent a marked change.
Hitherto, more or less, the Christian was regarded as a Jewish
dissenter, and was viewed at Rome with dislike, but at the same time
with a certain contemptuous toleration provided that he kept out of
sight. Trajan evidently, from the Pliny correspondence, was averse to
harsh persecution if it could be avoided; and Hadrian, certainly in his
earlier years, followed the policy of Trajan. But after A.D.
135 all this was changed. The Jewish people after the termination of
the last bitter war passed into stillness.

They now rigidly abstained from admitting any stranger Gentiles into
the charmed circle of Judaism, sternly forbidding any proselytizing.
They abandoned all earthly ambition--their hope and expectation of
seeing their land independent and powerful was relegated to a dim
and distant future. They believed that they were the chosen people
in far-back days of the Eternal of Hosts--they would quietly wait
His good pleasure, and by a rigid observance in all its minutest
details of the divine law, which they made the sole object of their
study and meditation, would merit once more His favour; they hoped
and expected at some distant day again to rejoice in the light of His
countenance,--a light, alas! long since veiled owing to their past
disobedience; to the Christian and his teaching in the meantime they
vowed an implacable hatred.

It then began (after A.D. 134-5), slowly at first, to dawn
upon the statesmen of Rome that the Christian was no mere Jewish
dissenter, but a member of a new and perfectly distinct community, a
sect intensely in earnest, successful in making proselytes, possessing,
too, a secret power which the Roman statesman marvelled at but was
incapable of understanding,--a secret power which made the Christian
absolutely fearless of death and utterly regardless of any punishment
human ingenuity could devise; a sect, too, which, quite independent
of the Jews, daily was multiplying, and was rapidly numbering in its
ranks men and women of every calling, drawn, too, from every province
indifferently in the wide Roman empire,--becoming, indeed, an Empire
within an Empire.

But the subjects of this inner Empire, while loyal to the State,
obedient, and peaceful, dwelt as it were as a nation apart, professing
an allegiance to an invisible Power unknown to the ancient traditions
of Rome, and irreconcilably hostile to the ancient religion on which
the true Roman loved to believe the grandeur of the Empire was based.

The consciousness of all this may be said to have really dawned upon
Roman statesmen only after the great change which passed over Judaism
at the close of the awful war of Hadrian,--a change which showed for
the first time the broad gulf which yawned between the Jewish people
and the new Christian community.

The last two years of Hadrian’s reign, which immediately followed the
close of the great Jewish war, were marked by the adoption of a new
and severer policy by the State in regard to Christians. We hear of
cases of extreme harshness in the case of the treatment of Christians
by the State. Many stories of martyrdom date from this period. This
stern policy was pursued through the reign of the blameless Antoninus
Pius, and became yet more pronounced and severe in the years of his
successor, the yet nobler and purely patriotic Marcus, under whose
rule, beneficent and just though it generally was, the Christians
suffered as they had never suffered before.

For the first time after the close of the great Jewish war, A.D.
133-A.D. 135, the imperial government recognised what a grave danger
to the Roman polity, to its ancient religion and its beliefs, was
Christianity.

* * * * *

For more than sixty years--that is, from the day that Nero charged
the then comparatively little band of Roman Christians with being
the authors of the great fire which reduced so large a portion of
Rome to ashes--had the sword of persecution hung over the Christian
communities. From that day, the follower of Jesus was an outlaw in the
great Empire. His home, his life, were exposed to a perpetual danger;
ever and anon a period of bitter persecution set in, and lives were
sacrificed and homes were wrecked to gratify some wild and senseless
popular clamour, or even as the result of some private and often
malicious information. There was no security any more for a member of
the proscribed sect.

It is true that a great and wise Emperor like Trajan reluctantly
allowed the law as it stood to be carried out, but he made no effort
to change it or to mitigate its stern penalties. Hadrian, certainly in
his early and middle life, was like his predecessor generally averse to
harrying the quiet sect, and his well-known rescript even threatened
the severest penalties to the false informer who denounced a Christian;
but in spite of these just efforts the Christian lived in a state of
perpetual unrest,--a martyr’s death was ever before the eyes of one who
elected to be a follower of Jesus. This position of the Christians in
the Roman Empire continued from A.D. 64-5 until the later days
of Hadrian, A.D. 135-8.

But after the close of the great Jewish war, A.D. 135, as we
have said, things grew even graver for the Christians. They now stood
out conspicuous as an irreconcilable sect, quite different from the
Jews, who after the great war had quietly submitted to Roman law and
order.

HADRIAN’S POLICY TOWARDS CHRISTIANITY IN HIS CLOSING YEARS

In the last years of Hadrian and during the reigns of Pius and Marcus
must be dated not a few of the accounts of early martyrs. The “Acts”
which contain these recitals, it is true, are for the most part of
doubtful authority.[33] They contain details which are clearly not
historical, and critical investigation generally pronounces them
untrustworthy. But the studies of later years, especially in the
lore of the catacombs, show us that even for the more improbable
and precarious records, evidently edited and enlarged at a date
considerably later than the events which they purport to chronicle,
there is evidently a basis of truth; and it is clear that the men and
women whose sufferings and brave deaths for the faith are told in the
“Acts,” for the most part were historical persons.

But we possess a much more dependable foundation for our statement that
the last years of Hadrian and the prolonged reigns of Hadrian’s two
successors, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Antoninus, were periods of bitter
persecution for the Christian sect in Rome and in the provinces; that
the years which elapsed between A.D. 135 and A.D. 180 were years of a
persecution graver and more sustained than anything endured previously
by the followers of Jesus.

There has come down to us a group of contemporary Christian
writings,[34] the authenticity of which no critic friendly or hostile
ventures to impugn. It is from these writings that we obtain our
knowledge of what was the condition of the Christians in the Empire.

There is no question but that doubtful “Acts of Martyrdom,” many of
which purport to belong to this period, _i.e._, from the last years
of Hadrian to the death of Marcus Antoninus, have given colour to the
theory which has found favour with certain writers, some even of the
first rank, that, after all, the number of martyrs was but small.
Recent study has, however, completely set aside this theory. In the
first place, the scientific investigation of the Roman catacombs has
shown that in many cases the heroes and heroines of the doubtful “Acts”
were real _historical_ persons; and, secondly, a careful study of the
fragments of contemporary writers above referred to, has given us an
exact and accurate picture of the period in question,[35] and the
largest estimate of the number of sufferers during this period which
has been made is probably too small.

Most melancholy was the close of the brilliant life of the great
Emperor. Shortly after the close of the Jewish war, Hadrian returned
to Italy and settled in the magnificent and fantastic palace he amused
himself by building in the neighbourhood of Rome at Tibur. The vast
group of buildings and parks and gardens of the so-called Villa of
Hadrian was a copy of the more famous temples, baths, and villas he had
visited during his long travels. Egypt, Greece, Italy, supplied him
with models. But the seeds of a fatal malady were already sapping his
strength. He was a sufferer from dropsy in its worst form; his life,
too, had long been enfeebled by his wild excesses, to which ever and
again he had given way. Then the strange mental sickness, the fatal
heritage of so many absolute sovereigns, came over him. Nothing pleased
him; no ray of hope lightened his ailing, suffering life; the present
and the future were both dark.

His government became cruel, arbitrary, tyrannical. Many executions,
not a few of them striking the highest in rank and authority,
disfigured the closing years of the Emperor. The Christian sect, which
lately, as we have explained already, had become in a specific manner
feared and dreaded by the State, largely suffered during these sad
closing years of his reign, and the dread persecution to which it was
subjected during the reigns of his successors began in good earnest.

One dominant thought seems to have haunted Hadrian--the longing for
death. Those who were nearest to his person, under the influence of
the wise prince his adopted successor, generally known as Antoninus
Pius, restrained him on several occasions from laying violent hands on
himself; but it was no avail, and Hadrian died at Baiæ, A.D.
138, the death no doubt hastened, if not absolutely caused, by his own
act.

The following little table will explain the succession of the Antonines
to the Empire:

_Hadrian_ first adopted Ælius Verus--a patrician, but a
voluptuous and carelessly living man; he died, however, in the
lifetime of Hadrian, leaving a son Verus, afterwards associated
in the Empire with Marcus, whom, however, he predeceased by many
years.

_Hadrian_ subsequently adopted as his successor Aurelius
Antoninus, known in history as Antoninus Pius.

_Antoninus Pius_ belonging to a Gallic family of Nîmes, had
filled the highest offices in the State, and later became a
trusted counsellor of the Emperor Hadrian, and his devoted
friend. He was a patrician of the highest character. When
Hadrian adopted him he required him to secure the imperial
succession by adopting Verus the son of Ælius Verus, whom he had
originally adopted but who had died, and also Marcus Aurelius
Antoninus, his young kinsman, a nephew of his (Hadrian’s) wife.

_Antoninus Pius_ became Emperor in A.D. 138. _Marcus
Aurelius Antoninus_ succeeded him in A.D. 161.

III

ANTONINUS PIUS, A.D. 138-A.D. 161
MARCUS ANTONINUS, A.D. 161-A.D. 180

After the death of Hadrian, in A.D. 138, for forty-two years
the Empire of Rome was ruled by two sovereigns who, pagan though they
were, live in the pages of historians of all lands as the most perfect
of any known sovereign rulers. They are known as the two Antonines: the
first is distinguished by the title given him by his contemporaries,
“Pius”; the second, by the best known of his several names, “Marcus
Aurelius.”

They were not conquerors, not even great legislators; although under
their beneficent, and with one sad exception generally wise rule,
the laws of the State, in the case especially of the downtrodden and
helpless, were materially improved and supplemented.

Our contemporary pagan literature here, alas! is but scanty; what has
come down to us is even more unsatisfactory than what we possess in the
contemporary records of Hadrian.

No great writer in prose or poetry arose in these forty-two years; and
when in the fifth and following centuries, the era of confusion and
universal decay, manuscripts began to be only sparingly copied, the
records of this period were neglected, and what attention to literature
was given, the copyists of the MSS. devoted to the masterpieces of the
Augustan and even of an earlier age, such as the famous prose works
of Cicero and Tacitus, of Pliny and of Suetonius; of poets such as
Lucretius, Vergil and Ovid, Propertius, Juvenal and Horace.

We possess only abbreviations of the Chronicles of the Antonines,
somewhat dry and uninteresting, wanting in details and in picturesque
illustration. It is true that no great war--no striking conquest--no
terrible intestine disturbances--disfigured these happier reigns, or
supplied material which would arrest the attention of the writer and
reader. It is mainly from side sources that we learn enough of the
character and government of the Antonines to justify the unfeigned
admiration which in all times has been given to these two good and
great princes.

The title “Pius,” which was bestowed on the elder Antoninus by the
Senate at the beginning of his reign, and by which he is universally
known, was well deserved. His unfeigned devotion to the ancient Roman
religion, his reputation for justice and wisdom, for clemency and
sobriety, his stern morality, the high example he ever set in his
private and public life--were admirably expressed in this title. His
great predecessors--Emperors such as Vespasian and Titus, Trajan
and Hadrian, possessed each of them some of these distinguishing
characteristics, but only some; the lives of these famous Emperors
being all more or less disfigured by regrettable flaws.

But the title “Pius” in the first instance seems to have been given to
the first Antonine owing to the universal admiration of his generous
and devoted behaviour to his adopted father and predecessor Hadrian,
whom he tenderly watched over during his last sad years of ever
increasing sickness and terrible life-weariness, and whose memory he
protected with a rare and singular chivalry, if we may venture to use a
beautiful and significant word which belongs to a later period in the
world’s history.

The sources, whence we derive our too scanty knowledge of this
almost flawless life, besides the notices and details preserved in
the abbreviations of the contemporary chronicles we have spoken of,
comprise the comparatively recently recovered letters of Fronto, a
famous philosopher and man of letters to whom Antoninus Pius entrusted
the principal share in the training of his adopted son and successor
known in history as the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, and more especially
the noble and touching estimate of his works and days contained in the
singular and exquisite little book written by his adopted son Marcus,
generally known as his “Meditations.”

We find the following striking words relating to Pius written by Marcus
in this little book after the great Emperor, who had trained him so
well for his high destiny, had passed away. It was in the form of a
soliloquy with himself--with his own soul:

“Life is short; the only fruit of the earth-life is to do good to the
men among whom our lot is cast. Ever act as a true pupil of Antoninus
(Pius). Call to mind his invariable fixity of purpose in carrying
out what was reasonable; remember how calm was his conduct under all
circumstances; think of his piety; remember that serene expression of
his; his invariable sweetness--his contempt for vainglory; his constant
care in sifting the truth; his indifference to unjust reproaches ...
never suspicious; utterly careless of his own personal comfort; paying
little heed to his food or his clothes; indefatigable in work; ever
patient and self-denying.... Think (O my soul) of all this, so that
when your own hour for departure strikes, it may find you, as it found
him, conscious that the life-work had been well done.”

Antoninus Pius had inherited a great fortune; and at the time of his
adoption by Hadrian he was well on in middle life, and had filled with
dignity and honour many of the high offices of State. When he succeeded
to supreme power as the absolute and irresponsible sovereign of the
greatest Empire ever under the sceptre of one man; after carefully
discharging the many duties of his great position in his magnificent
palace overlooking the Roman Forum, its splendid temples and its yet
more splendid memories, he loved to retire for a brief season to his
ancestral home and farm of Lorium in Etruria.

Antoninus Pius delighted in exchanging the imperial state and wearisome
pomp of his Roman court, the artificial pleasures of the theatre and
the circus, which gave him no real satisfaction, for the true and
healthy joys of the woods and the fields. He enjoyed the harvest
and the vintage festivals of the people. He loved the excitement of
the chase; he was at once a devoted fisherman and a hunter, though
for these things he never neglected the graver duties and the awful
responsibilities of his great position. The Fronto letters give us a
beautiful picture of his family life at his Lorium farm.

But the great and good Emperor had a deeper and more far-reaching
object at heart than simple self-gratification when he cast off the
trammels of State and forsook the gay and brilliant court of the great
capital for the plain unostentatious life of a country gentleman of the
old Roman school.

The first Antonine was conscious that the soft, luxurious city life of
which Rome was the great example, and which was too faithfully copied
in the wealthy provincial centres, was enfeebling the Empire,--the
builders and makers of Rome he well knew were the hardy race of men
who feared the old gods and who were ready to fight and die for their
country, and these men were the peasant-farmers produced by the old
rural life of Italy. He would set the fashion himself, and if possible
popularize this better and nobler way of living. He would bring back
the memories of those great ones who had been the makers of that mighty
empire.

It was no mere love of antiquity, no special taste for antiquarian
lore, which induced Antoninus Pius to grave upon his coins the
immemorial symbols telling of the ancient traditions belonging to the
great past of Rome,--symbols many of which have been immortalized in
the “haunting and liquid” rhythms of the poet loved in Rome,--Æneas
carrying his father; the white sow sacrificed to Juno by the fugitive
Æneas on the banks of Tiber; Mars and Rhea Sylvia; the sacred wild
fig-tree beneath whose branches the wolf found the children Romulus
and Remus; the wolf suckling the baby founders of the Queen City; the
augur Nævius and his razor before King Tarquinius Priscus; Horatius
who defended the bridge against the hosts of Porsenna. It was not
the instinct of a curious and scholarly archæologist, but a deep and
far-reaching purpose, which prompted Antoninus Pius to search out
and rebuild the little unknown Arcadian village of Pallanteum, the
ancient home of Evander, the host of Æneas,--Evander, the founder of
the earliest Rome, whose beautiful story is told in the noble epic
of Vergil.[36] The Emperor would popularize, would bring before his
people the glorious memories of the storied past--the wonderful story
of Rome--its cherished traditions which told of the old love of the
Immortals for Rome.

Antoninus Pius was by no means the first who felt that the greatness
of Rome had been built up by that hardy race of men who had lived
the simple homely life of rural toil, by men who feared the gods and
believed in the rewards and punishments of the Immortals. The great
statesman Emperor Augustus more than a century earlier had recognised
this, and his poet Vergil had pressed home this truth in his deathless
verses.

In the Eclogues, and still more in the Georgics, men were led to
reverence the old simple manners and customs; and in the charmed verses
of the Æneid the same teaching was enforced with yet greater eloquence
and earnestness. “Work and pray” was the conclusion of the Georgics
(_in primis venerare deos_), was the burthen of the poet’s solemn
charge.

And it was not only Augustus and his loved poet Vergil who had felt the
power of the ancient Roman religion, so sadly ignored if not despised
in their day and time, and who had seen that a return to the old Roman
way of living and to the primitive simple beliefs and the old austere
life alone would help to purify the corrupt and dissolute manners which
were weakening, perhaps destroying, the old Roman spirit. Tacitus, the
greatest historian Rome had ever given birth to, had also expressed
the same beautiful thought. Juvenal the poet-satirist, too, who had
lashed with an unsparing pen the luxury, the vices, and the follies
of his age, painted as his ideal Roman a Curius, thrice consul, who,
despising all state and pomp and luxury, hungry and tired after a day
in the fields, preferred “a meal of herbs and bacon served on homely
earthenware.”

Juvenal had a true Roman reverence for the old heroes of the Republic,
for the Curii, the Fabii, and the Scipios, and their unostentatious way
of living. Even Martial felt a strange charm in the antique simplicity
of the old republican statesmen and soldiers.

The younger Pliny, courtier, statesman, and polished writer, weary
and sated with the brilliant luxurious life of a great noble in the
earlier years of the second century, in his wonderful picture of social
life in the times of Trajan, shows us how intensely sensible he and
his circle were of the purer pleasures and rest to be found in “the
stillness of the pine woods, and the cold breeze from the Apennines
which blew over his quiet rural home in Tuscany.”

But while Augustus and his famous poets had striven to lead the
citizens of the great empire to love and lead the more austere and
purer life of the primitive Roman people, it was an open secret that
the imperial teacher himself failed to lead the life he professed to
love, for Augustus stained his own works and days with grave moral
irregularities. The two Antonines, on the other hand, different from
Augustus, set themselves as the noblest examples of a pure austere
life; no moral stain or flaw was ever suffered to disfigure the
life-work of these two patriotic pagan sovereigns.

* * * * *

There was one master-thought deep buried in the heart of Antoninus
Pius and of his adopted son and successor Marcus Antoninus. Their
whole career was influenced by an intense love of Rome. They would
preserve the mighty Empire from the decay which they perceived was
fast gaining ground; they would set, by their own example, the vogue
of the purer, simpler _religious_ life on which the foundation stories
of the Empire had been so securely laid; hence the bitter persecution
of the Christian sect which was so striking and painful a feature in
the Antonine administration of the Empire,--a persecution evidently
active and bitter in the reign of Pius, but which greatly increased in
intensity and virulence under the rule of his successor Marcus.

* * * * *

The Antonines were intensely persuaded that all that was great and
glorious in the Roman Empire came from the simple and even austere life
led by their fathers under the protection of the mighty Immortals--of
Jupiter of the Capitol, of Mars the Avenger, of Vesta with her sacred
fire, of the great Twin Brethren--of the gods whose temples with their
golden roofs were the stately ornaments of the Forum on which the
Emperors looked down from their proud home on the Palatine Hill. These
were the deities which the great pagan Emperor believed “had cradled
the Roman State and still watched over her career.” It was this belief
which induced Pius to grave on his coins the sacred memories of the
earliest days of this divine protection on which we have been dwelling.

REASONS OF THE PERSECUTING POLICY OF THE ANTONINES

Among the subjects of the Empire only one group stood persistently
aloof from the crowds of worshippers who again thronged these
time-honoured shrines; this group refused to share in the ancient Roman
cult which the Antonines had once more made the vogue in Rome and in
her provinces, a cult to which these great pagan Emperors ever referred
the glories of the past, and on which they grounded their hopes of a
yet more splendid future for Rome.

The solitary group was indeed a strange one. To a Roman like Antoninus
Pius it appeared to be composed of a sect, comparatively speaking,
of yesterday; for when his predecessor Augustus reigned and Vergil
wrote, it had no existence. It was a sect professing, as it seemed
to the Emperor, a new religion--a religion which claimed for the One
it worshipped a solitary supremacy--a religion which regarded the
awful gods of Rome as shadows, as mere phantoms of the imagination.
Well might sovereigns like the Antonines shudder at a teaching which
would appear to a true patriot Roman, whose heart was all aflame with
national pride, to involve the most daring impiety, the most shocking
blasphemy; which would threaten a tremendous risk for the future of her
people, if this fatal teaching should spread.

And this strange sect of yesterday, the Emperors would hear from their
officials, was multiplying to an enormous extent, not only in Rome but
in all the provinces.

They would receive reports from all lands how the new community called
Christian was daily adding fresh converts to its extraordinary and
dangerous belief,--converts drawn from the ranks of the humblest
traders, from slaves and freedmen--converts drawn, too, from the
noblest families of the Empire.

They would hear, too, from their responsible officials that the new
sect, from its great and ever-increasing numbers, its striking unity
of belief, its perfect organization, had already become a power in the
State,--a real power with which the imperial government sooner or later
would have assuredly to reckon, for it was a power which every day grew
more formidable.

And for the first time, too, the pagan Emperors learnt from their
officials that this new sect was not made up of Jews, as had been
hitherto generally assumed, but that its members were something quite
different--far, far more formidable and dangerous. It was true that
there was no suggestion of any open revolt on the part of this strange
group of subjects, such as Vespasian and Hadrian had to meet and to
crush at Jerusalem and in Palestine in the case of the Jews; the danger
to be feared from the Christians was that they were gradually winning
the people’s hearts; that they were turning the people’s thoughts
from the old gods of Rome to another and far greater Being, whom they
averred was the loving Lord of all men, the supreme arbiter of life and
death.

And to Emperors like the Antonines, whose devout minds ever loved
to dwell on the constant protection of the Immortals, who they were
persuaded had loved Rome from time immemorial, in whom they strove with
sad earnestness to believe, to whom they prayed and taught their people
to pray,--to Emperors like Pius and Marcus these Christians, with their
intense faith, a faith for which they were only too ready to die, were
indeed abhorrent; in their eyes they constituted an ever-present, an
ever-increasing danger to Rome, her glorious traditions, her ancient
religion, her very existence.

This was the secret of the new policy pursued by the State in its
treatment of the Christians. It began to be adopted in the last years
of Hadrian after the close of the great Jewish war in A.D.
134-5, when the Christian sect was discovered to be utterly separate
from the Jews--distinct and even hostile to the Jewish race, with
other and far more dangerous views and hopes; and when Antoninus Pius
set himself to reform his people by reminding them of the manners and
customs of their ancestors, by impressing upon them the duty of a more
earnest worship of the old gods of Rome, he found in the Christians his
most dangerous opponents; hence the stern treatment which the new sect
received at his hands; hence the policy of persecution which gathered
strength during his reign, and was intensified in the days of his
adopted son and successor Marcus.

On the whole, the usual verdict of tradition respecting the condition
of Christians under the Antonines must be reversed. The reign of
Antoninus Pius is commonly represented as a period of peace for the
Church, and little is said about the treatment of Christians under the
government of Antoninus Pius and of Marcus Antoninus. This favourable
view and usual reticence concerning any Christian sufferings during
these reigns is largely owing to the high estimation in which the two
Antonines as rulers are universally held;--that these great and good
Emperors could persecute and harass the followers of Jesus has been
usually deemed unlikely if not impossible.

To regard such men as persecutors would be to inflict a stigma on the
character of the two most perfect sovereigns whose lives are recorded
in history. The first Antoninus received his beautiful title “Pius” at
the urgent wish of the Senate, a wish that was universally endorsed by
the public opinion of the Empire; by this title he has been known and
revered by all succeeding generations.

Marcus, his adopted son and successor, who, if possible, held a yet
more exalted place in the estimation of men of his own generation, and
who has handed down to posterity a yet higher reputation for virtue and
wisdom, tells us in his own glowing and striking words that he owed
everything to the noble example and teaching of his adopted father
Antoninus Pius. To this Marcus, when he died, divine honours were
voluntarily paid with such universal consent that it was held sacrilege
not to set up his image in a house.

To brand such men as persecutors, for centuries would have been for
any historian, Christian or pagan, too daring a statement, and such
an estimate would have been received with distrust, if not with
positive derision; nor is it by any means certain that even now such
a conclusion will not be read by many with cold mistrust and even
with repulsion. But recent scholarship has clearly demonstrated that
the Antonines were bitter foes to Christianity, and that during their
reigns the followers of Jesus were sorely harassed. Under the Emperor
Marcus the persecutions extended throughout his reign; they were,
as Lightfoot does not hesitate to characterize them, “fierce and
deliberate.” They were aggravated, at least in some cases, by cruel
torture. They had the Emperor’s direct personal sanction. The scenes of
these persecutions were laid in all parts of the Empire--in Rome, in
Asia Minor, in Gaul, in Africa.

The martyrdom of Justin and his companions as told in the Acts of the
Martyrdom of the great Christian teacher, an absolutely authentic
piece, was carried out in Rome under the orders of Rusticus the city
prefect, the trusted friend and minister of Marcus, under the Emperor’s
very eyes; while the persecutions at Vienne and Lyons were the most
bloody persecutions on record up to this date, except, perhaps, the
Neronian; and for these Marcus Antoninus is directly and personally
responsible.

The Madaurian and Scillitan (proconsular Africa) martyrdoms apparently
took place a few months after the death of Marcus, but these martyrdoms
were certainly a continuation of the persecuting policy of Marcus. And
these awful sufferings to which the Christian communities were exposed
during these two reigns are not only learned from the few authentic
Acts of Martyrdom preserved to us, but from various and numerous
notices of contemporary writers which we come upon--embedded in their
histories, apologies, and doctrinal expositions. Some of these are
quoted[37] verbatim. The testimony we possess here of this continuous
and very general persecution during these reigns when carefully massed
together is simply overwhelming.[38]

* * * * *

Nor is the behaviour of the two Antonine Emperors, who ruled over
the Roman Empire for a period of some forty-two years, towards their
Christian subjects in any way at variance with their known principles.
Such men, with their lofty ideals, with their firm unyielding
persuasion that Rome owed her grandeur and power, her past prosperity
and her present position as a World-Empire, to the protection of the
Immortals whom their fathers worshipped, could not well have acted
differently.

We have seen what was the unvarying policy of Pius in his earnest
efforts to restore the purer, simpler life led by the old Romans who
had built up the mighty Empire; how faithfully he had followed in the
lines traced out by Vergil, who, as we have already quoted, wound
up his exquisite picture of the ancient Roman life with the solemn
injunction “_in primis venerare deos_.”

The pupil and successor of Pius, the noble Marcus, was if possible more
“Roman” than Pius; and his devotion to the gods of Rome was even more
marked. As a boy he was famous for his accurate knowledge of ancient
Roman ritual. When only eight years old he was enrolled in the College
of the Salii, reciting from memory archaic liturgical forms but dimly
understood in his days.[39]

Before his departure for the dangerous war with the Marcomanni, he
directed that Rome should be ceremonially purified according to the
ancient rites; and for seven days the images of the gods were feasted
as they lay on their couches in the public streets.

But it is in his private life that the intense piety of the second
Antonine emperor comes out with ever startling clearness. It was no
mere State reasons which prompted Marcus to uphold the ancient cult of
Rome. He evidently believed with a fervent belief in these old gods of
Rome. For instance, if his dear friend and tutor Fronto was ailing, he
would pray at the altars of the gods that one very dear to him might be
eased of his pain.

In that exquisite volume in which in the form of private and secret
memoranda he recorded his inmost thoughts and hopes,--that little
volume which amid the wreckage of contemporary literary remains has
come down to us intact,--again and again we meet with words telling of
his trust in the loving care of the Immortals revered in the Rome of
old days, but in whose existence in the later times of the Republic few
seem to have believed.

Out of a host of such memoranda scattered in the pages of the
_Meditations_ we will quote two or three of his words here.

“With respect to the gods, from what I constantly experience of their
power, I am convinced that they exist, and I venerate them” (xii. 28).

The whole of the first book of the _Meditations_ is, in fact, a hymn of
gratitude to the gods for their loving care of him.

“Live with the gods,” he writes (v. 2-7); “and he who does live with
the gods constantly shows to them that his own soul is satisfied with
the (lot) which is assigned to him.... Zeus has given to every man for
his guardian and his guide a portion of himself.”

And again (v. 33), “Until that time (thy end) comes, what is
sufficient? Why, what else than to venerate the gods and bless them?”

“If the gods have determined about me, and about the things which must
happen to me, they have determined well, for it is not easy even to
imagine a deity without forethought” (vii. 4. 4).

That the Antonine Emperors knew little really of Christianity is almost
certain. The name of Jesus was probably unknown to either Pius or
Marcus, and the canonical Gospels evidently had never come before them,
although these writings were generally current among the Christian
congregations at that time. Once only in his _Meditations_ does Marcus
refer to the sect, and then it was clearly with a feeling of dislike
and repulsion; their extraordinary readiness to give up their lives
for their belief, misliked the calm, stoic Emperor. “The soul,” he
wrote, “should be ready at any moment to be separated from the body;
but this readiness must come from a man’s own calm judgment, not
from mere obstinacy and with a tragic show, as with the Christians”
(_Meditations_, xi. 3).

Marcus before all things, it must ever be remembered, was a Roman. To
the Emperor, the tradition of Rome was a dogma. “Every moment,” he
wrote, “think ever as a Roman and a man; do whatever thou hast in hand
with perfect and simple dignity” (II. 5).

That he abhorred the Christian sect who poured scorn upon the
traditions he loved, and contempt upon the gods whom he adored, was
perfectly natural; and it must be remembered that not only before
the judge when they were arraigned did the Christians express utter
disbelief in the gods of Rome, but not unfrequently the more fanatical
Christians went out of their way to insult these deities in whom Marcus
believed with a real intensity.

When the noble Emperor had passed away, the leniency with which his
evil successor Commodus treated the Church was owing largely to his
dislike and jealousy of his father and his policy. In the following
century (the third) the gentleness of the treatment of Christians in
the reigns of Alexander Severus and Philip the Arabian was mainly
owing to the fact that these Emperors had little sympathy with the
Roman tradition; they were certainly foreigners: the first of them,
Alexander Severus, was a Syrian pure and simple. The name by which
Philip is always known tells us of his foreign nationality. The famous
persecutors of the third century, Decius, Aurelius and Diocletian, were
believers in the Roman tradition, and adopted as the groundwork of
their policy here, the principles of Trajan and the Antonines.

No crime was necessary to be proved in these reigns when one of the
sect was arraigned. The mere fact of the accused being a Christian
ensured at once condemnation. Christianity was utterly incompatible
with the ancient traditions of Rome.

BOOK II

THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN IN THE EARLY DAYS OF THE FAITH

INTRODUCTORY

The scene of the following sketches of the life of a Christian of the
first days is, generally speaking, laid in Rome; but much of what
belonged to the Christian of the Roman congregation was common to the
believer who dwelt in other great cities of the Empire.

The sketches in question deal with the following subjects:

1. The numbers of believers in the first two centuries which followed
the death of Peter and Paul.

2. The assemblies or meetings together of the Christian folk in
those very early times are specially dwelt on. These assemblies were
an extremely important and influential factor in the life of the
believer. This was recognized in the New Testament writings and in the
contemporary writings of the earliest teachers of the faith.

3. The various classes of the population of a great city which composed
these early assemblies are enumerated.

4. What was taught and done at these early gatherings together of
Christians is set forth with some detail.

5. Outside these gatherings, the life of a believer in the world is
referred to with especial regard to the many difficulties which were
constantly encountered by one who professed the religion of Jesus.

6. The methods by which these difficulties were to be grappled with are
described. Two schools of teaching evidently existed here, generally
characterized as the “Rigourist” and the “Gentle” schools. These are
briefly dwelt upon.

7. In the concluding paragraphs of this sketch of the early Christian
life, what Christianity offered in return for the hard and often
painful life which its professors had to live, is sketched.

LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN IN THE EARLY DAYS

There is no shadow of doubt but that in a comparatively short space
of time the religion of Jesus was accepted by great numbers of the
dwellers in the various provinces of the Roman Empire. This fact is
abundantly testified to by contemporary writers, Christian and pagan.

The only other widely professed religion with which we can compare
it--Mahommedanism--owed its rapid progress and the extraordinary
numbers of its proselytes mainly to the sword of the conquerors.
Christianity, on the other hand, possessed no army to enforce its
tenets. It was not even the heritage of a people or a nation. The Jews,
to whom in the first days of its existence it _might_ have belonged,
were very soon to be reckoned among its deadliest foes.

One powerful factor which influenced the reception of the new religion
has been rarely dwelt upon, but it deserves more than a merely passing
notice.

The news of the religion of Jesus, as by many channels it reached the
slave, often a highly educated slave, the freedman, the merchant,
the small trader, the soldier of the legions, the lawyer, the Roman
patrician, the women of the varied classes and orders in the great
Empire,--the news came of something that had quite recently happened;
and not only recently, but in a well-known city of the Empire. It was
a wonderful story, firmly and strongly attested by many eye-witnesses,
and it appealed at once to the hearts of all sorts and conditions of
men.

It differed curiously from all other religions of which the pagans of
the Empire had ever heard. These other religions were very ancient;
their cradle, so to speak, belonged to far-back days--pre-historical
days, as men would now call them. _This new religion really belonged
to their own time._ Its founder had talked with men quite recently. He
had lived in a city they knew a good deal about.

There was no dim mist about its origin; no old legends had gathered
round it--legends which few, if any, believed.

The story of the religion of Jesus, told so simply, so convincingly, in
the four Gospels, had a strange attraction; it went home to the hearts
of a vast multitude; it rang true and real.

* * * * *

We know that very soon after the date of the events of the Gospel
story the numbers of the men and women who accepted it were great.
From the pagan Empire we have the testimony of Tacitus, the most
eminent of Roman historians. Writing some fifty years after the first
persecution under Nero, A.D. 64, he describes the Christians
at the time of that first persecution as “a vast multitude” (_ingens
multitudo_).[40]

Still more in detail the younger Pliny, the Governor of Bithynia,
writing to the Emperor Trajan _circa_ A.D. 112-13 for instructions
how to deal with the Christians, relates that the new religion had
spread so widely in his province, not merely in the cities but in
the villages and country districts generally, that the temples were
almost deserted.[41] It is, of course, possible that the new faith
had found especial favour in Bithynia; but such a formal and detailed
representation from an official of the highest rank and reputation
to the Emperor of what was happening in his own province, is a sure
indication of the enormous strides which Christianity had generally
made in the Empire when the echoes of apostles and apostolic men were
still ringing in the ears of their disciples. S. John’s death only
preceded Pliny’s letter to Trajan[42] by at most twenty years.

Among contemporary Christian writers we find similar testimony to
the vast numbers of Christians in very early times. To take a few
conspicuous examples:

Clement, bishop of Rome _circa_ A.D. 95, writing to the Church
at Corinth, speaks of “the great multitude of Christians” who suffered
in the persecution of Nero, A.D. 64.[43]

Hermas, in his book termed the _Shepherd_, shows us that in the reign
of the Emperor Hadrian, _circa_ A.D. 130-40, there was resident a
large number of Christians in the capital, many of them well-to-do and
wealthy citizens.

Soter, bishop of Rome, writing to the Church of Corinth,[44] shortly
after A.D. 165, refers to the Christians as superior in numbers to the
Jews, no doubt especially alluding to the Roman congregation mentioned.

In the Acts of the Martyrdom of Justin, _circa_ A.D. 165,
an undoubtedly genuine piece, Rusticus the Roman prefect asks Justin
where the Christians assembled. In reply, Justin said, “Where each one
chooses and can; for do you imagine that we all meet in the very same
place?”

Irenæus in a very striking passage,[45] written _circa_ A.D.
180, alludes to the size and importance of the Roman congregation. His
words are as follows:

“Since, however, it would be most tedious in such a volume as this to
reckon up the (Episcopal) succession of all the Churches, we confound
all those who assemble in unauthorized meetings by indicating the
tradition handed down from the apostles of the _most great_, the
very ancient, and universally known Church organized by the two most
glorious apostles, Peter and Paul.”

The statements of Tertullian _circa_ A.D. 195-200 are well
known and are often quoted; and though they are probably exaggerated,
still such assertions, although they are rhetorical rather than simple
statistics, would never have been advanced by such a learned and
weighty writer if the numbers of the Christians of his time (the latter
years of the second century) had not, in many cities and countries,
been very great.

In the works of Tertullian we come across such statements as the
following:

“The grievance (of the pagan government) is that the State is filled
with Christians; that they are in the fields, in the citadels, in
blocks of houses (which fill up the cities). It grieves (does the
government), as over some calamity, that both sexes indifferently, all
ages, every condition, even persons of high rank, are passing over to
the Christian ranks.”[46]

And again: “We are not Indian Brahmins who dwell in forests and exile
themselves from the common life of men.... We company with you in the
world, forsaking neither the life of the Forum, nor the Bath, nor
Workshop, nor Inn, nor Market-place, nor any Mart of commerce. We sail
with you, fight with you, till the ground with you, even we share in
the various arts.”[47]

About fifty years after Tertullian’s writing just quoted, Cornelius,
bishop of Rome, A.D. 251, in an Epistle addressed to Fabius,
bishop of Antioch,[48] gives some official statistics of the Roman
Church in his days.[49] Cornelius particularizes the classes of the
various officials, together with the numbers of persons in distress who
were on the lists of the Church receiving charitable relief. Scholars
and experts, basing their calculations upon these official statistics,
variously estimate the numbers of Christians in the city of Rome at
from 30,000 to 50,000, the latter calculation on the whole being
probably nearest to the truth.

Lastly, in this little sketch of the vast numbers of disciples who at
a very early date had joined the Christian community, the changeless
testimony of the Roman catacombs must be cited. Much will be found
written in this work regarding these enormous cemeteries of the
Christian dead. It is absolutely certain that in the second half of the
first century these catacombs were already begun.

The words of the eminent German scholar Harnack may well be quoted
here: “The number, the size, and the extent of the Roman catacombs ...
is so great that even from them we may infer the size of the Roman
Church, its steady growth, its adherents from distinguished families,
its spread all over Rome.”[50]

The foregoing contemporary witnesses, including the testimony of the
Church to the size and numbers of the Christian congregation, speak
of the Roman Christians with two notable exceptions--the pagan Pliny
and the Christian Tertullian. The others, including Clement of Rome,
Hermas, Justin Martyr, Soter, Irenæus, Cornelius, are specially writing
of Rome and the Christian portion of its population.

But, as has been already remarked, what was written of Rome in a
greater or less degree applies to other great centres of population in
the Empire, notably to such centres as Antioch and Ephesus, Alexandria
and Carthage.

THE ASSEMBLIES OF CHRISTIANS

The Acts of the Apostles, the Pauline and other New Testament Epistles,
bear witness to the favourable reception of the preaching of the new
faith. Paul’s success in Macedonia, Achaia, in the province of Asia,
and in Galatia had been extraordinary. Peter in his First Epistle
addresses the converts already scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia,
Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. Paul again expressly mentions in a
letter to the Roman Christians, that the faith of the Roman Church was
spoken of throughout the whole world.

The story of the progress of Christianity was taken up by the pagan
writers Tacitus and Pliny, and was dwelt upon by Clement of Rome,
Ignatius, Hermas, Justin, Irenæus, and the other Christian writers of
the first and second centuries already quoted.

Thus the great numbers of Christians in Rome and in other centres
dating from primitive days, already dwelt upon with some detail, is a
clear and indisputable fact.

Nothing did more for the progress and extension of the Christian
religion than the constant meeting together, the assemblies of the
various congregations of believers.

This was recognized from the earliest days. We read in the Epistle to
the Hebrews (x. 25) a solemn injunction to Christians not “to forsake
the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is.”

Definite allusions to such “assemblies of believers” occur in the New
Testament writings, in the Acts and in the Epistles, _e.g._ 1 Cor. xi.
20 and following verses, Jas. ii. 2-4.

The importance attached to these meetings of believers by the rulers
and teachers of the Church of the first days, is manifest from the
chain of reminders and injunctions to the faithful which exists in the
contemporary writings we possess of leading Christians, dating from
the latter years of the first and all through the second and third
centuries.

The words they heard, and the matters decided upon at these gatherings,
more or less coloured and guided the life and conduct of Christians
in the world. From the first the Sunday meeting seems to have been
obligatory; but these meetings of the brethren were by no means
confined to the general assembly on Sunday. So we read in the _Didaché_
(the Teaching of the Apostles), a writing probably dating from the
latter years of the first century: “Thou shalt seek out every day the
company of the Saints, to be refreshed by their words.”[51] “Let us,”
writes Clement, bishop of Rome (_circa_ A.D. 95), “ourselves
then being gathered together in concord with intentness of heart, cry
unto Him as from one mouth earnestly, that we may be made partakers of
His great and glorious promise.”[52]

So S. Ignatius (_circa_ A.D. 107-10) in his Epistle to the
Ephesian Church[53] writes: “Do your diligence therefore to meet
together more frequently for thanksgiving to God, and for His glory;
for when ye meet together frequently the powers of Satan are cast down,
and his mischief cometh to nought in the concord of your faith.”

In his letter to Polycarp he says: “Let meetings be held more
frequently.”[54]

Barnabas (_circa_ A.D. 120-30): “Keep not apart by yourselves,
as if you were already justified; but meet together, and confer upon
the common weal.”[55]

Justin Martyr--in his first _Apology_, written in the middle of the
second century--describes these meetings of the brethren with some
detail.[56]

A very striking passage occurs in a writing of Theophilus, the sixth
bishop of Antioch, addressed to his friend Autolycus. Its date is
between A.D. 168 and A.D. 181. The power which these meetings of the
brethren exercised over the life of Christians is described as follows:

“As in the Sea there are Islands ... with havens and harbours in which
the storm-tossed may find refuge, so God has given to the world,
which is driven and tempest-tossed by sins, assemblies ... in which
survive the doctrines of the truth, as in the island-harbours of good
anchorage; and into these run those who desire to be saved ... and who
wish to escape the wrath and judgment of God.”[57]

III

OF WHOM WERE THESE ASSEMBLIES OF BELIEVERS COMPOSED?

From the very first days, it is certain that the assemblies or
congregations of the Christians were made up of all classes and orders
of the people. The lower classes, including slaves, freedmen, artisans,
small traders, no doubt were in the majority; but from the beginning,
persons of position, culture, and even of rank were certainly reckoned
among them.

In the days of the apostles we hear of many such. Among the earliest
believers were reckoned a Nicodemus, a Joseph of Arimathea, a Barnabas,
a Sergius Paulus. In Acts vi. 7 mention is made of a great company
of the priests obedient to the faith. Chapter x. tells us of the
centurion who sent for S. Peter. Paul himself and Stephen were men of
high culture. Priscilla the wife of Aquila and the Phoebe of Rom. xvi.
1 were evidently persons of considerable means. Others might be named
in these categories. S. James (ii. 14) in his picture of one of these
meetings alludes to the presence of the rich among the worshippers.
Tacitus speaks of a lady of distinguished birth (_insignis femina_) who
evidently belonged to the Christian ranks; and very shortly after, some
near connexions of the imperial house of Domitian were persecuted for
their faith.

Pliny, when he wrote to Trajan, tells him how many of all ranks in the
province of Bithynia had joined the Christian sect.

Ignatius in the early years of the second century, writing to the Roman
Church, gives utterance to his fear lest influential members of the
Church should intercede for him, and so hinder his being exposed to the
beasts in the amphitheatre games.

Roman Christians of wealth and position are clearly alluded to by
Hermas in the _Shepherd_ (Comm. x. 1), and he assumes the presence of
such in the Roman congregation (Simil. i. etc.)

In the famous dialogue of Minucius Felix, _circa_ A.D. 160,
the speakers belong to the higher ranks; these under thinly disguised
names were probably actual personages well known in their day. The
scene and story of the writing, the class of argument brought forward,
all evidently issued from and were addressed to a highly cultured
circle.

In the writings of Justin Martyr, dating from about the middle of the
second century, are various references to the presence of wealthy and
cultured persons in the Christian congregation of Rome.

Clement of Alexandria and Tertullian, whose pictures of Christian life
belong to the latter years of the second century, bear ample testimony
to the same fact. Clement even wrote a special treatise entitled,
_What rich man can be saved?_ in which he refers not to pagans whose
conversion to Christianity was to be aimed at, but to those who were
Christians and at the same time wealthy.[58]

Tertullian again and again refers to the presence of the rich and the
noble in the Christian Churches, in such passages where he speaks of
thousands of every age and rank among the brethren--of officials of the
Empire, of officers of the imperial household, of lawyers, and even of
men of senatorial rank. In his passionate appeals, too, he singles out
fashionable ladies, and dwells on their costly dress and jewels.

But the most striking proof of the presence of many high-born and
wealthy members of the Christian Brotherhood in this congregation
dating from primitive times, after all exists in that wonderful City of
the Dead beneath the suburbs of Rome which is now being explored.

These Roman catacombs, as they are termed, in the large majority of
cases in the first instance began in the villa gardens of the rich, and
were, as time went on, enlarged by their owners in order to offer the
hospitality of the tomb to their poorer brothers and sisters.

As we shall see in our chapter dealing with these all-important
memories of early Roman Christianity, as cemetery after cemetery is
examined we come upon more and more relics in marble and stone which
tell of great and powerful Roman families who had thrown in their
lot with the despised and persecuted people who had accepted the
story of Jesus of Nazareth, and who, in common with the slave and
petty tradesman, shared in the hard trials of the Christian life, and
welcomed the joys and solace of the glorious Christian hope.

These striking memories of the Christian dead, who in life bore great
names and possessed ample means, date from the first century onward.
One of the more famous of these very early catacombs, the cemetery of
Domitilla, was the work of the members of the imperial family--of near
relatives of the Emperor Domitian.

Indeed the composition of the meetings of the Christian Brotherhood
varied very little from the days of Peter and Paul to the era of
the Emperor Constantine. The numbers of these assemblies, however,
increased with strange rapidity. There were, of course, in primitive
times but few of these assemblies. By the end of the third century
there were in the city of Rome some forty basilicas, each with its
separate staff of ministers and its individual congregation.[59]

WHAT WAS SAID AND DONE IN THESE ASSEMBLIES AND MEETINGS OF THE BRETHREN

Justin Martyr in his first _Apology_, which was written, before
A.D. 139, gives us a good picture of one of these primitive
Christian assemblies in Rome. The early date of this writing enables us
to form an accurate idea of the outward procedure of one of these most
important factors in the Christian life in the first half of the second
century.

Justin has been explaining the nature of the Eucharist; he then goes
on to say: “We continually remind each other of these things. And the
rich among us help the poor, and we always keep together; and for all
things which are given us, we bless the Maker of all through His Son
Jesus Christ, and through the Holy Ghost. And on the day called Sunday,
all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place,
and the ‘Memoirs of the Apostles’ or the writings of the Prophets are
read, as time allows; then when the reader has done, the president (of
the assembly), in an address, instructs, and exhorts to the imitation
of the good things (which had formed the subject of the address). Then
we all rise and pray; and when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and
water are brought, and the president offers prayers and thanksgivings
according to his ability; and the people assent, saying, Amen; and
there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which
thanks have been given; and to those who are absent a portion is sent
by the deacons.

“And they who are well-to-do and willing, give what each thinks fit;
and what is collected is deposited with the president, who succours the
orphans and widows, and those who through sickness or any other cause
are in want, and those who are in bonds, and the stranger sojourning
among us--in a word, takes care of all who are in need.

“Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly.”

Justin goes on to explain the reason of the choice of Sunday, dwelling
especially on the fact of Jesus Christ having risen from the dead on
that day.

Such is a sketch of the framework of one of these primitive meetings
of the Christian Brotherhood, drawn by an eye-witness some time in the
first half of the second century, at most thirty or forty years after
S. John’s death.

It is a little picture of a gathering composed of all sorts and
conditions of men and women, of slaves and freedmen, of artisans,
tradesmen, and soldiers, with a certain admixture of cultured and
wealthy persons, drawn together in the first instance by the pressure
of the burden of the awful sadness of life, by a belief, hazy at first,
but growing clearer and more definite every day, as the congregation
listened to these teachers who dwelt on the words and acts of the
Divine Redeemer who had visited this earth for their sakes.

For they came together to hear more of the Redeemer who had sojourned
so lately among men. They listened while the Christian teacher
who presided over the gathering explained the historic words, the
commandments and promises of that pitiful, loving Master who had
entered into their life; they would then partake of the mystic
Eucharist feast together; and as they partook of the sacred bread and
wine as He had bidden His followers to do in memory of Him and His
death and suffering for their sakes, they would feel He was indeed in
their midst, and that new life, new hope were theirs.

The dogmatic teaching in these early assemblies was very simple,
but strangely sublime. It was given in a language every one could
understand. It went home to the hearts of all--of the wise and
unlearned alike. The story of the Gospels, the wonderful words of
the Master--were at once the text and subject of every sermon and
exposition.

We have among our precious reliquiæ of the earliest days enough to show
us what was the groundwork of this primitive teaching.

An _atonement_ had been made by the Divine One who had come among men;
He had suffered for them, and by His suffering had redeemed them. In
all the earliest Christian writings which we possess, this great truth
is repeated again and again. With adoring gratitude the Christian
Brotherhood loved and worshipped Him. Jesus Christ was the centre of
all their hopes--the source of their strange, newly found happiness.[60]

Very briefly we will quote a very few of these important dogmatic
sayings pressed home to the believers when they met together.

_Clement of Rome_--_circa_ A.D. 95:

“Let us fix our eyes on _the blood of Christ_, and understand
how precious it is unto His Father, because being _shed for our
salvation_.”--_Ep._ i. 7.

“Let us fear the Lord Jesus whose blood was given for us.”--_Ep._ i. 11.

“Jesus Christ our Lord hath given His blood for us, by the will of God
... His life for our lives.”--_Ep._ i. 49.

_Ignatius of Antioch_--_circa_ A.D. 107-10.

“It is evident to me that you are living not after men but after Jesus
Christ who died for us, that believing on His death ye might escape
death.”--_Ep. ad Trall._ 2.

“Him (Jesus Christ) I seek, who died on our behalf; Him I desire, who
rose again (for our sake).”--_Ep. ad Rom._ 6.

After relating the passion of the Cross, Ignatius went on to say: “For
He suffered these things for our sakes (that we might be saved).”--_Ep.
ad Smyrn._ 1, 2.

“Even the heavenly beings, and the glory of the angels, and the rulers
visible and invisible, if they believe not in the blood of Christ (who
is God), judgment awaiteth them also.”--_Ep. ad Smyrn._ 6.

“Await Him ... the Eternal, the Invisible, who became visible for our
sakes; the Impalpable, the Impassible, who suffered for our sake, who
endured in all ways for our sake.”--_Ep. ad Polycarp_, 3.

_Epistle to Diognetus_,--early in second century,--an anonymous writing:

“He Himself took on Him the burden of our iniquities, He gave His own
Son as a ransom for us, the Holy One for transgressors, the blameless
One for the wicked, the righteous One for the unrighteous, the
incorruptible One for the corruptible, the immortal One for them that
are mortal.”

“For what other thing was capable of covering our sins than His
righteousness? By what other One was it possible that we, the wicked
and the ungodly, could be justified, than by the only Son of God?”

“Oh sweet exchange! Oh unsearchable operation! Oh benefits surpassing
expectation! that the wickedness of many shall be hid in a single
righteous One, and that the righteousness of One should justify many
transgressors!”

“Having therefore convinced us in the former time that our
nature was unable to attain to life, and having now revealed
the Saviour who is able to save even those things which it
was (formerly) impossible to save, by both these facts He
desired to lead us to trust in His kindness, to deem Him our
Minister--Father--Teacher--Counsellor--Healer--our Wisdom, Light,
Honour, Glory, Power and Life.”--_Ep. ad Diog._ ix.

_Shepherd_ of Hermas--written _circa_ A.D. 140.

“He Himself (the Son of God) then having purged away the sins of the
people, showed them the paths of life, by giving them the law which He
received from His Father.”

_Epistle of Barnabas_--written _circa_ A.D. 120-50:

“For to this end the Lord endured to deliver up His flesh to
corruption, that we might be sanctified through the remission of sins,
which is effected by His blood of sprinkling.”--_Ep. Barnabas_, v.

“If, therefore, the Son of God, who is Lord (of all things), and who
will judge the living and the dead, suffered, that His stroke might
give us life, let us believe that the Son of God could not have
suffered except for our sakes.”--_Ep. Barnabas_, vii.

“Thou shalt love Him that created thee, thou shalt glorify Him that
redeemed thee from death.”--_Ep. Barnabas_, xix.

_Justin Martyr_--writing between _circa_ A.D. 114 and A.D. 165:

“Isaiah,” wrote Justin, “did not send you to a laver, there to wash
away murder and other sins; but those who repented were purified by
faith through the blood of Christ, and through His death, who died for
this very reason.”--_Dial. with Trypho_, xiii.

Writing of Jesus Christ, Justin comments thus on the words written by
Moses as prophesied by the patriarch Jacob: “He shall wash his garments
with wine, and his vesture with the blood of the grape.” This signified
that “He (Jesus Christ) would wash those who believe in Him with His
own blood.”--_Dial. with Trypho_, liv.

“If, then, the Father of all wished His Christ to take upon Him the
curses of all, knowing that after He had been crucified and was dead,
He would raise Him up”....

“For although His Father caused Him to suffer these things in behalf of
the human family”....

“If His Father wished Him to suffer thus in order that by His stripes
the human race might be healed.”--_Dial. with Trypho_, xcv.

“And as the blood of the Passover saved those who were in Egypt,
so also the blood of Christ will deliver from death those who have
believed.”--_Dial. with Trypho_, cxi.

In well-nigh all these reliquiæ of the earliest Christian teaching,
copious use was made of that wonderful 53rd chapter of Isaiah, in which
the Hebrew seer sketched with a startling accuracy of detail some of
the leading features of the awful drama of the Divine Atonement for all
sin.[61] The scene of this drama was the storied Holy City, and the One
who made the great Atonement was He who on earth was known as Jesus
Christ and in heaven as the Son of God.

The above “Catena Aurea” (golden chain) of passages is taken from the
works we possess of the earliest teachers of Christianity who wrote
in the fifty years immediately following the passing of S. John the
beloved apostle, and they tell us exactly what was _the_ doctrine
pressed home to the Brotherhood in the early assemblies of Christians
of which we are here speaking.

There were other dogmas, no doubt, included in the teaching of these
early assemblies and meetings, such as the resurrection of the flesh;
the great reckoning before the Judge, at which even the just would
tremble were it not that the Judge was at the same time their Redeemer
and loving Friend. The unspeakable joys of Paradise, the garden of
their God and Saviour, were constantly dwelt upon, and the good glad
tidings would fall like dew from heaven upon the world-weary, sad-eyed
listeners.

But the great doctrine of the “Atonement,” at once simple and sublime,
so repeatedly pressed home in the above-quoted words of the earliest
teachers, was no doubt the strongest inducement which drew the
Christian folk to meet often together--was _the_ link which bound them
into one brotherhood, and knit them at the same time to the loving
Master.

It was a new preaching, this secret of the great love of God which
passeth understanding, and one that excited wonderful and soul-stirring
fears and hopes, and which filled the small dark corridors and
low-browed chapels of the Roman catacombs which the faithful often
used as meeting-homes for teaching and for prayer, with what seemed to
the groups of worshippers verily a Divine light; and to these early
Christian worshippers, the gloomy rough-hewn sleeping-places of the
dead, through which the pilgrim traveller now wanders and wonders,
seemed to them the very ante-chambers of heaven.

We have dwelt with some insistence upon the dogmatic teaching which
without doubt formed a part, and that by no means an inconsiderable
part, of the procedure of the primitive gatherings of Christians; for
it is often urged that the great bond which united the brethren of the
very early Church was only the beautiful mutual love and charity urged
in these gatherings.

There is some truth in this assertion. It was a new life which was
preached, and to a certain extent lived, by the Christian Brotherhood.
It was a life quite different to anything which had existed before the
Redeemer went in and out among men. We shall dwell on it presently; but
it must never be forgotten that the mainspring of this new life was the
doctrine of the Cross--of the _Atonement_ made by that Divine One who
had founded the new religion.

The belief in the supreme Divinity of Jesus, who had come from heaven
to redeem men, was the foundation story of the wonderful love and
boundless charity which lived in their midst,--a love which charmed
the hearts of all sorts and conditions of men, and attracted more and
ever more weary and heavy-laden men and women to join the company of
Christians.

ALMSGIVING

The duty and delight of materially assisting the poor and sad-eyed
brothers and sisters of the community became an absorbing passion in
the lives of very many of the rich and well-to-do members of each
congregation; and in populous centres the abundance of the alms
publicly contributed or privately given is a sure indication that many
well-to-do and even wealthy persons were at an early date numbered
among the Christians.

The splendid charities of the Church of the first days no doubt did
much to bring about the rapid progress of the religion of Jesus. There
was an intense reality in the love of the Christians of the first days
for one another. “See,” says Tertullian (_Apol._ xxxix.), quoting from
the pagan estimate of the new society, “how they love one another.” So
Cæcilius (in _Minucius Felix_, ix.) tells us “they love one another
almost before they are acquainted.”

Justin Martyr, in his picture already quoted of a Christian assembly
in the first half of the second century, speaks, as we have seen, in
detail of the destination of the alms collected.[62]

Tertullian, writing in the last years of the same century on what took
place at these meetings of the brethren, relates how “each of us puts
in a small amount one day in the month, or whenever he pleases, but
only if he pleases, and if he is able; for there is no compulsion in
the matter, every one contributing of his own free will. The amounts so
collected are expended on poor orphans, in support of old folk, ... on
those who are in the mines, or exiled, or in prison, so long as their
distress is for the sake of God’s fellowship.”

We notice how often it is repeated that all these offerings are purely
voluntary--the idea of communism[63] was absolutely unknown in the
Church of the first days. The fact that there were rich and poor is
ever acknowledged. This is especially marked in the tombs of the
catacombs, where the rich were laid to sleep in costly and even in
splendidly adorned chambers, leading out of the corridors where the
bodies of the poorer ones were tenderly and reverently buried, but in
far humbler and unadorned resting-places.

In less that fifty years after Tertullian’s time, Cornelius, bishop
of Rome, in a letter written _circa_ A.D. 250 (quoted by
Eusebius, _H. E._ vi. 43), gives us a fairly exhaustive catalogue of
the officials and the persons in distress supported by the voluntary
contributions of the Roman Brotherhood. He enumerates forty-six
presbyters, seven deacons, seven sub-deacons, forty-two acolytes,
fifty-two exorcists, readers, and doorkeepers, together with fifteen
hundred widows and persons in poverty maintained constantly by the alms
of the faithful.

It is evident from the references in writings of the second century
that almsgiving in the Church of the first days occupied in the hearts
of believers a higher place, a far more important position, than it
filled in the dogmatic teaching of mediæval and yet later times.

The immeasurable work effected by the blessed Redeemer is never
minimized by the earliest and most weighty of the Christian teachers,
as we have seen in our little chain of quoted passages; but it is
indisputable that they considered that something might be done by men
themselves. Alms, according to these early instructors, held a very
high position in the new beautiful life they taught men who loved the
Lord to strive after.

We will quote a few prominent examples of this very early teaching
which, of course, was pressed home to the Brotherhood who gathered
together in these primitive assemblies; and to a large extent we see
that this somewhat peculiar dogmatic teaching concerning the value of
almsgiving had a marked and striking effect upon the listeners.

For instance, in the _Didaché_ (Teaching of the Apostles), written in
the last years of the first century, we read:

“If thou possessest (anything) by thy hands, thou shalt give a ransom
for thy sins.”--_Didaché_, iv.

This was no new idea in Hebrew theology; see Dan. iv. 27: “Break off
thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by shoving mercy to the
poor.” See Prov. xvi. 6, and also Tob. xii. 8, 9.

So in the _Testaments of the XII. Patriarchs_, put out in the first
quarter of the second century:

“For in proportion as a man is pitiful to the poor, will the Lord be
pitiful towards him” (Zabulon 7).

“Almsgiving therefore is a good thing, even as repentance from sin.
Fasting is better than prayer, but almsgiving than both; and ‘love
covereth a multitude of sins,’[64] but prayer out of a good conscience
delivereth from death. Blessed is every man that is found full of
these. For almsgiving lifteth off the burden of sin.”--_2nd Epistle of
Clement_ (part of an ancient homily put out _circa_ A.D. 130
to 150).[65]

_S. Cyprian_ about the middle of the third century develops almsgiving
into a formal means of grace, and indeed assigns a distinct
propitiatory value to alms, representing them as a means of prolonging
the effectiveness of baptism and abolishing subsequent frailties.[66]

_Lactantius_--_Inst._ vi. 12--_circa_ end of fourth century:

“Mercy has a great reward (_magna est misericordiæ merces_), for God
promises to it that He will remit all sins.”

_S. Chrysostom_ speaks of this as “the medicine for our sins.”

In the _Apostolical Constitutions_, vii. 12 (probably put out in the
form that we possess them _circa_ the end of the fourth or early in the
fifth century), we read:

“If thou hast (acquired anything by the work of thy hands) give, that
thou mayest labour for the redemption of thy sins; for by alms and acts
of faith sins are purged away.”

All this is somewhat an exaggerated development of a teaching which
in the primitive Church undoubtedly elevated almsgiving to a chief
place in Christian practice; but that charity and kindness to the
poor and needy in primitive times often were regarded positively as
_a formal means of grace_, is clear from the weighty early references
just quoted, such honoured names as Cyprian and later even Chrysostom
appearing among the supporters of this view. That it was an exaggerated
estimate is, however, clear from the plain words of Paul in his
exquisite Psalm of Love (1 Cor. xiii.), where under the general term of
love or charity he expressly includes much besides mere almsgiving.

But, apart from this somewhat curious development and perhaps
exaggerated view, there remains the undisputed fact that almsgiving was
urged upon the primitive congregations of Christians with a force and
insistency quite unknown in mediæval and modern times; and the splendid
voluntary generosity to the poor and needy and forlorn on the part not
only of the well-to-do, but of all who had anything to give, however
little, was no doubt a most important element in the rapid extension
of the Christian religion. It demonstrated, as nothing else could, the
real and intense love of Christians one for the other. It was verily a
brotherhood, and constantly, even in the most exalted quarters,[67]
evoked the grudging admiration of the bitterest foes of the religion of
Jesus.

* * * * *

So numerous, so touching, so insistent are the early references here,
that it would be simply impossible to quote even a small part of them.
But a very few examples from early writings will, however, show what
was the nature of the exhortations and teaching here which we know were
pressed home in every one of these early gatherings of the Christian
Brotherhood.

The _1st Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians_ (_circa_ A.D.
90 or earlier) has been well described as matchless in early Christian
literature as an elaborate and effective piece of writing, lit up with
all the brotherly affection of the Church.

Such sentences as these occur in the Epistle: “Who did not proclaim
your splendid hospitality (to strangers)--you did everything without
respect of persons ... you are more ready to give than to take. Day and
night you agonized for all the Brotherhood, that by means of comparison
and care the number of God’s elect might be saved. You never rued an
act of kindness, but were ready for every good work.”

In the _Didaché_ (Teaching of the Apostles) we come across such
directions as--

“To every one that asketh thee give, and ask not back; for to all the
Father wishes to give of His own gracious gifts.”

“Blessed is he that giveth.... Let thine alms drop like sweat into
thy hands, so long as thou knowest to whom thou givest.” This
last injunction, from the way it is introduced, is probably a
reference to some unwritten traditional saying spoken by our Lord
Himself.--_Didaché_, i.

“Thou shalt not hesitate to give, nor in giving shalt thou
murmur.”--_Didaché_, iv.

“Thou shalt not turn away from the needy, but thou shalt share all
things with thy brother; and thou shalt not say that they are thine
own: for if ye are fellow partakers in that which is immortal, how much
more in things which are mortal.”--_Didaché_, iv.

_Aristides_--_circa_ A.D. 130-40:

“They (the Christians) love one another, and from the widows they do
not turn away their countenance, and they rescue the orphan ... and
he who has, gives to him who has not without grudging ... and if they
hear that any of their number is imprisoned or oppressed for the name
of their Messiah, all of them provide for his needs.... And if there is
among them a man that is poor and needy, and they have not an abundance
of necessaries, they fast two or three days, that they may supply the
needy with their necessary food.”[68]--_Apol._ xv.

_Hermas_--_Shepherd_--_circa_ A.D. 135-40:

“You know that you, servants of God, dwell in a foreign land, for your
city is far from this city. If, then, you know the city where you are
to dwell, why provide yourselves here with fields and costly luxuries?
He who makes such provision for this city has no mind to return to his
own city.... Instead of fields, then, buy souls in trouble as each of
you is able. Visit widows and orphans, and neglect them not; expend
on such fields and houses, God has given you your wealth and all your
gains. The Master endowed you with riches that you might perform such
ministries for Him.

“Far better is it to buy fields, possessions, houses of this kind.
Thou wilt find them in thine own city when thou dost visit it. Such
expenditure is noble and joyous: it brings gladness, not fear and
sorrow.”--Simil. i.

Harnack, _Mission, etc., of Christianity_ (book ii. chap. i.),
commenting on this passage of the _Shepherd_, has an interesting and
suggestive Note, in which he says: “For all the vigour of his counsel,
however, it never occurs to Hermas that the distinction between the
rich and the poor should cease within the Church. This is plain from
the next Similitude or Parable (ii.). The saying of Jesus, too, S. John
xii. 8, ‘The poor ye have always with you,’ shows that the abolition
of the distinction between rich and poor was never contemplated in the
Church.”

_Hermas_--_Shepherd_.--“Not hesitating as to whom you are to give or
not to give, for God wishes His gifts to be shared by all.”--Comm. 2.

“Rescuing the servants of God from necessities--being hospitable, for
in hospitality good-doing finds a field.”--Comm. 8.

_Polycarp_--_Epistle_ (written early in the second century):

“In love of the brotherhood, kindly affectioned one to another ... when
ye are able to do good, defer it not, for pitifulness delivereth from
death.”--_Epistle_, 10.

A short sketch of the practical side of the teaching current at these
meetings of the brethren will complete our description of these
primitive Christian gatherings. The teaching dwelt on duties for
the most part absolutely novel to the Roman world of the first and
second centuries of our era. The inescapable duties pressed home to
the listeners were duties generally quite unknown to noble, artisan,
or slave in Roman society of the first three centuries. If carried
out they would essentially change the old view of life current in all
grades of the Roman world.

As before, we draw our information exclusively from the remains of very
early Christian letters (Epistles) and tractates of well-known and
honoured teachers in the Brotherhood which have been preserved to us.

The practical side of the teaching current in the gatherings was very
largely based on the strange, beautiful, but perfectly novel saying of
the Founder of the religion. It was, in fact, a new language which was
used:

“_Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself._” The instructions given in
the early assemblies defined the term “neighbour,” and explained how
the love enjoined was to be especially shown.

Now in all the early Christian writings the persons to be helped in the
first place seem invariably to have been “_the widows and orphans_” of
the new Society; for example, _S. James_, the Lord’s disciple, writes
how “pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to
visit the fatherless and widow in their affliction,” etc. (i. 27).

_Hermas_--_circa_ A.D. 135-40--in his list of good deeds which
ought to be done, after faith and the fear of the Lord--love, concord,
words of righteousness, truth, patience--places “the helping widows,
looking after orphans.”--_Shepherd_, Comm. viii.

_Aristides_--_circa_ A.D. 130-40--has been already quoted.

_Clement of Rome_--_circa_ A.D. 90--gives as one of his quotations:
“He--the Master of the Universe--saith, ... Give judgment for the
orphan, and execute righteousness for the widows.”--_1 Epistle_, 8.

_Lactantius_--_circa_ last years of fourth century--in his catalogue
of the different kinds of benevolence and works of mercy which had
especially been enjoined on Christians, twice dwells on this peculiar
work, and then writes: “Nor is it less a great work of justice to
protect and defend orphans and widows who are destitute and stand in
need of assistance, and therefore that Divine Law prescribes this to
all,” etc.... And again: “For God, to whom everlasting mercy belongs,
commands that widows and orphans should be defended and cherished, that
no one through regard and pity for his loved ones should be prevented
from suffering death (_i.e._ martyrdom)” ... “but should meet it with
promptitude and faith, since he knows that he leaves his beloved ones
to the care of God, and that they will never want protection.” This
last telling argument repeated by Lactantius had been, no doubt,
frequently taught in the days of stress and trial.

These very early references might be multiplied; we find this
injunction again and again repeated. It is no exaggeration to assert
that among the poor and sad-eyed ones placed before the congregations
of believers to help, the poor widow and the orphan occupy the first
place.

_The Sick._--The visiting the sick and distributing the alms of the
brethren, public and private, were also urged as an inescapable
duty. This stood in the forefront of all their exhortations, and the
injunction was ever generously responded to. To quote references here,
where they are so very numerous, would be superfluous. Lactantius’
words, in his summary above referred to, will suffice to show what was
the mind of the Church, and how this wish of the Master’s had been
constantly urged.

Justin Martyr has well summarized the loved duty--“To undertake the
care and support of the sick, who need some one to assist them, is the
part of the greatest kindness, and is of great beneficence; and he who
shall do this, will both offer a living sacrifice to God, and that
which he has given to another for a time he will himself receive from
God for eternity.”--Justin, vi. 12.

So prominent a place did the giving of alms to the sick occupy among
the exhortations addressed to the Christians of the first days, that
the injunctions to succour the sick sufferers seem not infrequently
to have been extended beyond the circle of the “Household of faith.”
We find S. Cyprian, for instance, on the occasion of the great plague
of Carthage, A.D. 252, telling, in one of his addresses, his
audience that to cherish our own people was nothing wonderful, but
surely he who would become perfect must do more; he must love even his
enemies, as the Lord admonishes and expects.

“It is our duty not to fall short of our splendid ancestry.” In the
saintly bishop’s own grand untranslatable words--“Respondere nos decet
natalibus nostris.”[69] The Christians of Carthage, as their reply, at
once raised amongst themselves an abundant fund, and forming a company
for the succour of the sick, absolutely helped all without any inquiry
as to whether the sick sufferers were pagan or Christian.--Pontius,
_Life of Cyprian_.

Eusebius (_H. E._ ix. 8) gives a pathetic picture of the great
pestilence which raged at the end of the third century, and notices the
devoted behaviour of the Christians to all the sick and dying, without
reference to the sufferer’s creed.

This splendid altruism of the “Godless Galilean” was markedly referred
to by the Emperor Julian--“Not only their own poor, but ours do they
care for,” wrote the great Emperor; “_our poor_ lack our care,” was his
bitter reproach to paganism.--_Letter to Arsacius._

_Hospitality_ was another urgent recommendation pressed home by the
early Christian teachers to their flocks. Clement of Rome (quoted
above) in the first century dwells on this special virtue in his Letter
to the Corinthian Church.

The _Didaché_--_circa_ end of first century--dwells on this. “If he
who comes is a traveller, help him to the best of your ability” (chap.
xii.).

Much is said in this very early treatise on the duty of caring for
strangers, but care is specially enjoined to guard against any
imposture here.

_Hermas_ in the _Shepherd_ writes: “In hospitality, good-doing finds a
field” (Comm. viii.).

_Aristides_, quoted above, tells us how Christians “when they see the
stranger, bring him to their dwellings, and rejoice over him as over a
true brother.”

_Justin Martyr_ (quoted above), in his picture of a Christian meeting
on Sunday, especially directs that out of the alms contributed by the
faithful, among those who were to be succoured were “the strangers
sojourning amongst us.”--1 _Apol._ lxvii.

_Melito of Sardis_--so Eusebius, _H. E._ iv. 26, tells us--wrote a
treatise “on hospitality.”

_Cyprian_ expressly directs that the expenses of any stranger who may
happen to be in want, be paid out of certain moneys he had left for
that purpose.--_Ep._ vii.

Among other direct references to this duty may be quoted Tertullian,
_ad Uxor._ ii. 4, and the _Apost. Constit._ iii. 3; the Emperor Julian
in his Letter to Arsacius wishes the pagans would imitate these
Christian practices.

This striking and unique custom, which no doubt very largely
contributed to the feeling of Christian brotherhood, was, of course,
based upon the directions so often repeated in the New Testament
Epistles.

“Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have
entertained angels unawares,” Heb. xiii. 2. “Distributing to the
necessity of saints, given to hospitality,” Rom. xii. 13. “Use
hospitality one to another, without grudging,” 1 Pet. iv. 9. “Beloved,
thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren and to
strangers,” 3 John 5, etc.

This urgent recommendation to practise hospitality in the New Testament
Epistles of Peter and Paul, of John and the writer of the Epistle to
the Hebrews, repeated with insistence and earnestness by writers of
the second and third centuries, was, as Justin Martyr tells us in his
picture of the Sunday gathering of Christians, incorporated among the
special exhortations to the brethren urging them to generous almsgiving.

The duty of “hospitality” thus pressed home at these gatherings as
important enough to rank with the claims of the widow and the orphan
and the sick poor, needs a few words of explanation.

In the early days of Christianity it must be borne in mind that the
widely extended world of Rome was not as in mediæval and modern times,
made up of different nations and peoples, but that the Roman world
was all one, that men were fellow-subjects of one great Empire, and
that the passing to and fro from land to land was far more common than
in after times; and that Christians, whether belonging to Asia or to
Greece, to Italy or to Gaul, made up one great Brotherhood.

For a Christian coming into a strange city to find there at once a home
and a warm welcome, and if poor and needy, help and assistance, would
constitute a very powerful inducement to very many to join the new
Society in which lived such a spirit of loving brotherhood and kindness.

Special means of intercourse through letters and messages and other
means were provided. Cæcilius in _Minucius Felix_ (c. ix.), an early
writing, as we have said, belonging to the middle of the second century
or even earlier, especially tells us that “Christians recognize each
other by means of secret marks and signs, and love one another almost
before they are acquainted.”

It was to give effect to this far-reaching spirit of brotherhood that
the apostles and their successors insisted so earnestly upon the new
and beautiful duty of “hospitality.” It was a practical proof that
all Christians were really brothers and sisters--“that goodness among
the Christians was not an impotent claim or a pale ideal, but a power
which was developed on all sides, and was actually exercised in common
everyday life.”

We have dwelt at some length upon what were the principal objects to
which the alms of the Brotherhood, asked so earnestly at the various
weekly assemblies, were devoted; there were, however, other “causes”
pleaded for besides these--no doubt principally in such great centres
as Rome, where a proportion of rich and well-to-do persons formed part
of the little gatherings; of these, relief and assistance to “prisoners
of the faith” occupy a prominent place.

There were many Christians, especially in the more acute periods of
persecution, who were arrested and imprisoned by the government, and
not a few condemned to the harsh discipline of the mines. Justin Martyr
especially names assistance to imprisoned Christians as one of the
regular objects to which a portion of the collections at the “meetings”
was devoted. It was ever a matter of love, if not of absolute duty, to
help and succour these. “If,” wrote Aristides in his _Apology_ quoted
above, “the Christians learn that any one of their number is imprisoned
or is in distress for the sake of the Name of Christ, they should all
render aid to such a one in his necessity.”--_Apol._ xv.

See, too, among other references, Heb. x. 34; Tert. _ad Mart._ i., and
_Apol._ xxxix.

Another and special object of almsgiving pressed upon the faithful was
help to other and perhaps distant Churches who from one cause or other
were in want. We find this urged upon Christian congregations even in
apostolic days.

In S. Paul’s Epistles to the Galatians, Romans, and Corinthians we find
various appeals to the generosity of these early communities to assist
the Church at Jerusalem. The deep poverty of this famous Church we have
already suggested was probably owing to the attempt of the Jerusalem
Christians literally to carry out the idea of community of goods.

In the Letter of Dionysius of Corinth to the Roman Church written
_circa_ A.D. 170, quoted by Eusebius, _H. E._ iv. 23, we find
this generosity referred to as a well-known custom of the comparatively
wealthy Roman congregation. “From the very first,” wrote Dionysius,
“you have had this practice of aiding all the brethren in many ways,
and of sending contributions to many Churches in every city ... by
these gifts you keep up the hereditary custom of the Roman Christians,
a practice which your bishop, Soter, has not only kept up, but even
extended.” In the third century, Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria,
writing to Stephen, bishop of Rome, alludes to the generous help given
to the poor Churches of Syria and Arabia. “To them,” he says, “you send
help regularly.”--Euseb. _H. E._ viii. 5.

Ignatius, referring to this noble generosity of the Roman congregations
as early as the first years of the second century, styles the Church of
Rome as “the leader of love.”

Cyprian, in the middle of the third century, several times mentions how
the Church at Carthage, evidently a wealthy community, was in the habit
of sending help to other and needy communities.

But there was one department in the novel teaching pressed home by
the early Christian teachers which seems at once to have riveted the
attention of the listeners, and its universal acceptance at once won
extraordinary, possibly an undreamed of popularity in the Christian
ranks. It was an entirely new departure from any custom prevalent in
the world of Rome--the injunction reverently to care for _the bodies of
the dead poor_.

The Emperor Julian in his summary of what he considered the chief
points in the hated Christian system which had won them so many hearts,
especially calls attention to this. He wrote this remarkable comment
here:

“This godlessness (_i.e._ Christianity) is mainly furthered by its
charity towards strangers, and its _careful attention to the bestowal
of the dead_.”--_Letter to Arsacius_, in Soz. v. 15.

Lactantius in his review of the Christian virtues urged by the great
teachers of the new religion, and to a great extent practised in the
early centuries, gives a prominent and detailed notice of this pious
and loving custom, and strikingly writes as follows: “The last and
greatest office of piety is the burying of strangers and the poor,”
adding that the noblest pagan teachers of virtue and justice had never
touched at all upon this inescapable duty. These had left this, he
adds, quite out, because they were unable to see any advantage in it.

Some of these pagan teachers, he goes on to say, even esteemed burial
as superfluous, adding that it was no evil to lie unburied and
neglected.

The great fourth century writer proceeds at some length to give some
of the reasons which had influenced Christians so tenderly to care for
their brethren who had fallen asleep: “We will not suffer the image
and workmanship of God to lie exposed as a prey to beasts and birds,
but we will restore it to earth from which it was taken; and although
it be in the case of an unknown person, we will supply the place
of relatives, whose place, since they are wanting, let benevolence
take.”--Lactantius, _Inst._ vi. 12.

Aristides--middle years of second century--thus dwells upon the tender
solicitude of the Christian folk for their dead: “When one of their
poor passes away from the world, one of them (the brethren) looks after
him, and sees to his burial according to his means.”--_Apol._ xv.

Aristides is here referring to the private charity of individual
members of the community, which was often very lavish in the early
centuries. Tertullian, on the other hand, writing on the same duty of
caring for the brethren, includes the cost of “burying the poor” as
coming out of the common fund made up of the money contributed at the
public meetings of the Brotherhood.--_Apol._ xxxix.

As the amount required for these burials and the subsequent care
bestowed on the places of Christian sepulture was very considerable,
the public collections made in the assemblies were necessarily often
largely supplemented by private alms.

All this loving care for the remains of the deceased went home to
numberless hearts among the survivors of the loved, and evidently
ranked high among the reasons which attracted many into the ranks of
the Christian Brotherhood.

In our little picture of very early Christian life, Rome and its
powerful Church has been generally selected as the scene of the life in
question. In this primitive custom of reverent care for the dead,--a
care which embraced the very poor as well as the rich and well-to-do,
we discern the reasons which led to the first beginnings of the vast
city of the Christian dead,--the wonderful city known as the Roman
catacombs. This will be carefully described at some length in this
work: the building and excavating of the endless corridors, the private
chambers, the chapels and meeting-rooms, began even before the close
of the first century of the Christian era, and went on for some two
centuries and a half--the long-drawn-out age of persecution.

They constitute a mighty and ever-present proof of the accuracy of
much that has been advanced in the foregoing pages on the subject of
the life led--of the hopes and ideals cherished among the disciples of
Jesus in that first stage of anxious trial and sore danger.

The pictures painted below in the chapters treating of the catacombs
of Rome are admirable contemporary illustrations of what the writings
of Aristides, Tertullian, and Lactantius tell us of the solemn duty to
the dead which was insisted upon with such touching eloquence to the
primitive congregations of the faithful.

THE SLAVE IN EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

There was ever present in these early assemblies of Christians one
class of persons who had no rank, no place in Roman society,--a class
in which Cicero had declared that nothing great or noble could exist.
Slavery has been well characterized as the “most frightful feature of
the corruption of ancient Rome, and it extended through every class of
the community.” Economically, “the poor citizen found almost all the
spheres in which an honourable livelihood might be obtained, wholly or
at least in a very great part preoccupied by slaves.” Morally, “the
slave population was a hotbed of vice, and it contaminated all with
which it came in contact.”[70]

Now what position did the slave occupy in early Christian society? It
is quite clear that the primitive Christians had no idea of abolishing
slavery. It was part of the ancient society, and they accepted it even
amongst themselves--apparently made no effort to abolish it; but the
view they took of it in reality dealt a death-blow to the unhappy and
miserable institution. It is true that whilst Christianity gradually
modified its most painful and objectionable features by example and
by precept, it was only after long, long years that it succeeded by a
bloodless revolution to wipe away the awful curse--“The mills of God
grind slowly.”

But the New Testament simply directs slaves to be faithful and
obedient. In the letter to Philemon, Paul never even hints at the
release of the slave Onesimus, who was very dear to him.

In 1 Cor. vii. 20, Paul urges every man to abide in the calling (_i.e._
the state of life or condition) in which he was when he was called to
God; and even advises the slave to be content to remain a slave even
if the opportunity to become free presents itself; for this is the
interpretation which a chain of the best commentators gives to the
words “use it rather.” See, too, Eph. vi. 5-9; Tit. ii. 9; 1 Pet. ii.
18.[71]

The earliest Christian writings take the same view of the question
of slavery as we find in the Epistles of Paul and Peter. So in the
_Didaché_ we read: “Thou shalt not give directions when thou art in
anger to thy slave or thy handmaid, who trust in the same God, lest
perchance they shall not fear the Lord who is over you both; for He
cometh not to call men according to their outward position, but He
cometh to those whom the Spirit hath made ready. And ye slaves, ye
shall be subject to your masters as to God’s image, in modesty and
fear” (chap. iv.).

Aristides writes as follows: “But as for their servants or handmaids,
or their children if any of them have any, they (the Christians)
persuade them to become Christians, for the love that they have towards
them; and when they have become so, they call them without distinction
Brethren.”--_Apol._, chap. xv.

But although slavery as an institution[72] was left for the time
virtually untouched, Christianity in its own circles worked an
immediate and vast change in the condition of the slave: “It supplied a
new order of relations, in which the relations of classes were unknown,
and it imparted a new dignity to the servile classes.”[73]

In the assemblies of the Christians of the first days on which we have
been dwelling, the social difference between master and slave was
quite unknown. They knelt side by side when they received the Holy
Eucharist. They sat side by side as the instructions were given and the
words of the Lord Jesus were expounded. Their prayers ascended together
to the mercy-seat of the Eternal. While not unfrequently a slave was
promoted to be the teacher; the highest offices in the congregation[74]
were now and again filled by chosen members of the slave class.
They suffered with their masters, and shared with them the glory of
martyrdom.

The Acts of the Martyred Slaves were read to the congregations of
the faithful, and the highest honour and veneration was paid to
their memory. The slaves Blandina of Lyons, Felicitas of Carthage,
Emerentiana of Rome the foster-sister of Agnes, the famous martyr--are
names which deservedly rank high in the histories of the early heroines
of the Church.

But although slavery was still recognized in the new Society which
outwardly made no abrupt changes, which desired no sudden and violent
uprooting in the old Society, a marvellous change passed over the
ordinary conception of the slave.

An extract from a letter of Paulinus of Nola to Sulpicius Severus,
the disciple and biographer of S. Martin of Tours (_circa_ the last
years of the fourth century), will give some idea of the regard so
largely entertained by Christian thinkers for the slave members of
the community. Thanking Sulpicius for a young slave he had sent him,
Paulinus of Nola, recognizing in the slave an earnest and devout soul,
writes to his friend as follows: “He has served me, and woe is me that
I have allowed him to be my servant--that he who was no servant of sin,
should yet be in the service of a sinner! Unworthy that I am, every
day I suffered him to wash my feet; and there was no menial duty he
would not have performed had I allowed him, so unsparing was he of his
body--so watchful for his soul. Ah, it is Jesus Christ that I venerate
in this young man; for surely every faithful soul proceeds from God,
and every humble man of heart comes from the very heart of Christ.”[75]

There is little doubt but that this authoritative teaching of the
Christian masters in the matter of the perfect equality of the slave in
the eyes of God, and the consequent tender and often loving treatment
meted out to the Christian members of the despised and downtrodden
class, gravely misliked the more thoughtful among the pagan aristocracy
of Rome, and that this teaching and practice of Christians in the case
of the vast slave class in the pagan Empire ranked high among the
dangers which they felt threatened the existence of the old state of
things. Grave considerations of this kind must have strongly influenced
the minds of men like Pius and Marcus and their entourage, before they
determined to carry out their bitter policy of persecution.

The Romans of the old school could have well afforded to regard with
comparative indifference the enfranchisement of any number of Christian
slaves. Freedmen, especially in the imperial household, were very
numerous in the days of the Antonines. But the teaching that these
slaves--_while still slaves_--were their brethren, and ought to be
treated with love and esteem, was a new and disturbing thought in the
Empire of the great Antonines.

* * * * *

Lecky, in his _History of European Morals_ (chap. iv.), has a fine
passage in which he sums up the great features of the new movement of
Christian charity, and its results on the world at large. It runs as
follows:

“There is no fact of which an historian becomes more steadily or more
painfully conscious than the great difference between the importance
and the dramatic interest of the subjects he treats. Wars or massacres,
the horrors of martyrdom or the splendour of individual prowess, are
susceptible of such brilliant colouring that with but very little
literary skill they can be so portrayed that their importance is
adequately realized, and that they appeal powerfully to the emotions
of the reader. But this vast and unostentatious movement of charity,
operating in the village hamlets and in the lonely hospital, staunching
the widow’s tears and following all the windings of the poor man’s
griefs, presents few features the imagination can grasp, and leaves no
deep impression upon the mind. The greatest things are those which are
most imperfectly realized; and surely no achievements of the Christian
Church are more truly great than those which it has effected in the
sphere of charity. For the first time in the history of the world it
has inspired many thousands of men and women, at the sacrifice of all
worldly interests, and often under circumstances of extreme discomfort
or danger, to devote their entire lives to the single object of
assuaging the sufferings of humanity. It has covered the globe with
countless institutions of mercy, absolutely unknown to the whole pagan
world. It has indissolubly united in the minds of men the idea of
supreme goodness with that of active and constant benevolence.”

The foundation stories of all this vast movement of charity and
altruistic love were laid in the early years of Christianity.

The assemblies--the meetings together of the Christians of the first
days--constructed and developed, as we have seen, the laws of charity;
indicating the persons who were to be assisted, suggesting, too,
the means and resources out of which the sufferers--the forlorn and
needy--might be helped and comforted in life and in death.

All that happened subsequently--the mighty organizing work of great
masters of charity, such as Basil of Cappadocian Cæsarea, and later
of members of the monastic orders--was simply the development, the
expansion, the application to individual needs of the primitive
ordinances of the first days which we have been sketching
out,--ordinances all founded upon the advice, the injunctions, the
commands which we find in early Christian writings such as the
_Didaché_, the _1st Epistle_ of Clement of Rome, the _Apology_ of
Aristides, the _Shepherd_ of Hermas, the writings of Justin Martyr and
Minucius Felix, and a very little later in the more elaborate works of
Irenæus, Clement of Alexandria, and Tertullian, and repeated in the
first half of the third century by eminent teachers such as Origen and
Cyprian of Carthage; all primarily based more or less exactly upon the
words of the Lord Jesus and of His own immediate disciples.

In the primitive assemblies of the Christian Brotherhood these
things formed the groundwork of the instructions and exhortations of
the teachers and preachers, and were united with the dogma of the
Atonement, with the tidings of immortality, the promises of bliss and
eternal peace in the life beyond the grave.

Entering into one of these early assemblies held in an upper chamber or
courtyard of a wealthy Christian brother, or in one of those dark and
gloomy chambers of the catacombs, “we step,” as it has been well said,
“into a whole world of sympathy and of love.”

DIFFICULTIES IN ORDINARY LIFE AMONG THE EARLY CHRISTIANS

But the rapt moments enjoyed by the men and women who met together in
these primitive assemblies soon passed. The perfect realization of
brotherhood, the sharing in the mystic Eucharist, the fervent prayers,
the dwelling on the sunlit words of their Divine Master, the earnest
and pressing injunctions to be generous in charity and almsgiving for
the benefit of the forlorn and sick in their company, the feeling that
the unseen presence of the Lord was all the while in their midst,--all
these things contributed to the joy and gladness which permeated each
little assembly; every one who assisted at one of these meetings could
whisper in his or her heart the words of the “apostle” on the Mount of
Transfiguration--“Lord, it is good for us to be here.”

But when the gathering dispersed, a reaction must have quickly set in.
From that atmosphere of sympathy, of love and hope, they passed at once
into the cold, hard, busy world--into family life--into the workshop,
the study, the barrack, and the Forum--all coloured with--permeated by
that system of gross and actual idolatry which entered into every home,
every trade and profession of the Roman Empire. What was to be their
conduct? how were Christians to behave in a world wholly given up to
an idolatry they knew was false, and utterly hateful to the Lord whose
presence they had just left?

The difficulties of a believer’s life in the early Christian centuries
must have been terrible; and it must be borne in mind that these
difficulties were not occasional, but of daily, almost of hourly
occurrence. To enumerate a few:

1. _In the family_, in domestic life. Consider the position of
a Christian slave--of a son or daughter--of a wife--in a pagan
family. What scenes of strain and estrangement if one member was a
Christian and the household generally clung to the old Roman religion!
The son or daughter might wish to be Christ’s disciple, and yet
shrink from “hating father and mother, brothers and sisters.” What
constant contests would the Christian have to endure--what bitter
reproaches--what perpetual danger of giving way and so endangering the
immortal soul! What share could the Christian member of a pagan family
take in the ordinary business and pleasures of the everyday existence,
to say nothing of the extreme peril to which a member of the sect
would be constantly subject of being denounced as a Christian to the
authorities, who were often too ready to listen to the informer?

2. _In Trade._--Many commercial occupations were more or less closely
connected with idol-worship; to say nothing of the makers and
decorators of idol-images, a trade that manifestly was impossible for
a Christian to be occupied in, there were hosts of artisans employed
in the great arenas where the public games were held; then, too, there
were the actors--the gladiators--those engaged in the schools and
training-homes of these. What were such persons to do?

3. In the ordinary _pleasures of the people_ in which such multitudes
took the keenest delight, was the Christian to stand aloof from all
these? Was the Christian to attract a painful and dangerous notoriety
by refusing to share in such dearly loved amusements, which with rare
exceptions were positively hateful to every Christian’s conscience?

4. Was the civil servant or the lawyer to abandon his calling in which
the worship of and reverence for the gods of Rome played so prominent
a part? Was the soldier, or still more the officer of the Legions,
to abandon his post and desert his colours, rather than acquiesce in
the daily service and adoration of the gods of Rome. Was he to refuse
to pay the customary homage to the awful Cæsar, when the slightest
disrespect or failure in homage to this sovereign master, who claimed
the rank of Deity, would be construed into treason and disloyalty?

5. _Education._--Could a Christian still continue to be a teacher of
the young, seeing that in all the manuals of education a knowledge of
the old gods still worshipped in Rome--their myths, their prowess,
their various attributes--was carefully taught? The very festivals and
sacred days had to be carefully observed by them, since it was by means
of these the teachers’ fees were reckoned.

All such and many other like questions had to be considered and weighed
by the Christian converts living in the world of Rome. Very thorny and
rough was the path which had to be travelled by every earnest Christian
in his way through life.

* * * * *

A striking and eloquent apologia for or explanation of the reasons
which guided many of the early Christian teachers to advocate a certain
feeling of toleration in various circumstances of everyday life may be
quoted here:

“The (Roman) Empire was originally developed quite apart from
Christianity under the shadow of the worship of the old false gods.
Everything in it bore the stamp of idolatry. Its laws and its customs,
first framed by patricians who were at once priests and lawgivers, then
consolidated by Emperors who ranked first and foremost as sovereign
pontiffs of the idol-worship, everything was coloured with and
permeated by polytheism. Art--Letters--private customs--all were pagan.
There was no public monument but was placed under the guardianship of
some heathen deity. No poem was composed without special reference to
an idol god; no feast began without a libation to an idol; no household
omitted the inescapable duty which directed that a sacred fire should
burn before the household gods (Lares). Thus absolutely independent
of Christianity, such a civilization must needs be intensely hostile
to the new faith, and its hostility never faltered one instant.
Differing here from the fixed rule of universal toleration, Roman
society from the very first displayed towards Christianity the
bitterest contempt--insulting treatment--persecution. The religion
of Jesus grew up and spread under circumstances of general ignominy
and hatred ... living in such a highly civilized community--mighty
and indeed all-powerful--the Church of Christ destroyed nothing,
adopted everything, quietly correcting, gently changing and reforming
everything, graving the Cross of its Founder on all the institutions of
pagan Rome; breathing its inspiration by degrees into all its laws and
customs.”[76]

VII

THE ASCETIC AND THE MORE PRACTICAL SCHOOLS OF TEACHING

The members of the Christian Brotherhood were not left without guidance
as to their behaviour in the world of Rome. There were _two schools_
among the Christian teachers of authority in the primitive Church.

The one which we will term the school of “Rigourists” or “ascetics”
found a brilliant and able exponent in the stern African Father,
Tertullian, who taught and wrote in the latter years of the second
and the earlier years of the third centuries. From the burning and
impassioned words of this famous African teacher we can form a
generally accurate idea of what was taught and pressed home in the
school of “Rigourists.”

No compromise was ever suggested by these hard, stern teachers--no “via
media” was even hinted at.

The artisan must forsake his calling if it even was connected in the
most remote degree with idol-worship,[77] with the games loved of
the people, with anything which appeared antagonistic to any of the
Master’s commands. These words must be understood in their strict
literal sense, and must be obeyed.

The soldier must abandon his colours, the civil servant his profession.
The slave must at all risks refuse his obedience when that obedience
involved acquiescence in any form of idolatry. The Christian wife,
the son or daughter in a pagan family, must gently but firmly decline
to share even in the formal ancestral worship, or to be present at
the public games of the arena, or the performances in the theatre. In
their dress and ornaments, in their very language, in their hours of
play and work, they must hold themselves aloof. We may picture to
ourselves how in many a pagan household, in the Forum, in the army and
civil service, gentle, pitying men and women would be found who would
shield and shelter these seemingly fanatical and earnest adherents of a
despised religion; but in many cases there would be no loving, pitying
ones who would strive to throw a kindly veil over what seemed to them
such strange, such unpatriotic and even disloyal conduct. Then would
assuredly follow arrest--imprisonment--exile--the deadly mines, where
the condemned toiled in a hopeless, dreary captivity. Not unfrequently
torture and death would be the guerdon of the devoted Christian under
circumstances of awful pain and mortal agony.

It is out of this class that the martyrs mostly came. It was to
embolden and encourage these that the little known “Schools of
Martyrdom” were formed, where very earnest Christians were trained to
endure all and suffer for the Name’s sake.[78]

The ascetics, however, were in the minority. There was another school
in the primitive Church, strict certainly in its instructions, but
more ready to make allowances; less uncompromising in its views of the
everyday Christian life; less literal in its interpretation of the
Divine Master’s words.

This gentler and more practical school is well represented in the
works still preserved to us of several of the great teachers of early
Christianity. A very conspicuous example of this school of teaching is
the famous Dialogue put together by the North African Latin writer,
Minucius Felix. The generally received date of the writing is _circa_
A.D. 160, in the reign of the Emperor Marcus Antoninus. It is
a work of peculiar charm. One scholar terms it “a golden Book”; another
(Renan) styles it “the pearl of Apologetic literature.”

It is cast in the form of a dialogue held by three persons on the then
beautiful seashore of Ostia. The speakers are real historic characters
of some rank and position in the Roman world in the middle years of
the second century. The arguments adduced by the pagan Cæcilius are
supposed to be a reproduction of a lost work of Fronto, the tutor and
friend of the Emperor Marcus. The refutation of Octavius the wealthy
Christian merchant, which follows and which convinced Cæcilius of the
truth of the new faith, is the principal piece in the work and the part
to which reference is specially made here, and it admirably voices many
of the views of the second and gentler school of early Christianity.
The criticism of Renan on the view of Christianity taken by Octavius
is striking, and fairly accurate. It is, he says, “the conception of
the new religion of amiable advocates wishful to enrol in the Christian
ranks, men of culture and position. Such men as the Octavius of the
Dialogue would never have written the Gospels or the Apocalypse; but,
on the other hand, without such liberal interpreters, the Gospels, the
Apocalypse, and the Epistles of Paul would have never penetrated beyond
the circle of a narrow sect, and in the long run the sect of Christians
would have disappeared.” “Minucius Felix,” the great French writer,
goes on to say, “represented in those early years the preacher of Nôtre
Dâme (in Paris) in our own time, addressing men of the world.”[79]

Christianity, in the eloquent presentment of Octavius, by no means
requires the believer to put aside the philosophers and pagan writers
whose works he admired. In the argument of Octavius, Christian teaching
lives in the pages of Aristotle and Plato. He points out with rare
skill and ingenuity that the new religion makes no claim on men to
give up their callings and professions; for instance, advocates like
Minucius, the author of “the Dialogue,” never dream, save in times
of vacation, of leaving the Forum the scene of their life-work.
Christians, like other men, busy themselves with the same occupations;
so society may surely accept them without any scruples. The cultivation
of Art--the study of Letters--are by no means incompatible with the
profession of Christianity. The religion of Jesus uses all these
things, and using them sanctifies them.

Eminent teachers, such as Clement of Alexandria at the close of the
second century in his _Pædagogus_, give directions to believers to
enable them to live a Christian life in the world. Origen, in many
respects a “Rigourist,” is far from emulating Tertullian in his stern
denunciations and warnings; and even such men as the saintly Cyprian,
who closed his beautiful life by a voluntary martyrdom, shows by his
own example that there were even times and seasons when a Christian by
flight might rightly avoid arrest and suffering for the Name’s sake.

In this gentler, more accommodating school it was clear that heathen
art was not forbidden. The decoration of even the earlier sepulchral
chambers in the Roman catacombs plainly indicates this freedom.

That this policy of the gentler school of early teaching, which
countenanced, perhaps suggested, many allowances, especially in
matters of purely ceremonial idolatry, was adopted by the majority of
believers, is clear from the numbers of Christians who we know lived in
the imperial court, served in the army, and occupied positions in the
civil service.

For instance, in the imperial court, in the days of S. Paul, we meet
with salutations from Christians in Cæsar’s household (Phil. iv. 22).

The well-known “graffito” on the Palatine, of the caricature of a
crucifix, is an indication that there were Christians among the
imperial pages in the reign of Marcus,[80] A.D. 161-80.

Irenæus (iv. 30) in the last quarter of the second century expressly
writes as follows: “And what of those who in the royal palace are
believers?”

Marcia, the favourite of Commodus, if not a Christian, was more than
kind to the Christian sect; that many Christians were in her circle is
certain. Even Tertullian testifies (_Apol._ xxxvi.) to the fact that
there were Christians in the palace of the Emperor Septimius Severus,
A.D. 193-212.

In the court of Alexander Severus (A.D. 222-35) were many
Christians; and it has been supposed, not without some reason, that the
Emperor himself was secretly a believer.

Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria (quoted in Euseb. _H. E._ vii. 10),
writing of the favourable disposition of the Emperor Valerian towards
Christians in the earlier part of his reign, A.D. 253, says:
“All his house (court) was filled with pious persons; it was indeed a
congregation of the Lord.”

In the first part of Diocletian’s reign, A.D. 284-96, the
court of Nicomedia was in great measure composed of Christians; the
wife and daughter of the Emperor were believers.

From this chain of references to the presence of Christians in the
imperial court from the days of S. Paul to the latter years of the
third century, we are compelled to conclude that large allowances
on the part of the Emperor were not unfrequently made to the sect,
and even that not a few concessions outwardly to take part in the
ceremonies of official paganism must have been allowed to the Christian
courtier all through the period when Christianity was an unlawful and
forbidden religion.

In the army a similar spirit of mutual allowance and concession must
have been often shown. It is clear that from the very first there were
not a few Christian soldiers in the Legions. There must have been
many cases in which the superior officers connived at the scruples of
Christian soldiers; while, on the other hand, the Christian Legionary
must have consented generally to share in the more public and official
ceremonies in which the old worship of the gods was inextricably mixed
up. Nowhere were the difficulties, however, for believers more acute
than in the army, and the slightest ill-will or pagan bigotry on the
part of the superior officer made the position of a Christian soldier
absolutely untenable even when the soldier belonged to what we have
termed the gentler and more accommodating school of Christian teaching.
Martyrs in the army, it has been noticed, were relatively more numerous
than in the civil callings.[81]

The civil service contained undoubtedly many Christians in the early
centuries of the era; see Aristides (_Apol._ xv.), who, writing of
Christians, says: “Where they are judges they judge righteously.”
Tertullian refers to the presence of Christians in all ranks, and
states how “they could be found in the palace, in the Senate, and
in the Forum” (_Ad. Nat._ i. 1 and _Apol._ i.). Cyprian, Ep. lxxx.
1, and other early authorities could be quoted here. Eus. _H. E._
viii. 1, specially mentions how provinces were occasionally ruled by
Christian governors, and calls attention to a Phrygian city whose whole
population including officials were Christians. He was writing of the
last years of the third century. Such Christian officials must have
had great allowances made to them, and they must have often availed
themselves of the licence permitted to believers on the occasion
of purely State ceremonials, which were literally permeated with
references to the old State religion.

Instances and examples from the Old Testament books were adduced by
the teachers of the gentler school of Christian life in support of the
allowances made to believers to retain their court appointments and
civil service offices, and to carry on their professions in spite of
the idolatrous associations connected with these offices and callings.

Great saints such as Daniel--revered patriarchs such as Joseph--had
been ministers of mighty idol-worshipping sovereigns, and must have
been present at and given a certain countenance to official pagan
ceremonies. Naaman, the eminent servant of the King of Syria, after he
had accepted the worship of the God of Israel, even asked the great
prophet Elisha permission to accompany his royal master into the temple
of the god Rimmon, and to pay obeisance to the Syrian idol on State
occasions; and asked that he might be forgiven for this apparent act of
idolatry. In reply, Elisha simply bade him “go in peace” (2 Kings v.
18-19).

But in spite of these kindly allowances, these gentler rules and
directions, the condition of Christians, even for those, and they
certainly were in the majority, who followed the teaching of the more
kindly and lenient school, was very hard and difficult. In the family
life--in public life, the searchings of heart of a true believer must
have been often very acute and distressing, and their position most
precarious; and in those times when a wave of pagan fanaticism swept
over the imperial court, the province, or the city, no maxims of
earthly prudence and caution, however carefully followed out, would
have been able to save them from prosecution; and prosecution was
invariably followed by the breaking up of their homes, by rigorous
imprisonment, confiscation of their property, loss of rank and
position, too often by torture and death.

To turn once more to the sterner and smaller school of “Rigourists,”
for these, after all, were “les âmes d’élite” of the Christians in the
first three centuries; in later times such men and women possibly were
termed fanatics, they have been often branded as wild and unpractical
persons; but it was to these heroic souls after all that in great
measure Christianity owed its final victory.

The wonderful and rapid spread of Christianity noticeable after the
Milan toleration Edict of Constantine, A.D. 313, has often
been commented upon with surprise. From being a persecuted and despised
cult, Christianity became, long before the fourth century had run
its course, _the religion_ of the Empire; it had previously gained
evidently the hearts of the people in well-nigh all the provinces of
the mighty Empire.

Now no imperial edicts--no mere favour and patronage of the Emperor and
his court, could ever have won for Christianity that widespread and
general acceptance among the people so noticeable within fifty years of
the Milan proclamation of Constantine.[82] _Something_ more was needed.
For a little over two hundred years the Christians had been sowing
the seeds of a new and nobler view of life--“it had gradually taught
the supreme sanctity of love--it had presented an ideal destined for
centuries to draw around it all that was greatest as well as all that
was noblest on earth; and one great cause of its success was that it
produced more heroic actions and formed more upright men than any other
creed.... Noble lives crowned by heroic deaths were the best arguments
of the infant Church.”[83]

There is no doubt but that a deep impression had been gradually
made upon the masses (_i.e._ the people generally of the Empire) by
the undaunted behaviour under suffering, of the confessors in the
two centuries which followed the death of Peter and Paul; and this
impression was deepened by the events connected with the last terrible
persecution of Diocletian. The extent of this last onslaught, the awful
severity of its edicts, the fearful thoroughness with which these
edicts were carried out, the numbers, the constancy and brave patience
of the confessors, went home to the hearts of the indifferent; it
affected even the enemies of the Church, and brought about a complete
revulsion of feeling towards the once hated and despised sect.

And it must be remembered that the examples of the marvellous endurance
of suffering, the constancy, the brave patience, the heroic deaths,
were drawn in a vast majority of conspicuous cases from the school of
Rigourists, from that company of men and women of intense, perhaps of
exaggerated earnestness, who listened to and obeyed the burning words
of a Tertullian or an Hippolytus, rather than to the gentler counsels
of a Minucius Felix and the teachers who pointed out to Christians a
way of living in the world which only rarely required such tremendous
sacrifices as home and family, career and profession, even life
itself--things very dear to men.

Surely no just historian would dare to speak slightingly of these
splendid lives of utter sacrifice of self, when he reflects on the
power which such lives have exercised over their fellow-men. The debt
which Christianity owes to this stern school of Rigourists is simply
measureless.

In the last half of the third century there arose a Christian poet--the
first great songman who had appeared since the famous singers of
the Augustan age had passed away. The popularity of Prudentius has
been enduring; for centuries in many lands his striking and original
poems have been read and re-read. Among his poems the most eagerly
sought after have been the hymns descriptive of and in praise of
the martyrs for the “Name’s” sake. These loved poems are known as
“_Peri-Stephanôn_”--the Book of the (Martyrs’) Crowns.

It is the halo of glory surrounding these martyrs or confessors that
especially strikes the historian. We see in these popular poems what a
profound, what a lasting impression the sufferings of the martyrs had
made on the peoples of the Roman Empire. The saint-sufferers, men or
women, became soon an object of something more than reverence.

The heroic personages of Prudentius belong to no one land, to no
solitary nationality. Nowhere was the truth of the well-known saying
that “the blood of the martyr was the seed of the Church” more
conspicuously exemplified than in the songs of Prudentius. It has been
remarked with great force and truth that in the burning lilts of this
great Spanish poet of the later years of the fourth century, we must
perforce recognize something more than the inspiration of a solitary
individual. We seem to hear in his impassioned words the echoes of the
voice of the people.[84]

VIII

WHAT THE RELIGION OF JESUS OFFERED IN RETURN FOR THE HARDSHIPS
CHRISTIANS HAD TO ENDURE IN THE EARLY CENTURIES

Such was the life of a Christian for nearly two hundred and fifty years
after the deaths of Peter and Paul at Rome.

For _all_, as we have urged, even for the majority who were disciples
of the gentler, less exacting school of teaching, but who generally
accepted the yoke and burden of Christ, the life must have been very
hard and difficult, at times even full of danger; while for _some_,
_i.e._, for the disciples of the school of “Rigourists,” so hard--so
austere--so full of nameless perils, that men now can scarcely credit
that any could really have lived so difficult, so painful a life--could
have listened to and striven in real earnest to obey such rules as the
great Rigourist master, Tertullian, laid down for the faithful; as, for
instance:

“Fast--because rigid fasting is a preparation for martyrdom; tortures
will have no material to work on; your dry skins will better resist the
iron claws; your blood, already exhausted, will flow less freely.”[85]

“Women, shun the marriage bond. To what purpose will you bear children,
seeing you are longing to be taken out of this sinful world, and you
are desirous to send your children before you[86] (to glory).”

“Ye women (take heed how you adorn yourselves), for I know not how
the wrist that is accustomed to the (gemmed) bracelet will endure the
roughness of the chain. I know not how the leg that has rejoiced in
the golden anklet will endure the harsh restraint of the iron fetters.
I fear the neck hung round with a chain of pearls and emeralds will
leave scanty room for the sword of the executioner.” “Dear sisters,
let us meditate on hardships, then when they come to us we shall not
feel them; let us give up luxuries and we shall not regret them; for
Christians now, remember, pass their time not in gold, but in iron. At
this moment are the angels weaving for you robes of martyrdom.”[87]

* * * * *

But in return for all this, Christianity offered much--in truth, a
splendid guerdon for the life of sacrifice. In the first place, the
Christian was delivered from the dread spectre which constantly haunted
the life of the pagan--_the fear of death_. Throughout life, sleeping
and waking, to the pagan of all ranks and orders, death was an enemy.
What the men of the pagan Empire in the early Christian centuries felt
in respect of the great universal foe--what they thought of it--is well
shown in the epitaphs on the pagan tombs of the first, second, and
third centuries.[88]

Complete freedom from this ever-present dread was the immediate reward
received by the believer: so far was death from being an enemy, that to
the Christian it appeared as the best and most longed for friend. Again
and again the Church was compelled to restrain rather than to encourage
candidates for martyrdom. From Paul, who wrote how “he desired to
depart and be with Christ, which was far better” (Phil. i. 23); from
Ignatius, whose passionate desire for a martyr’s death appears and
reappears, in his Letter to the Romans, in such words as “it is good
for me to die for Jesus Christ, rather than to reign over the farthest
bounds of the earth”; “Suffer me to receive the pure light when I
come thither, then I shall be a man indeed”; “Let me be an imitator
of the passion of my God” (_To the Romans_, vi.); from the thousand
epitaphs in the catacomb tombs, which we can still read, we gather this
knowledge--the absolute freedom of the Christian from that fear of
death which weighed so heavily upon all pagan society.

The very expressions used by the disciples of the first centuries
when speaking of the dread enemy,[89] bear curious witness to the new
relation of the believer to the ancient foe of man; they spoke of death
as “a passage into life”--as “a sleep.” The spot where the dead were
laid was now termed “a cemetery”--“a place of sleeping”; burial was
called “depositio”--the body laid up as it were in trust.

Cyprian the saintly, the martyr Bishop of Carthage, well voices
the feelings of Christians in the matter of death the friend:[90]
“Let us think what we mean when we speak of the presence of Christ
(after death), of the increasing hosts of our friends, the loved, the
reverenced, the sainted who are there. Cyprian cannot even mourn the
departed--he only misses them as friends gone on a long journey. He is
unable to bear the putting on black garments of mourning, in memory
of those who wear the fadeless white.” “Put the terror of death quite
away--think only of the deathlessness beyond.” “Let us greet the day
which gives to each of us his own country ... which restores us to
paradise. Who that has lived in foreign lands would not hasten to go
back to his own country?... We look on paradise as our country.”

The wondrous joy which came to the Christian in the assemblies we have
been picturing--the fact of the new Brotherhood--the feeling of the
presence of the Master in their midst, watching over them--has been
already dwelt upon at some length.

The blessed consciousness of _the forgiveness of all sin_, the
knowledge that in repentance and in prayer they could ever wash anew
their scarred robes white in the blood of the Lamb, was a source of
perpetual and ever-recurring joy to the earnest Christian. The doctrine
of the atonement ever would give them constant comfort and confidence
in all the difficulties and dangers of common everyday life--“Though
their sins were as scarlet they would become white as snow,” was an
ancient Hebrew saying of Isaiah. It was one of the precious treasures
inherited by the Christian from the Jewish Church. And in the sorely
harassed and tempted life of the world of Rome the words would be
often repeated by the believers, with the new striking Christian
addition--“when washed in the blood of the Lamb,” and the memory of the
beautiful saying would ever supply fresh courage for the conflict.

* * * * *

Perhaps the most powerful and sustaining of all the Christian beliefs,
the one that never for an instant was absent from their thoughts, was
the _hope_--aye, more than hope, the certainty that bliss indescribable
awaited the soul of the happy redeemed _the moment_ it quitted the
body--“To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise”--a wonderful promise,
indeed, of the Redeemer, which must have brought ineffable sweetness
and repose into thousands of storm-tossed hearts,--a promise which must
have made up for many a hard and painful struggle. The life so hard and
difficult--so full of dangers and perplexities--would soon come to an
end, and then _at once_ the beatific vision would be their guerdon, and
rest and peace and joy would be the portion of the redeemed souls for
ever.

Our picture of the inner life of the Christian in the early Christian
centuries would be incomplete were we not to allude to the influence,
perhaps scarcely recognised but ever at work, of portions of the
“Revelation” of S. John. Holding, of course, in the teaching of the
Christian masters a very different position to the Gospels, which, of
course, formed the authoritative basis of all Christian instruction,
the “Revelation” occupied a peculiar and singularly influential place
in the thoughts of the early harassed believers.

Many of the more mystical and obscure sections of that wonderful
composition which was very generally accepted as the work of the
beloved apostle, we may assume were little dwelt upon either in public
teaching or in private meditation; the mystic prophecies of the seer
were, comparatively speaking, but little read, and received then as
now different interpretations; but interspersed with these prophecies,
and not necessarily connected with them, occur passages of surpassing
beauty, in which pictures of the heaven-life are painted by no mortal
hand. It was these which arrested the imagination, and found a home in
many a Christian heart. The passages which contained these pictures
were no doubt repeated again and again by lonely harassed men and women
in the silent watches of the night, in the public worship, in the study
chamber, especially in the hour of danger and trial.

The _hope_ of a glorious eternity was vividly painted in several
remarkable passages of S. John’s great Vision of Heaven and the future
things. The disciples of the sterner school, who were trained so to
speak for martyrdom, felt themselves specially addressed when the Seer
told his vision of the thrones and of those who sat on them,--they
would occupy the place of the souls of those who had been slain for the
witness of Jesus (Rev. xx. 4); and again they would call to mind that
when the Seer asked who were these arrayed in white robes, and whence
came they? he was told that these were they which came out of great
tribulation, and who have washed their robes and made them white in the
blood of the Lamb; and that therefore were they before the throne of
God, and that from their eyes God would wipe away all tears (Rev. vii.
13-17).

To the disciples of the gentler school, too, words of immortal hope
were spoken often in the same Book which spoke as no writing of earth
had ever spoken before of the heaven-life. The Seer heard as it were
the voice of _a great multitude_, and said how blessed they were which
are called to the marriage-supper of the Lamb; and the same Seer heard
how there should be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying; and again
repeated the glorious promise that His servants (_all_ His servants)
should see His face, and that they should reign for ever and ever (Rev.
xix. 6, 9, xxi. 4, xxii. 4, 5).

Moreover, they read and pondered over that most beautiful, most
exhaustive promise made to _all_ His faithful servants,--not only
to the martyr band,--“Blessed are they that wash their robes, that
they may have the right to come to the tree of life, and may enter
in by the gates into the city (of God).” (Rev. xxii. 14, REVISED
VERSION).

* * * * *

These and many other like sunlit sayings of the Book of Life in the
Gospels, Epistles, and Revelation of S. John were ever ringing in
the ears of the Christians of the first days, and telling them of
the _immortal hope_ which was their blessed treasure,--words which
sweetened their hard and too frequently painful lot, which made them
feel that they had made a good exchange when they gave up the fleeting
and often sinful pleasures of earth for the sure hope of the immortal
joys of heaven. They felt how poor and tawdry after all were the things
they had renounced in comparison with what awaited them when the short
and weary period of human life came to an end.

In spite of what the believers renounced for the Name’s sake,
notwithstanding the many daily trials and dangers to which they were
ever exposed, they were strangely happy with a new happiness quite
unknown in the old pagan world, with a joy no man could take from them.
Pagan society, whenever it deigned to notice them, treated them with
a contemptuous pity, which too often shaded into positive hatred. We
see this in the “Acts” of the Martyrs from the questions put to them
by the Roman officials when they were brought before the tribunals,
simply because they were Christians. This was the estimate of the sect
entertained by men like the great Antonine Emperors, Pius and Marcus.
The summary of Fronto the famous rhetorician, Marcus’ tutor and friend,
reproduced in the discourse of Cæcilius in the Dialogue of Minucius
Felix, repeats too clearly the same disparaging view coloured with
contempt and scarcely veiled hatred.

Nowhere is the pagan conception of the misery and wretchedness of the
Christian life more clearly expressed than in the picturesque and
graphic poem of Rutilius Namatianus,[91] a contemporary of Paulinus of
Nola in the first years of the fifth century.

It is a comparatively late pagan criticism of Christianity, but it
admirably expresses the common view of pagan society, and exactly
coincides with the opinion of such eminent Romans as Marcus and his
friend Fronto in the second century.

“Is there any sense,” writes Rutilius, “in living a wretched life for
fear of becoming unhappy? these Christians love to torture themselves:
they are more cruel even than the offended gods. I ask the question,
has not the sect the secret of poisons more deadly than any possessed
by Circe; for Circe only brought about a danger in the body, but these
people change the very soul?”

The life of a Christian in the first two hundred and fifty years of the
era was, however, as we have shown, emphatically no sad and mournful,
no wretched existence. It was a life unspeakably bright and happy,
undreamed of by any poet or philosopher in the many-sided story of
paganism.

BOOK III

THE INNER LIFE OF THE CHURCH

PART I

FROM THE DATE OF THE GREAT FIRE OF ROME IN THE REIGN OF NERO TO
THE DEATH OF MARCUS ANTONINUS

A.D. 64-A.D. 180

INTRODUCTORY

There is really no doubt but that in the period of which we are
writing in this Third Book, roughly stretching over some hundred and
sixteen years, with very short intervals of comparative stillness,
the Christian sect constantly lived under the veiled shadow of
persecution; the penalties exacted for the confession of the Name were
very severe--the confessors were ever exposed to confiscation of their
goods, to harsh imprisonment, to torture, and to death.

This state of things, which existed in the Church in Rome and in all
the communities of Christians, is disclosed to us not merely or even
principally in the Acts of Martyrs, which for this very early period
are comparatively few in number, and, with a few notable exceptions, of
questionable authority, but largely from the fragments of contemporary
Christian writings of undoubted authenticity which have come down to
us.[92]

These fragments, for several of these writings are but fragments,
represent a somewhat considerable literature, and they may be looked
upon as descriptive of much of the life led by Christians during these
hundred and sixteen years,[93] the period when the religion of Jesus
was gradually but rapidly taking root in the world of Rome. With one
notable exception the writings to which we refer issued from the heart
of the New Sect.

We shall give a chain of some of the more striking passages from the
fragments of the works in question, the passages which especially bear
upon the ceaseless persecution which the Christians had to endure
during that period we are dwelling upon in this section--which ended
with the death of Marcus and the accession of his son Commodus in
A.D. 180.

The quotations will be divided into two groups: the first from writings
of apostles and apostolic men; that is, of men who had seen and
conversed with the apostles themselves. The dates of this first group
of witnesses range from the days of Nero to the days of Trajan, roughly
from A.D. 64 to A.D. 107-10. The second group will include writings
dating from the days of Trajan to the accession of Commodus, A.D. 180:
the approximate dates of each writing and a very brief account of the
several authors will be given.

It will be seen that the allusions to a state of persecution grow more
numerous, more detailed and emphatic after A.D. 134-5, the
date of the close of the last terrible Jewish war in the latter years
of the Emperor Hadrian, when the line of separation between the Jew and
the Christian became definitely marked, and the position and attitude
of the Christians was no longer merely contemptuously viewed, but was
misliked and even feared by the State authorities, who then (after
A.D. 135) for the first time clearly saw what a great and
powerful society had grown up in the heart of the Empire.

* * * * *

What a weighty group of words are those we are about to quote! They
were written by men who lived in the heart of that little Society
who with a love stronger than death loved Jesus of Nazareth as their
friend and their God. They are words which are embedded in their
letters--their devotional works--their histories--their pleading
treatises and apologies for the faith, the faith which they esteemed of
greater price than life.

Intensely real, they tell us of the life they and theirs were leading:
reading them we seem to breathe the air they breathed; the simple
unvarnished story tells us what daily, hourly perils were theirs,--what
awful trials, what unspeakable dangers ever surrounded them; they show
how hard it was to be a Christian in those early days in the first
hundred years which followed the “passing” of S. John.

Nothing we can say now--write now--can give us a picture, a living
picture, of the life of these first generations of believers in the
Name, as do these words gathered from the fragments of contemporary
writings which have come down to us across the long ages of storm and
stress and change.

In the first group we will briefly examine the following:--The Epistle
to the Hebrews, _circa_ A.D. 65-6; the First Epistle of S.
Peter, _circa_ A.D. 65-7; the Apocalypse of S. John (the
Revelation), _circa_ A.D. 90; the _1st Epistle_ of S. Clement
of Rome, _circa_ A.D. 95. To this little selection we would
add The _Seven Epistles_ of S. Ignatius, A.D. 107-10, now
generally received as undoubtedly genuine.

FIRST GROUP OF QUOTATIONS

EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS, _CIRCA_ A.D. 65-6

The first three of the above-mentioned writings possess a peculiar
authority; they have been from very early times recognized as forming
part of the Canon of New Testament Scriptures: of these three the
Epistle to the Hebrews is generally believed to have been composed
about A.D. 65-6. The congregations addressed in it had evidently been
exposed to grave afflictions, and are told that a more awful trial
awaits them in no distant future. For this bitter persecution they must
prepare themselves.

A number of examples of noble and heroic resistances to trial and
temptation are cited (Heb. xi. 32-40, xii. 1-4); the writer of the
Epistle evidently expected that similar experiences will be the lot of
the congregation he was addressing.

FIRST EPISTLE OF S. PETER, _CIRCA_ A.D. 65-7

The second writing, which will be examined at rather greater length,
is of the utmost importance as a witness to the view of the perpetual
persecution to which after A.D. 64 the sect was exposed.
The First Epistle of S. Peter[94] was put out _circa_ 65-7. It was
written manifestly in a time of persecution; the keynote of the Epistle
is consolation and encouragement for the distant congregations
addressed. The persecution was evidently raging in Rome, whence the
letter was written, but it was rapidly spreading also in the provinces
of the Empire. The language used shows it was no isolated capricious
onslaught, but a systematic and legalized attack on the religion of
Jesus. To quote a few passages:

“Now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness by reason of
manifold temptations: that the trial of your faith, being more precious
than of gold which perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might
be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus
Christ” (i. 6, 7).

“If ye suffer for righteousness’ sake, happy are ye; and be not afraid
of their terror, neither be troubled.... It is better, if the will of
God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing” (iii.
14-17).

“Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to
try you, as though some strange thing happened to you” (iv. 12).

“If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the
spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you.... If any man suffer as
a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this
behalf” (iv. 14-16).

“Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions
are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world” (v. 9).

REVELATION OF S. JOHN, _CIRCA_ A.D. 90

The Apocalypse of S. John is now generally dated _circa_ A.D.
90; the _keynote_ of this strange and in many parts beautiful
writing--so unlike, save in certain sections, the other acknowledged
books of the New Testament Canon--is _the suffering of the Church_:
just a quarter of a century had elapsed since Nero and his advisers
resolved upon the persecution of the congregations of the believers in
Jesus.

No one can read this striking “Revelation” of S. John, with its
wonderful visions, its exhortations, its words of warning, its messages
of encouragement and comfort, without being keenly sensible that the
Church therein portrayed had been exposed--was then exposed to a
bitter, relentless persecution; that the sufferers were witnesses to
the Name; and that their sufferings were not owing to any deeds of
wrong or treason to the State, but purely _because of the Name which
they confessed_. They had been condemned simply because they were
Christians.

It is true that comparatively little is said directly about these
persecutions. Other subjects clearly are far more important to the
writer; but a number of incidental allusions to the sufferings endured
in the course of persecution occur--allusions which cannot be mistaken.

We will quote a few of these. Many of them imply that the Church was
exposed to a long continued harrying to the death:

“I saw under the altar the souls of those that were slain for the
word of God, and for the testimony which they held: and they cried
with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou
not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And
white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto
them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their
fellow-servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they
were, should be fulfilled” (vi. 9-11).

“These are they that came out of great tribulation ... therefore are
they before the throne of God” (vii. 14-17).

“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of
their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death” (xii.
11).

“They have shed the blood of saints and prophets” (xvi. 6).

“And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of
Jesus, and for the word of God ... and they lived and reigned with
Christ a thousand years.” (xx. 4).

The victims of these persecutions, we are markedly told, are witnesses
to the “Name” or the “Faith”: so in the letter to the Church in
Pergamos we read:

“Thou holdest fast My name, and hast not denied My Faith” (ii. 13).

“And I saw the woman[95] drunken with the blood of the saints, and with
the blood of the martyrs of Jesus” (xvii. 6).

The persecution had been of long standing:

“I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is:
and thou holdest fast My name ... even in those days wherein Antipas
was My faithful martyr, who was slain among you” (ii. 13).

And the persecution is to continue:

“Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer ... be thou faithful
unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life” (ii. 10).

Specially interesting from an historical point of view in this
connexion of the testimony of the “Apocalypse” of S. John with the
sleepless persecution to which the sect was subjected, is Professor
Ramsay’s exegesis of the words, “And all that dwell upon the earth
shall worship him (the beast) whose names are not written in the Book
of Life of the Lamb” (xiii. 8), and “as many as would not worship the
image of the beast should be killed” (xiii. 15).

“It is here implied that the persecutor is worshipped as a God by
all people[96] except the Christians, and that the martyrs are slain
because they do not worship ‘the beast’--_i.e._ the Roman Emperor.
Hence their refusal to worship ‘the beast’ and their witness to their
own God, are united in one act; and this implies that the worship of
‘the beast’ (the Emperor) formed a test, the refusal of which was
equivalent to a confession and witness....

“The importance attached during this persecution to the worship of the
Emperor, and the hatred of this special form of idolatry as the special
enemy, have dictated the phrase addressed to the Church of Pergamos,
‘Thou dwellest where the throne of Satan, _i.e._ the temple of Rome
and Augustus, is’” (ii. 13).

The peculiar partiality of the Emperor Domitian for this especial form
of idolatry, in which he personally was adored as a god, has been
already alluded to.

S. CLEMENT OF ROME, FIRST EPISTLE, _CIRCA_ A.D. 95-6

About the year of grace 95-6, Clement, bishop of Rome, wrote his letter
to the Christian congregation of Corinth--generally known as his _1st
Epistle_. From the days of Irenæus downwards this letter has ever been
considered a work of the highest importance, and its genuineness as
a writing of Clement of Rome has never been disputed. Its importance
consists in its record of the traditional interpretation of the
apostolic teaching which was held in the great congregation of the
metropolis from the first days. The immediate reasons of the Bishop
of Rome writing to the Church of Corinth were the disastrous internal
dissensions which were harassing the Corinthian congregation, disputes
which not only marred its influence at home, but were productive of
grave scandal abroad, and which, unless checked, would seriously affect
the work of the Church in cities far distant from Corinth.

It was a gentle loving letter of remonstrance; but its value to the
Church at large in all times consists in its being an authoritative
declaration of the doctrine taught in the great Church in Rome in the
closing years of the first century, somewhat more than a quarter of a
century after the deaths of SS. Peter and Paul.

Clement in his Epistle to the Church of Corinth had no intention of
writing a history of his Church. The object of his writing was a very
different one. There are, however, a few notices scattered here and
there in the course of his long letter, which bear upon the subject
now under discussion, _i.e._, the continuous nature of the persecution
under which the Christian folk lived from the year 64 onward.

Clement begins by explaining the reason of his delay in taking up the
questions which vexed the Corinthian congregation. “By reason of the
sudden and repeated calamities which are befalling us, we consider,
brethren, we have been somewhat tardy in giving heed to the matters of
dispute that have arisen among you, dearly beloved” (_1 Ep._ 1).

The next allusion is a very striking one. “But to pass from the
examples of ancient days” (Clement had been quoting from the Old
Testament), “let us come to those champions who lived very near to
our time. Let us set before us the examples which belong to our
generation ... the greatest and most righteous pillars of the Church
were persecuted and contended even unto death. There was Peter who
... endured not one nor two but many labours, and then having borne
his testimony went to his appointed place of glory.... Paul by his
example pointed out the prize of patient endurance ... he departed from
the world, and went unto the holy place.... Unto these men of holy
lives was gathered a vast multitude, who through many indignities and
tortures ... set a brave example among ourselves.

“These things, dearly beloved, we write not only as admonishing you,
but also as putting ourselves in remembrance; for we are in the same
lists, and the same contest awaiteth us” (_1 Ep._ 5-7).

Clement’s words here, which occur in the middle of his argument,
indisputably imply that after the martyr-death of the two great
Christian teachers Peter and Paul, a continuous persecution harried
the congregation (he is speaking especially of Rome) all through his
own generation. “A vast multitude of the elect,” he tells us, in their
turn suffered martyrdom, and were joined to the eminent leaders who had
gone before them. When Domitian perished we know there was a temporary
lull in the storm of persecution. Dion relates how the Emperor Nerva
dismissed those who were awaiting their trial on the charge of
sacrilege. It was no doubt in this very brief period of comparative
quiet that Clement had leisure to attend to the troubled affairs at the
Church of Corinth, and to write the important letter just quoted from.

But the Roman bishop was aware that “the lull” was quite a temporary
one, and was due only to the reaction which set in after the murder of
Domitian during the short reign of the Emperor Nerva; for he goes on
to speak (in chap. vi.) of his condition and of the condition of his
co-religionists at Rome: “We are in the same lists (with those who have
been slain), and the same contest awaits us.”

IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH, BISHOP AND MARTYR, _CIRCA_ A.D. 107-10

Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, who suffered martyrdom in the days of
Trajan, _circa_ A.D. 107-10,--some twelve or fifteen years
after Clement of Rome wrote his memorable letter to the Church of
Corinth,--is the next witness we propose to call in support of
the contention advanced in the preceding pages, namely, that the
persecution began by Nero in the year 64 was never really allowed
again to slumber, but that with more or less vehemence it continued to
harass the Christian sect all through the reigns of the Emperors of the
Flavian dynasty and onward.

The Letters of Ignatius were written, it is true, a few years after the
extinction of the Flavian House. But the martyr-bishop of Antioch was
born about the year of grace 40, and he therefore was about twenty-four
years old when the persecution of Nero began; and all through the
reigns of Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian without doubt he occupied a
high position, probably in the Christian congregation at Antioch; he
therefore may well be cited as a responsible witness of the relations
which existed between the Christians and the government of the Empire
during the last thirty-five years of the first century.

In the course of his journey from Syria to Rome, where he was
condemned to be exposed to the wild beasts in the magnificent Flavian
amphitheatre (the Colosseum), Ignatius wrote seven letters which have
been preserved to us; six of these were addressed to special Churches,
and one to Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna.

Round these letters a long controversial war has raged respecting their
authenticity. In our own day and time, thanks to the almost lifelong
labours of the eminent scholar-bishop of Durham (Dr. Lightfoot), the
controversy has virtually been closed. Serious European scholars,
with rare exceptions, now accept the seven Epistles (the middle
recension,[97] as Lightfoot calls it) of the Ignatian correspondence,
as absolutely genuine.

Ramsay well and briefly sums up the purport of the allusions to the
conditions under which the Christian sect had been and still was living
during the long period of Ignatius’ own personal experience, which
included the whole duration of the sovereignty of the Flavian family,
_i.e._ during the reign of the Emperors Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian.
These allusions all occur in the martyr’s four letters written in the
course of his journey to Rome, during his halt at Smyrna, _i.e._ in the
Epistles to the Churches of Ephesus, Tralles, Magnesia and Rome.

He says, “These abound in delicate phrases, the most explicit of which
may be quoted--The life of a Christian is a life of suffering; the
climax of his life, and the crowning honour of which he gradually
hopes to make himself worthy, is martyrdom; but Ignatius is far from
confident that he is worthy of it (_Tralles_, 4). Suffering and
persecution are the education of the Christian, and through them he
becomes a true disciple (_Eph._ iii. _Magn._ viii. 9). The teacher,
then, is the person or Church which has gone through most suffering,
and thus shown true discipleship, and Ignatius distinguished Ephesus
and Rome as his teachers. Ignatius is still in danger, not having as
yet completely proved his steadfastness, whereas Ephesus has been
proved and is firmly fixed, the implication being that it has been
specially distinguished by the number of its martyrs; and, moreover,
Ephesus has been the highway of martyrs, the chief city of the province
where many, even from other parts, appeared before the proconsul for
trial, and was, at the same time, the port whence they were sent to
Rome. We read in the Letter to Ephesus the somewhat curious expression,
‘Ye are a high road of them which are on their way to die unto God’
(_Eph._ xii.).”

“A detailed comparison is made in the Letter to the Magnesians, viii.
9, between the prophets and the Christians of the age. The prophets
were persecuted, and the Christians endure persecution patiently
in order to become true disciples.... Such is the principle of the
Christian life; that suffering is the best training.... The impression
which had been produced by persecution on the feelings of the
Christians towards the Empire is very strongly marked in the Letters
of Ignatius. Outside of the Apocalypse, the irreconcilable opposition
between the State and Christianity is nowhere more strongly expressed
than in them, and there runs throughout both groups of writings the
same identification of the State with the world. The same magnificent
audacity towards the State, the same refusal to accept what seemed to
men to be the plain facts of the situation, the same perfect assurance
of victory, characterize both.”[98]

With the exception, however, of passages in the _Epistle to the
Romans_, Ignatius’ letters contain no _direct_ reference to
persecution; they are exclusively devoted to the affairs and prospects
of the Churches to which he was writing, but the whole spirit of the
little collection indicates that persecution and suffering were the
common lot of the Christian sect in the days of the Flavian Emperors
and their immediate successors.

The letter to the Roman Church is, however, quite different in its
contents from the other six. It is entirely taken up with one single
topic--the coming martyrdom of the writer. For the Christian, indeed,
in earnest, “martyrdom is the new birth, the true life, the pure
light, the complete discipleship; the martyr’s crown is better than
all the kingdoms of the earth; only then, when the martyr sets to the
world, will he rise to God. Crowned by martyrdom, his life becomes an
utterance of God.”

This fervid, passionate--if somewhat exaggerated--picture of martyrdom
would convey little meaning to the Roman congregations had not such
scenes as that depicted by Ignatius been of common occurrence in
Rome. Its reception, however, shows how well it was understood by
those to whom the burning words of the martyr-bishop were addressed.
His letters were most highly prized in very early days, but this
special Epistle to the Roman Church from the beginning enjoyed a wider
popularity than the others. Its details and teaching were absolutely
unique. It appears to have been circulated apart from the other six,
sometimes alone, sometimes attached to the story of the martyrdom for
which Ignatius so longed.

Two or three references in this letter deserve to be noted as bearing
especially on the question of the sleepless nature of the persecution
endured by the sect.

_Epistle to Romans_, 3. Bishop Lightfoot well paraphrases this passage,
thus:

“Do not,” writes Ignatius, urging the Roman Church not to take any
step which might hinder his anticipated death in the arena, “depart
from your true character; you have hitherto sped the martyrs forward
to victory; do not now interpose and rob me of my crown.” Rome had
hitherto been the chief arena of martyrdom; the Roman brethren had
cheered on many a dying Christian hero in his glorious contest.

In the _Epistle to Romans_, 5, we come upon the following curious
statement concerning the arena wild beasts to which he was condemned:
“May I have joy of the beasts that have been prepared for me; and I
pray that I may find them ready, nay, I will entice them that they may
devour me quickly, not as they have done to some, refusing to touch
them through fear; yea, though of themselves they should not be willing
while I am ready, I myself will force them to it.”

This refusal of the wild beasts to touch their intended victims is by
no means an uncommon incident in early martyrology. The capricious
conduct of beasts suddenly released from confinement and darkness,
and brought into the bright light of the amphitheatre, with the dense
crowds of spectators all around shouting applause or execration, is
quite natural. It is by no means necessary to impart the miraculous
into all these stories, many of them absolutely authentic. Still that
the Most High did at times close the mouths of the “wild” is quite
credible. The strange, mysterious power often exercised by saintly men
and women over furred and feathered untamed creatures is a well-known
fact, and has been more than once the subject of discussion.[99] Such
an allusion, however, to the occasional conduct of the wild creatures
in the arena occurring in the midst of the writer’s arguments, plainly
shows that the spectacle of terrible massacres of Christian folk in the
arena, where they were exposed to wild beasts, was no uncommon feature
in Roman life.

The grim catalogue of tortures which the heroic martyr enumerates in
the same chapter of the Roman Epistle, completed the awful picture of
the sufferings of brave Christian confessors, sufferings which the
Roman citizens had no doubt for many past years often gazed at.

SECOND GROUP OF QUOTATIONS

LETTER OF PLINY TO TRAJAN, _CIRCA_ A.D. 112

In the second group of quotations from ancient authorities must be
placed the very important notice of the persecution in the days of
Trajan, contained in the well-known correspondence of Pliny and the
Emperor. This has been already discussed at some length.

It will be sufficient[100] here briefly to refer to the treatment of
Christians whom Pliny found in his province of Bithynia not only in the
towns but in the country villages, and to the influence which these
Christians evidently exercised on the life of the province.

These Christians, with the exception of those who claimed to be
citizens of Rome--who were sent to the capital for trial--were after
the third examination, if they still continued contumacious, condemned
and put to death on the authority of the governor (“perseverantes duci
(ad mortem) jussi”).

This is the only heathen authority[101] quoted here, but its extreme
importance in this inquiry into the condition of Christians in the
Roman Empire in the days of Trajan and earlier will justify its
insertion.

LETTER TO DIOGNETUS, _CIRCA_ A.D. 117

The author of this very early Christian writing is unknown, and of the
Diognetus to whom the letter is addressed we have no knowledge. But
the short writing in question is interesting and even eloquent, and its
date can be ascertained with fair certainty from expressions contained
in the letter. Christianity, when the writing was put out, was _a new
thing in the world_--this is several times noticed in the letter.[102]

The following notable references to persecution occur: “Christians
love all men, and are persecuted by all; they are unknown and (yet)
condemned; they are put to death ... they are in want of all things,
and yet abound in all; they are dishonoured, and yet in their very
dishonour they are glorified; they are evil spoken of, and yet are
justified; they are reviled and bless; they are insulted and yet repay
the insult with honour; they do good, yet are punished as evil-doers;
when punished they rejoice” (_Letter to Diognetus_, chap. v.).

“Do you not see them (the Christians) exposed to wild beasts, that they
may be persuaded to deny the Lord, and yet not overcome? Do you not see
that the more of them that are punished, the greater become the numbers
of the rest” (_Letter to Diognetus_, chap. vii.).

“Then shalt thou both love and admire those that suffer punishment
because they will not deny God.”

* * * * *

“Then shalt thou admire those who for righteousness’ sake endure the
fire which is but for a moment, and shalt count them happy, when thou
shalt know (the nature of) that fire” (_Letter to Diognetus_, chap. x.).

THE _SHEPHERD_ OF HERMAS, _CIRCA_ A.D. 140

Hermas, the author or compiler of the once famous _Shepherd_ (the
Pastor) in a very ancient tradition was identified with the Hermas
mentioned by S. Paul (Rom. xvi. 14). This identification was suggested
by Origen in the middle of the third century. The Muratorian Canon
gives as the approximate date of its composition _circa_ A.D.
140, and suggests another author. Modern scholarship, however,
considers that the work in question passed through several redactions,
the first belonging to a yet earlier date. If this, as is probable, be
the case, then certainly considerable portions of the little volume
of the “Shepherd” belong to the reign of Trajan, and possibly to the
period of the episcopate of Clement of Rome.[103]

But whether we adopt for the composition of the writing the year
140, or thereabouts, or with Duchesne and Harnack the earlier date
of portions of the writing (the last years of the first century),
there is no doubt whatever that the work containing the “Visions,”
“Commandments,” and “Parables” of Hermas (generally known as the
_Shepherd_) was accepted by the Christians of the second century
as a treatise of very high authority. It was publicly read in
the congregations along with the canonical (to use a later term)
Scriptures, without, however, being put on a level with these sacred
writings.

Gradually though we find its authority diminishing, sterner spirits,
like Tertullian, misliking its gentle and compassionate directions in
the case of the reconciliation of sinners, theologians too, who in
the first years were less positive, less precise in their dogmatical
definitions, soon began to see how speculative and even wild were
some of the statements and definitions of the Persons in the Godhead.
Thus the work became less and less an important piece in the arsenal
of Christian theology. S. Jerome, for instance, openly flouts it
when he writes of the _Shepherd_ as “Liber ille apocryphus stultitiæ
condemnandus.” Others, however, of the highest authority in the Church
in the third and fourth centuries, such as Clement of Alexandria,
Origen, and Athanasius, seem to have ever held the _Shepherd_ in great
veneration.

The high place it held in the early Church is shown by its appearing
in that most ancient MS. of the Holy Scriptures the Codex Sinaiticus,
where it is honoured by being placed at the end of the canonical
writings.

But it is as an historical piece of evidence respecting the continued
persecutions which vexed the early Church, without any period of
cessation, that the work is quoted here. The _Shepherd_ is full of
references to this state of things. Renan (_L’Église Chrétienne_)
describes this book in his picturesque vivid imagery as “issuing from
a bath of blood.” Lightfoot speaks of it as “haunted in large parts by
this ghastly spectre of persecution.” The writer specially alludes to
this harrying of the Christian sect in the past, and says that it was
likely to continue in the future.

Hermas, in his unique and interesting work, says nothing about the
Jewish foes of the Church, and his allusions to the pagans around him
are very few. The work may be said to deal exclusively with the inner
life of the Roman congregations. On the whole he pictures the life led
by the followers of Jesus as fairly satisfactory and good, harassed
though it was, but there were many things constantly appearing and
reappearing in that life which needed amendment. He dwells with more
or less detail on differences, quarrels, bitterness, which arose among
themselves, and which too often disfigured and marred the beautiful
Christian ideals.

But after all, in Hermas’ evidently faithful and accurate pictures of
the Christian congregations in Rome, the point he dwells on with the
greatest emphasis is their behaviour in those ever-recurring trials
of their faith to which they were constantly exposed through the
sleepless, restless ill-will of the Government. Whether the writing
dates from _circa_ 140, when Hadrian was reigning, or in part from the
last years of the first century in the days of Trajan, it is evident
that the position of the Christian community was ever most precarious.

The rescripts of Trajan and Hadrian somewhat softened the stern
measures, but before and even after these humane and statesmanlike
regulations the position of the Christian was indeed a trying and
painful one. For even after the issuing of the rescripts in question
the sword ever hung over their heads, and the slender thread upon which
it hung was often snapped.

Perpetually were the Christians haled before the magistrate. They had
stern searching questions to answer; easily was the capital crime of
professing the unlawful cult daily brought home to them. They were
asked: Were they willing to renounce it, and in place of it adore the
gods of the pagans? Would they throw a few grains of incense, as a
token of their recantation, on the altars of Rome and Augustus? If
they would do this very little thing, as it seemed, at once they were
released; but if they refused, then death, in some form or other, was
their speedy and inevitable doom.

Hermas tells us a good deal of what was happening in the Roman
congregations in the matter of persecution for the Name’s sake. The
harrying of Christians, when the author of the _Shepherd_ was writing,
must have been continuous, for he sadly speaks of those who were
frequently yielding to pressure. Apostasy in the Christian ranks was,
alas! not an unknown scandal. Some, he tells us, simply renounced their
faith; others, terrified, went further and publicly blasphemed the
Name. Some were positively base enough to betray and denounce their
brethren in the Faith.

But, on the other hand, Hermas tells us how the Church numbered many
martyrs. All, he says, were not on a level even here, for some trembled
at first and flinched, and only witnessed a good confession at the
last, probably when about to cense the idol altar. There were some
though, said our writer, whose heart never for an instant failed them.

Yet, on the whole, this stern though kindly censor of the Christian
Church was not dissatisfied with the life generally led by the
congregations of believers in Jesus; he seems to recognise to the full
the sorely tempted lives--tempted not only by the imminent danger
which the confession of the Name entailed--though he dwells mostly on
this ever-present peril--but also by the smaller lures with which all
human existence is inextricably bound up: business matters, society
obligations, the old jealousy and envy which ever exist between the
rich and the poor.

“Le livre d’Hermas,” observes Duchesne, “est un vaste examen de
conscience de l’Église Romaine.” The writer spares none in his severe
yet kindly criticism; the priests and deacons of the congregations are
among the classes with whom he finds grave fault. In spite, however,
of his earnest and touching remonstrances with those who, in hours of
trial and persecution, in the many daily temptations of common life,
had left their first love, Hermas acknowledges that in the Church of
Rome the numbers of the just and upright are greater than the numbers
of those who have fallen away. It is true that he sternly rebukes the
unfaithful priests and deacons and other members of the hierarchy,
but he recognizes here, too, men worthy of the highest commendation;
he dwells on their love, their charity, their hospitality, and even
assigns to these faithful ministers of religion a place among the
glorious company of apostles.

The general impression which a careful study of Hermas’ portraiture
of the Christian congregations in Rome leaves on the reader’s mind in
those far-back days, roughly from the days of Nero to the times of
Trajan and even Hadrian, is that that great and sorely tried Church was
far from being composed entirely of saints, but that the righteous and
God-fearing--the men and women who had washed their robes in the blood
of the Lamb, as true disciples of the Master, were after all decidedly
in the majority.

Closely connected with his picture of the sins and errors of the Roman
Christians--sins largely connected with the falling away of many in the
dread hour of persecution--is his assurance that these sins are capable
of pardon here, even if committed _after_ baptism. No sin, no falling
away, in Hermas’ teaching is inexpiable; no truly penitent one is ever
to be excluded from pardon and reconciliation. It was this generous
and broad view of the goodness and the divine pity of God that was so
misliked by the stern and pitiless teachers of the powerful school to
which men like Tertullian belonged, a school which soon arose in the
Church. Of the genuine written remains of the earliest period we have
nothing comparable to the _Shepherd_ of Hermas, when we look for a
picture of the inner life of the Church of Rome in that far-back time
when the echoes of the voices of the disciples who had been with Jesus
were still ringing in men’s ears.

As a dogmatic teacher the writer of the _Shepherd_ is of little or no
value; Hermas emphatically was no theologian, but he was a close and
evidently an accurate observer of men and things. Earnest and devout,
while sadly deploring the weakness in the hour of trial of some, the
failure of others in the ordinary course of things to keep on the
narrow way leading to life--he rejoices with an unfeigned joy over the
many noble men and women who, in all their sore danger and temptation,
kept the Faith untarnished and undimmed.

Hermas of the _Shepherd_ is a witness, to whose voice none can refuse
to listen, of the sore and sleepless persecution which, from the days
of Nero, with rare and brief pauses ever harassed the Christian sect in
Rome.[104]

Composed as this book evidently was directly under the veiled shadow
of persecution--a state of things which colours well-nigh every page
of the writing--it is difficult out of so many testimonies here to
select any special passage telling of this perpetual harrying of the
sect; a very few passages will be quoted where this restless state of
persecution is painted with vivid colouring.

“Happy ye who endure the great tribulation that is coming on, and happy
they who shall not deny their own life” (Hermas, _Vision_, ii. 2).

“The place to the right is for others who have pleased God, and have
suffered for His Name’s sake” (Hermas, _Vision_, iii. 1).

“What have they borne? Listen: Scourges, prisons, great tribulations,
crosses, wild beasts for God’s Name’s sake--to them is assigned the
division of sanctification on the right hand--to every one who shall
suffer for God’s Name” (Hermas, _Vision_, iii. 2).

“But who are the stones that were dragged from the depths and which
were laid in the building, and fitted in with the rest of the stones
before placed in the Tower? These are they who suffered for the Lord’s
sake” (Hermas, _Vision_, iii. 5).

“They without hesitation repented, and practise all virtue and
righteousness, and some of them even suffered, being willingly put to
death,”--“Of all these, therefore, the dwelling shall be in the Tower.”

“All who were brought before the authorities and were examined, and did
not deny, but suffered gladly, these are held in great honour with God”
(Hermas, _Parables_, viii. 10).

“All who once suffered for the name of the Lord are honourable before
God, and of all these the sins were remitted, because they suffer for
the Name of the Son of God” (Hermas, _Parables_, viii. 20).

“And ye who suffer for His Name ought to glorify God, because He deemed
you worthy to bear His Name, that all your sores might be healed”
(Hermas, _Parables_, viii. 28).

JUSTIN MARTYR, _CIRCA_ A.D. 140-A.D. 160

The above dates roughly embrace the period of Justin’s literary
activity. He was, however, born not later than _circa_ A.D.
114, probably several years before. We know little of his early
history. He was a diligent student and a thinker, and his works are
amongst the most important that have come down to us from the first
sixty years of the second century. Three writings of his are extant of
the genuineness of which there is no doubt. Two _Apologies_ and _The
Dialogue with the Jew Trypho_. The first _Apology_ and the _Dialogue_
are works of considerable size. There are besides other writings which
bear his name, but the authenticity of these is doubtful.

Originally a pagan, it seems that he became a Christian owing to the
strong impression made upon him by the fearlessness which the disciples
of the New Sect showed in the presence of death. He was also deeply
persuaded of the grandeur and truth of the old Testament Scriptures. In
the end, while the Emperor Marcus Antoninus was reigning, he received
the Martyr’s crown he had for so many years passionately admired and
coveted. This was about the year 165.

His three authentic writings contain numberless references to the
persecutions endured by the followers of the Name, and countless
allusions to the state of perpetual risk and danger in which his
co-religionists lived and worked.

We will cite a very few of these, in which unmistakable details are
given.

“If any one acknowledges that he is a Christian, you punish him on
account of this confession” (Justin, _Apol._ i. 4).

The condemnation to death for the mere name of Christian is often dwelt
upon by our writer (see such passages as are contained in 1 _Apol._
xi.).

“We may not lie or deceive our (official) interrogators; we willingly
die confessing Christ” (Justin, _Apol._ i. 39).

“Although death is decreed against those who teach, or even confess the
name of Christ, everywhere we confess it and teach it” (Justin, _Apol._
i. 45).

“They that believe that there is nothing after death ... they become
our benefactors when they free us from the sufferings and trials of
this life; ... they kill us, however, not with the view of benefiting
us, but that we may be deprived of life and joy” (Justin, _Apol._ i.
57).

“The Gentiles who know God--the Creator of all things through Jesus
the Crucified ... patiently await every torture and vengeance--even
death--rather than worship idols” (Justin, _Dialogue with Trypho_,
xxxv.).

“ ... Lest you be persecuted by the rulers who ... will not cease
putting to death and persecuting those who confess the Name of
Christ....” (Justin, _Dial._ xxxix.).

“ ... Because we refuse to sacrifice to those to whom in old times we
used to sacrifice to, we suffer the severest penalties, and rejoice in
death, believing that God will raise us up by His Christ, and will make
us incorruptible--safe--immortal” (Justin, _Dial._ xlvi.).

“Now it is plain that no one is able to frighten us or subject us who
have believed in Jesus, ... for it is manifest that though beheaded
and crucified, and cast to wild beasts, and fire, and all other kinds
of torture, we do not give up our confession; but the more such things
happen, the more do others, and in ever-increasing numbers too, become
believers and worshippers of God through the Name of Jesus” (Justin,
_Dial._ cx.).

“And you yourselves ... must acknowledge that we who have been called
by God through the contemned and shameful mystery of the Cross ...
endure all torments rather than deny Christ even by word” (Justin,
_Dial._ cxxxi.).

“For having put some to death on account of the false charges
brought against us, they also dragged to the torture our
servants--children--weak women--and by awful torments drove them to
admit that they were guilty of those very actions which they (the
persecutors) openly perpetrate,--about which, however, we are little
concerned, because none of these actions are really ours. We have the
ineffable God as witness both of our thoughts and deeds” (Justin,
II. _Apol._ xii.).

THE _OCTAVIUS_ OF MINUCIUS FELIX, _CIRCA_ A.D. 160

Jerome tells us that Minucius Felix was, before his conversion to
Christianity, an advocate at Rome. The dialogue, which forms the
substance of the writing--a work of some considerable length, is a
supposed argument between a cultured pagan Cæcilius and the Christian
Octavius--the writer Minucius Felix acting as arbiter between the
disputants. The scene of the dialogue was the seashore of Ostia, it
closes with the conversion of the pagan Cæcilius, who is convinced by
the arguments brought forward by the Christian Octavius.[105]

The resemblances between Minucius Felix and the famous _Apology_ of
Tertullian, which was written _circa_ A.D. 200, are most
striking--and the question which of the two was the plagiarist has
long been before critics. Later scholars, among whom Ebert, Salmon,
Bishop Lightfoot, Renan, and Keim are conspicuous, have conclusively
established the priority of Minucius. The year of grace 160, before the
death of Antoninus Pius, a date based upon the internal evidence of the
writing, is suggested by Lightfoot as the most probable period of the
composition.

Dean Milman’s estimate of the literary excellence of the piece is as
follows: “Perhaps no late work, either pagan or Christian, reminds us
of the golden days of Latin prose so much as the _Octavius_ of Minucius
Felix” (_Hist. of Christianity_, book iv. chap. iii.).

The following striking passages bearing on the subject of the ceaseless
persecution to which the Christians were subjected in the middle years
of the second century are taken from the thirty-seventh chapter of the
_Dialogue_:

“How beautiful before God is the spectacle of a Christian entering into
the lists with pain, when he is matched against threats and punishments
and tortures; when, deriding the noise of death, he treads under foot
the horror of the public executioner; when he raises up his liberty
in opposition to kings and princes, and yields to God alone, whose he
is; when, triumphant and a victor, he tramples upon the very man who
has pronounced sentence against him! For he has conquered who has won
that for which he fights.... But God’s soldier is neither forsaken in
suffering, nor is he brought to an end by death. Thus the Christian
may seem to be miserable, he cannot really be found to be so. You
yourselves extol unfortunate men to the skies. Mucius Scævola, for
instance, who, when he had failed in his attempts against the king,
would have perished ... had he not sacrificed his right hand. And how
many of our people have endured that not only their right hand but that
their whole body should be burned--burned without a cry of pain--though
they had it in their power to be freed!

... “Do I compare Christian men with Mucius or even with Regulus? Yet
boys and young girls mock at crosses and tortures, wild beasts and all
the terrors of punishment--with all the inspired patience of suffering”
(Minucius Felix, cap. xxxvii.).

MELITO, BISHOP OF THE CHURCH IN SARDIS, _CIRCA_ A.D. 170

Very little is known of this Melito; he was evidently a somewhat
voluminous writer, but only few fragments remain of the long list of
his works which Eusebius has given (_H.E._ Book vi. 26). In one of
these fragments of a discourse, addressed to the Emperor Marcus, the
following passage occurs:

“What indeed never before happened, the race of the pious (the
Christians) is now persecuted, driven about in Asia by new and strange
decrees. For the shameless informers are those that covet the goods of
others, and, making use of the edicts of the Emperors, openly commit
robbery, night and day, plundering those (the Christians) who are
guilty of no crime.... And if these things are carried out by your
commands (_i.e._ of the Emperor Marcus), let them at least be done in a
legal form.... We (Christians) indeed bear joyfully the guerdon of such
a death--still, we only urge upon you this petition, that you yourself
would first inquire into the persons of these plotters of mischief, and
judge whether they themselves deserve death and punishment, or safety
and immunity.... We entreat you not to forget us in the midst of this
lawless plunder of the populace” (Melito of Sardis, Fragment quoted by
Eusebius, _H.E._ iv. 26).

ATHENAGORAS, _CIRCA_ A.D. 177

It is singular how little information has come down to us concerning
this Athenian philosopher who had become a Christian. It is believed
he wrote much, but the very names of his works have perished. The only
fragments of Athenagoras that remain are his _Apology_, or _Embassy_,
as he styles it, addressed to the Emperor Marcus Aurelius and his son
Commodus, and a treatise on _The Resurrection_.

Philip of Side[106] gives one interesting detail respecting this little
known early writer. He tells us he was converted to Christianity by the
Scriptures, which he was studying with the view of controverting them.

The following passage is from the _Apology_ or _Embassy_ of Athenagoras.

He is addressing the Emperors Marcus and Commodus, and then writes:
“Why is the mere name (of Christian) hateful to you? Names (surely)
are not deserving of hatred. It is the wrongful act that calls for
penalty and punishment. But, for us who are called Christians you
have had no care, though we commit no wrong.... You allow us to be
harassed--plundered--persecuted--the people warring with us for our
name alone.... We suffer unjustly contrary to the law.... We beseech
you to have some care for us, that we may cease at length to be
slaughtered at the instigation of false accusers.... When we have
surrendered our goods, they still plot against our very bodies and
souls--levelling against us many charges of crimes of which we are
guiltless even in thought” (chap. i.).

“ ... If indeed any one can convict us of a crime either small or
great, we do not plead to be let off punishment; we are then prepared
to suffer the sharpest and most merciless chastisement, but if the
accusation is merely concerned with our _Name_ ... then, O illustrious
sovereigns, it is your part to free us by law from their evil
treatment.... What therefore is granted as the common right of all, we
too claim for ourselves, that we shall not be hated and punished merely
because we are called Christians” (Athenagoras, chap. ii.).

The above quotations from Athenagoras show very clearly on what
apparently superficial grounds the Christians were bitterly persecuted
and harassed in every conceivable fashion--solely because they were
Christians. The _nomen ipsum_, the bare “name,” was a sufficient ground
of condemnation in the reign of the great and good Emperor Marcus
Aurelius Antoninus.

THEOPHILUS OF ANTIOCH, _CIRCA_ A.D. 180

Theophilus, according to Eusebius, _H.E._ iv. 20-24, was sixth Bishop
of the Syrian Antioch in succession (so Eusebius). He became bishop
in the year 168, when Marcus was reigning. Nothing is known of his
life save that he was born a pagan. He was the author of several
works--including _Commentaries_ on the Gospels and on the Book of
Proverbs, and of a writing against Marcion, etc. But none of these
have come down to us. All we possess are the three books containing
“the Elements of the Faith,” addressed to his friend Autolycus. The
quoted passage is from the third of these books. His arguments in many
respects are similar to those advanced by Justin Martyr.

“They persecute, and do daily persecute, those who worship Him (the
only God).... Of those (_i.e._ of the Christians) who are zealous in
the pursuit of virtue, and practise a holy life, some they stone, some
they put to death, and up to the present time they subject them to
cruel torture.”

TERTULLIAN, _CIRCA_ A.D. 195-211

To complete the chain of testimony supplied by contemporary writers
to the perpetual state of unrest, an unrest ever passing into active
persecution, which was the lot of the Christian sect from A.D.
64, the date of the first formal harrying of Nero, to A.D.
180, the date of the death of the Emperor Marcus, the period here under
consideration--the important witness of Tertullian is added. The years
of his literary activity stretch roughly from A.D. 195-211.
But although the dates of his works range from some fifteen to twenty
years after the death of Marcus, it is certain that his general view of
the condition of Christians would include at least the latter years of
the period we are specially dwelling on.

His treatises, which especially relate to Christian and church life
and to ecclesiastical discipline, are coloured with references to this
condition of persecution under which the Christian sect evidently
lived. The very numerous references in question are introduced casually
as though the dangerous conditions were a matter of course, were
inescapable, and entered into the ordinary life of the sect.

We cite a very few of these as specimen instances of Tertullian’s
conception of the life so environed with deadly perils.

The whole of the short and interesting address to “Blessed Martyrs
designate” in this connection should be read here.

“We are daily beset by foes, we are daily betrayed, we are oftentimes
surprised in our meetings and congregations” (Tertullian, _Apol._ 7).

“Without ceasing for our Emperors we offer prayer ... we ask for
whatever, as man or Cæsar, an Emperor could wish.... With our hands
thus stretched out and up to God, rend us with your iron claws, hang
us up on crosses, wrap us in flames, take our heads from us with
the sword, let loose the wild beasts on us; the very attitude of a
Christian praying is one of preparation for its punishment. Let this,
good rulers, be your work, wring from us the soul beseeching God on the
Emperor’s behalf. Upon the truth of God, and devotion to His Name, put
the brand of crime” (Tertullian, _Apol._ 30).

“Christians alone are forbidden to say anything in their defence to
help the judge to a righteous decision; all that is cared about is
getting what the public hatred demands--the confession of the Name”
(Tertullian, _Apol._ 2).

Constantly Tertullian refers to the great offence in the Christians
simply lying in “the Name.” “Your sentences, however, are only to this
effect, viz.: that one has confessed himself to be a Christian,” occurs
frequently (Tertullian, _Ad Nationes_, 8).

PART II

THE TRAINING FOR MARTYRDOM

INTRODUCTORY

We read in the pathetic and interesting study _De Laude Martyrii_
(On the Praise of Martyrdom) by an anonymous writer--a study which
usually follows the works of S. Cyprian--how some Roman officials who
were assisting in the torture of a dying Christian saint said one to
another: “This is really marvellous, this power of disregarding pain
and agony! Nothing seems to move him; he has a wife and little ones,
but even the love of these touches him not. What _is_ the secret of his
strange power? It can surely be no imaginary faith which enables him
thus to welcome such suffering--such a death!”

The moral effect of this endurance--of this serene acceptance of
torture and death--both on persecutors and persecuted, was no doubt
very great. It has probably been underrated. What we have just quoted
from the treatise _De Laude Martyrii_, _i.e._ the testimony to what
must have happened many thousand times--viz.: how it struck the
officials who were carrying out the stern law of Rome--was repeated in
our own day and time by one of our most serious historians; one not
likely by any means to have been carried away by religious enthusiasm.
Lecky, in his scrupulously fair but at the same time cold and
passionless chapter on early Christian persecutions, closes his review
of the period with the following remarkable words: “For the love of
their Divine Master, for the cause they believed to be true, men, and
even weak girls, endured these things (he has been detailing some of
the well-known tortures and deaths of the early Christian believers)
without flinching, when one word would have freed them from their
sufferings. No opinion we may form of the proceedings of priests in a
later age should impair the reverence with which we bend before the
martyr’s tomb.”[107]

Now, the more thoughtful of the pagan rulers who dreaded with a
nameless dread the overthrow of the idol-cult, the preservation of
which they believed was indissolubly linked with the maintenance of
the great Roman Empire they loved so well, saw in the constancy of the
martyrs a great danger to which this idol-cult was exposed.

Rulers so different as Nero and Domitian, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius,
and Marcus Antoninus, Severus, Decius, and Diocletian, and their
ministers, felt that the sternest measures of repression of the new
Faith were absolutely necessary if they would stem the fast advancing
and apparently resistless tide of Christianity in the Empire.

In view of the powerful impression which the constancy of the accused
Christian when brought face to face with all the horrors of torture and
of death made upon the pagan population who beheld it or heard of it,
every effort was made by the more far-seeing of the Roman magistrates
to induce the accused Christian to recant and to yield to the will and
wishes of the imperial government.

In countless cases this yielding was made seemingly very easy--just a
few grains of incense thrown upon an idol altar; just an acknowledgment
of the divinity of the reigning Emperor, which could after all be
explained away as a simple official expression of fervid loyalty.

In some cases a recognition of one supreme deity--Jupiter--who would
represent the one Almighty God of the Christians--was suggested as a
“modus vivendi” by the plausible rhetoric of a statesmanlike magistrate
who cared for Rome, but to whom all religions were myths.

The Christian senator, who for the sake of Christ had given up a
beautiful home and an exalted rank, would be reminded by his pagan
colleagues on the judges seat of the inescapable duty which one
in his great position owed to law and order--to his master the
Emperor;--surely he, of all men, should set an example of loyalty and
obedience; was he to degrade his proud order by worshipping an unknown
Crucified offender in defiance of the wishes and commands of the
Emperor and the imperial government?

A yet more moving appeal was very often made to the brave Christians
of both sexes by an eloquent magistrate to show some pity for those
they loved,--for their aged father and mother; for husband or wife
or helpless children. Were they by their fatal obstinacy to bring
bereavement and disgrace, shame and poverty, on these unoffending ones?

Then behind all these specious arguments the Roman judge would show the
pale confessor standing before him the awful tortures--the cruel death
which surely awaited the one who refused, with what seemed a sullen and
inexplicable obstinacy, to obey the laws of an immemorial Empire, when
after all obedience was so easy.

And many did yield--of this there is no doubt. The number of martyrs
who resisted unto death no doubt is very great, much greater than the
cold and passionless critic chooses to acknowledge, but the number of
those who did yield was no doubt considerable.

It was indeed a title to honour for a magistrate of Rome publicly
to win over one or more of these confessors of the New Religion, to
succeed in persuading some well-known Christian to scatter on the altar
of the deified Emperor, or of the popular image of Mars the Avenger,
or of Diana, or of the yet greater Jupiter, a few grains of incense
typifying his return to the ancient pagan cult--or better still, to
extract a few reluctant words in which the adored Christ was renounced
and abandoned.

Such a judicial victory was ever a signal triumph for the Roman pagan
judge. It would speedily bear its fruits and rally to the drooping
standard of paganism a number of men and women pondering, doubting,
hesitating on the threshold of Christianity; a threshold with such an
example of recantation before them, which they would surely never cross!

And these scenes during the long years of active persecution were
acted again and again. The war between the religion of Christ and the
old idol-cult so dear to Rome and her subject millions was indeed a
protracted and deadly combat, and, as far as men could see, the issue
for long years trembled in the balance.

And all this time much--more than men now think--hung on the grave and
solemn question of martyrdom.

It was an outward and visible sign of that new wonderful revelation
which was influencing so many different minds, which was working
restlessly in such varied classes, in Rome, and in the many provinces
of the world of Rome, which from the early days of its appearance in
the great Empire, began at once to work a mighty change in all ranks in
all society where it penetrated, and every year it penetrated deeper.

The New Revelation was taught by an ever-increasing band of teachers,
fervid, impassioned, eloquent--some of them learned and cultivated.
It possessed too a literature which gradually increased in volume and
power--a literature which was founded upon “a Record” which these
teachers affirmed issued from no workshops of this earth.

But all this literature, powerful, soul-stirring though it was, only
touched, comparatively speaking, a very few of the men and women who
made up the mighty world of Rome. The great mass of the peoples of the
Empire neither read the books nor heard the words of the teachers of
the New Religion.

_Something more_ was needed to touch the masses of the
people--_something_ thousands might see and hear of; something they
might see for themselves. That something was supplied by the noble army
of martyrs.

* * * * *

From the first days of the appearance of the new teaching the imperial
government of Rome was determined, if possible, to stamp it out of the
society which Rome controlled.

While the disciples of Him who gave the doctrine and the solemn charge
to His own to teach the strange wonderful story to all men, were still
living and bravely carrying out the command of their Master, began
the relentless persecution of those who received the New Revelation
(men named them Christians after their Master Christ); a persecution
which was now fitful and uncertain, now fierce and relentless in its
action, now languid and halting, but which never slept. During the two
centuries and a half, the period roughly from Nero to Constantine,--to
be a Christian was simply unlawful, and exposed its votary to the
direst penalties, which at times were rigorously exacted. The law of
the State at times was suffered to remain in partial abeyance; but to
use the great African teacher’s nervous words spoken to the Christian
Brotherhood, during all these long years--“Non licet esse vos.”[108]

The more statesmanlike of the Roman rulers, recognising the influence
exercised by the martyrs over the people, as we have remarked, by
all the means in their power encouraged apostasy--because a public
renunciation of the Faith deeply moved the people. Every public act
of apostasy was a heavy blow to the Christian cause; while on the
other hand, each example of splendid endurance of suffering and death
was a wonderful encouragement to the vast crowd of outsiders who were
hesitating on the borderland of Christianity. What must be, thought
these, and they were a great multitude, the secret power of the new
Faith which could nerve strong men, tender women--of all ages and of
different ranks--to endure such awful sufferings, and at the end to
meet death with a smile lighting up the wan pain-wrung faces.

The _Story_ they told must be true, otherwise never would it possess
such a mighty power.

Now, the leaders of the sect of the New Revelation were fully conscious
of these two factors in the life of their day and time. Anything like
apostasy or public renunciation of the religion of Christ once adopted
was a calamity to be guarded against with the utmost vigilance. On
the other hand, each example of public endurance to the end was an
enormous aid to the work of propagating the Faith,--so from very early
days a _school_--we can use no other fitting term--was established in
the great Christian centres, _of preparation for Martyrdom_. This most
interesting and far-reaching work in the very early Church--the Church
of the Ages of Persecution--has hitherto generally escaped notice;
only quite lately has it attracted some attention.[109]

It was no haphazard temporary piece of work, this “training for
martyrdom,” but as we shall see a veritable “school,” a protracted
education for an awful, for a not improbable contingency. At the end of
the second and through the third century it was evidently a recognized
and important Christian agency. When once we are aware of its existence
we begin to find unmistakable proofs of it in the writings of important
teachers like Tertullian and Cyprian.

In this once famous but now forgotten school of martyrdom the
well-known simile of S. Paul was the basis of the theory which seems
to have inspired the work--the simile which compared the Christian
combatant in the world-arena to the athlete in the well-known and
popular games of the amphitheatre. There the athlete, before entering
the theatre of combat, was carefully educated to endure hardness: a
long and careful training before such an one could hope to win the palm
and the crown was absolutely necessary. He must go through many long,
laborious, and painful exercises, abstinence, watchings, fastings,
before his body was fit to endure the perils and sufferings of a
trained combatant in the public arena.

In like manner must the Christian athlete who looked forward to a
possible martyr’s trial train himself. S. Cyprian, in the middle of
the third century, thus definitely writes of what clearly had been
the practice of the Church: “Ad agonem sæcularem, exercentur homines
et parantur.... Armari et præparari nos beatus Apostolus docet.”[110]
(“For the combat with the world are men trained and prepared.... The
blessed apostle teaches us to be all armed and ready.”)

The prize of martyrdom was very great. The visions and dreams of the
blessed sufferers were constantly read aloud in the congregation.

At the moment after death angels would bear them into Paradise--the
garden of God. They would be welcomed there with words of triumph
and even admiration. The Master would Himself receive His redeemed
servants who had fought the good fight and won. His kiss of welcome,
the touch of His hand, would at once fill their souls with a joy
indescribable. The “Vision of Perpetua,” _circa_ A.D. 200, or
a little earlier, one of the early Passions of Martyrs, the absolute
authenticity of which is undisputed,--for it has never been added to
or re-edited,--is a good example of the “Visions” seen by the martyrs
before their supreme trial.

But far more than the public recital of these well-loved acts and
passions was required for the training and preparation work, so a
number of short treatises or tracts were specially composed and put
out for the instruction of the earnest and devoted men and women as
“Manuals,” so to speak, of preparation for the great trial. Most of
these have disappeared; they were composed by fervid teachers for a
special season, for the years when the Church was exposed to bitter
trial; and when the trial time was over they were no longer required,
and as a rule were not preserved. A very few remain to us, such as
the “Exhortatio ad Martyrium” of Origen, such tractates of Tertullian
as “ad Martyres” and the “Scorpiace”; the letter “Ad Thibaritanos” of
S. Cyprian, and the anonymous work quoted at the beginning of this
chapter, _De Laude Martyrii_. These are fair specimens of what was
once a considerable literature. In very many of the “Passions of the
Martyrs” which have been preserved we meet with an oft-repeated answer
made by the Christian to the judge when asked about his rank in life,
country, family, and the like. “_I am a Christian_” was the almost
invariable answer to these questions; often nothing more. This seems to
have been the “formula” taught in the schools of martyrdom,--very few
traces, however, of this “formula” appear in the treatises which have
come down to us; it must, however, have been constantly repeated in the
“lost” treatises or tracts placed in the hands of those under training,
lost treatises to which reference has been made. The Epistle of S.
Ignatius to the Romans was no doubt used as one of these treatises or
manuals.

The words too of a famous teacher like Cyprian, who himself in the
end suffered martyrdom, were treasured up. Some of them are contained
in the Vision of S. Flavian before he suffered: “I saw in a dream the
martyr Bishop of Carthage, and I said to him: ‘Cyprian, is the death
stroke very agonizing?’ He replied: ‘When the soul is in a state of
heavenly rapture the suffering flesh is no longer ours; the body is
quite insensible to pain when the spirit is with God.”

This conception of the insensibility to pain on the part of the martyr
was a very general one. Tertullian repeats it almost in identical
words. S. Felicitas, quoted in the Passion of S. Perpetua above
referred to, said: “When I am in the amphitheatre the Lord will be
there and will suffer for me.”

S. Perpetua in the same well-known “Passion,” after having been tossed
and gored by a wild and maddened beast, woke up from the ecstacy into
which she had been plunged and asked the official standing near her
when she was to be exposed to the infuriated animal. S. Blandina in
another cruel scene of martyrdom was equally insensible to pain--her
soul was far away speaking with or praying to the Lord.

But of all the various “Manuals of Martyrdom” which were put into
the hands of those who desired to receive a special training against
the day of trial, none seemed to have been efficacious, easy of
comprehension, persuasive--like the words of S. Matthew’s Gospel. These
were evidently committed to memory and murmured again and again in the
sore hour of trial.

Such sayings as these--they were the Lord’s own words, the sufferer
knew: “Blessed are they that are persecuted for righteousness’ sake;
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” “How[111] strait is the gate and
narrow is the way which leadeth unto life.” “Fear not them which kill
the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear Him which
is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

“Whosoever, therefore, shall confess ME before men, him will I confess
(acknowledge) before My Father which is in heaven.” “But whosoever
shall deny ME before men, him will I also deny before My Father which
is in heaven.”

“He that loveth father and mother more than ME is not worthy of ME.”
“And he that loveth son or daughter more than ME is not worthy of ME.”

“If any man will come after ME, let him deny himself and take up his
cross and follow ME.”

“And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren or sisters, or
father or mother, or wife or children, or lands for My Name’s sake,
shall receive an hundred fold, and shall inherit everlasting life.”

But the “training for martyrdom” to which a number of Christians in
the first, second, and third centuries voluntarily gave themselves
was by no means confined to the mastering of the contents of a small
collection of carefully prepared treatises, or to the listening to
eloquent and burning exhortations of devoted teachers, or even to the
constant dwelling on the words of the Divine Master. This training
included a prolonged and carefully balanced practice in austerities
which would accustom the body to self-denial and to suffering, so that
when the agony of the trial really began, the body, thoroughly enured
to endurance, would be able to meet pain without flinching.

In this training for the mortal combat in which victory was so
all-important to the cause, no efforts were spared--painful and
laborious exercises, long fasting, watching and prayer, which would
render the body insensible to fatigue, capable of bearing any suffering
however poignant, were constantly practised. This training sometimes
went on for a long while before a fitting opportunity presented itself
of a public trial.

It was the want of this--the absence of this long and careful training
alluded to in the beautiful and evangelical letter describing the Lyons
and Vienne martyrdoms, which was the cause of many of the earlier
failures, and shrinking from the agony of martyrdom, of some of the
Lyons sufferers.

That great and severe master Tertullian, writing about A.D.
200, gives us some details of the austerities practised by those in
training for a martyr’s death. We will quote a very few of his burning
words here.

“Blessed martyrs designate, think,” he wrote, “how in peace soldiers
(he was speaking of the training of the unconquered legions of Rome)
inure themselves to war by toils, marching in heavy armour, running
over the exercise yard, working at the ditches, framing the heavy
‘testudo,’ engaging in numberless arduous labours, so that when the day
of battle comes, the body and mind may not shrink as it passes from the
robe of peace to the coat of mail, from silence to clamour, from quiet
to tumult. In like manner, oh blessed ones! count whatever is hard in
this lot of yours which you have taken up, as a discipline of mind
and body. You are about to pass through a noble struggle in which the
living God is the President, the Holy Ghost is the trainer, in which
the prize is an eternal crown of angelic life.... Therefore your Master
Jesus Christ has seen good before the day of conflict ... to impose on
you a hard training that your strength may be greater” ... “the harder
the labours in the training of preparation, the stronger is the hope of
victory, ... for valour is built up by hardship.”[112]

In other places Tertullian quotes S. Paul in such passages as: “We
glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience,
and patience experience, and experience hope” (Rom. v. 3, 4); and
again: “Therefore I take pleasure” (2 Cor. xii. 10) “in infirmities, in
reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s
sake” ... “always bearing about in our body the dying of the Lord
Jesus” (2 Cor. iv. 10); and again (2 Cor. iv. 16, 17, 18), “Though our
outward man perisheth yet the inward man is renewed day by day.... For
our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far
more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we look not at the
things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.”[113]

In his treatise on “Idolatry” Tertullian enters even more into detail
on this question of “training for martyrdom.” He enjoined that every
kind of austerity should be practised,--for instance, that hunger and
thirst should be endured as an habitual observance.

This fervid exhortation closes with the singular words: “An over-fed
Christian will be more necessary to bears and lions, perchance, than to
God; to encounter wild beasts it will surely be his duty to train for
emaciation.”

All this and much more in this curious “Study” of Tertullian partake
of exaggeration, but it throws considerable light on the manner on
which martyrdom was positively trained for, and the body prepared for
the endurance of terrible suffering, a suffering invariably closed
by death. Every example of such a bravely patient endurance--every
“resistance unto blood”--the Christian guides and leaders of the first
250 years felt was of inestimable value for the propagation of their
cause. Every public defeat and recantation, on the other hand, would
be a grave injury to their work; so the pagan government strained,
as we have remarked, every nerve to make recantation easy; while the
Christian masters, on the contrary, did everything which ingenuity
could invent or fervid devotion suggest to train up athletes who in the
supreme public trial might win the prize of martyrdom.

They were successful--in spite of many defeats. These schools of
martyrdom produced in Rome and in the provinces a countless succession
of brave men and women of all ranks, of all ages--who, to the amazement
of the pagan world, through pain and agony again and again won the
martyr’s blood-stained glorious crown. It was quite a novel experience
in the world, and the effect which it had worked on the rank and file
of men and women was only clearly seen after the Peace of the Church.
The people of Rome, from what they had seen, were persuaded with an
intense persuasion, no one doubting that a Faith which could produce
such heroes was surely based on _something_ which was true and real.

Some eighty or at most ninety years before Tertullian lived and wrote,
Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, on his way to Rome, where he was doomed
to be exposed to the wild beasts in the great amphitheatre, wrote his
famous letter to the Roman Church.

The date of the letter is about A.D. 107-10. The little writing was
highly esteemed in the early Church. It may be fairly styled a _vade
mecum_ of martyrs in the age of persecution. It accurately embodies the
thoughts and aspirations which the “School of Martyrs” we have been
picturing taught its pupils. We will give some of these thoughts as a
fitting conclusion to this little study on “Preparation for Martyrdom”
as practised during the first two hundred and fifty years.

This Letter of Ignatius breathes in its nervous and impassioned words
a complete fearlessness, though the awful trial lay immediately before
him; it tells of an intense and impassioned desire on the part of the
writer to be allowed to bear his witness to the love of Christ--to be
permitted “to resist unto blood” (Heb. xii. 4). The whole of the short
letter is, in fact, a passionate cry for martyrdom.

Ignatius wrote somewhat as follows:

“DEAR ROMAN CONGREGATION,--Do nothing which may hinder
me from finishing my course. If _you_ keep silence, God will
speak through me.” (He evidently feared that, through the
intercession of powerful friends whom the great teacher knew he
possessed in the capital, the death sentence might be postponed,
possibly annulled.)

“Pray”--he wrote--“that I may have strength to do as well as to
say. If only you will keep silence and leave me alone,--I am a
word of God; but if you desire my life--then shall I be again a
mere cry. It is good to get from the world unto God that I may
rise unto Him.

“I would that all men should know that of my own free will, I
die for God.... Let me be given to the wild beasts, that I may
be found pure bread of God (or of Christ). Bear with me....
Now am I beginning to be a disciple.... Come fire and cross
and grapplings with wild beasts, wrenching of bones, hacking
of limbs, crushings of my whole body. Come cruel tortures of
the devil to assail me. Only be it mine to attain unto Jesus
Christ!... Him I seek who died on our behalf. Him I desire who
rose again for our sake.... Suffer me to receive the pure light:
when I am come thither, then I shall be a man. Let me be an
imitator of the Passion of my God....”

“I write unto you in the midst of life, yet lusting after
death. My desire (or my love of life) has been crucified, there
is (now) no fire of earthly longing in me but only water,
living and speaking in me and saying within me, ‘Come to the
Father.’ I have no delight in the food of corruption or in the
delights of life. I desire the bread of God which is the flesh
of Christ, ... and for drink I desire His blood, which is love
incorruptible.”

* * * * *

This was the new marvellous spirit in which the early Christian martyrs
met and welcomed with a strange intense gladness, torture, ignominy,
death. This was the spirit which the great pagan statesmen who sat
at the helm of the Empire in Rome dreaded with a nameless dread, and
longed to crush and to destroy, the new spirit which the wisest and
most far-seeing among them felt was ever ringing the death-knell of
the pagan cult, the cult they connected with the genesis, the power,
and the very life of the Roman system, the cult which deified Rome and
worshipped the genius of Rome’s Emperor.

PART III

THE GREAT NUMBER OF MARTYRS IN THE FIRST TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS

INTRODUCTORY

Considerable stress has been laid in the preceding pages on the
question of the duration of the periods of persecution and the
consequent number of martyrs who suffered in these periods. It has
commonly been assumed that after the death of Nero a lengthened period
of quiet was enjoyed by the Church of Rome as in the provinces, and
that the sect of Christians was generally left unmolested during the
reigns of Vespasian and Titus, and indeed of Domitian, until quite the
last years of his life.

It has been shown that this was by no means the case, and that the
Christians were harassed more or less all through this period of
supposed quiet.

And after, through the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian, the rapidly
growing Christian community was perpetually persecuted by an unfriendly
and suspicious government, often at the instigation of a jealous
and hostile populace. Again and again these attacks, probably at
first mostly local and partial, flamed out into a general and bitter
persecution.

In the days of Antoninus Pius the harrying of Christians even grew more
and more general and cruel, and when Marcus Antoninus became Emperor,
the sufferings of the disciples of Jesus of Nazareth became decidedly
more acute and pronounced, and a terrible period of persecution set in
and became the lot of the Christian subjects of Rome.

We have awful examples of this bitter “Antonine” persecution in the
sad records, undoubtedly genuine, of the martyrs of Vienne and Lyons,
of the Scillitan martyrs in North Africa, of the heroic Mauritanian
victims, in the striking and pathetic acts of Perpetua and her
companions.[114]

Again it has been not unfrequently urged, and very largely believed,
that the Christian traditions exaggerated the number of martyrs who
suffered during the long though occasionally interrupted periods of
persecution. As regards this early period, the first two centuries, the
age we are now especially dwelling on, this supposition, very generally
more or less accepted, is absolutely baseless. Indeed, the exact
contrary is the case.

So far from exaggerating the numbers of confessors of “the Name,”
or painting in too vivid colours the story of their martyrdom, the
earlier Christian writers dwell very little either on the number of
the confessors or on their sufferings. It does not appear that any
mention of martyrs or confessors of the second century appears in the
oldest extant Church calendars; no allusion in these lists is recorded
of martyrs until after the middle of the third century. Only in the
case of some celebrated martyrs and confessors is an exception made. As
a rule, save in very special cases, no anniversary of second-century
martyrs appears to have been kept. It is only from the general tone
of the earliest Christian writings[115] that we gather that the
community was exposed to an ever-present danger, and that the shadow of
persecution was ever brooding over the heads of the followers of “the
Name.”

By far the most definite account of the great numbers of Christians,
the way in which they were looked upon by the imperial government, and
the severe measures taken against them, are to be found in the notices
of great pagan historians such as Tacitus and Suetonius, and more
accurately and precisely in the Letter of Pliny to Trajan and in the
Emperor’s reply, on which we have already dwelt with some detail.

On the important and interesting question respecting the “number”
of martyrs generally, one very weighty piece of evidence has been
curiously neglected and ignored.

This evidence comes from the Catacombs, which have been in later years
the subject of so much careful and painstaking research, a research
that is still proceeding. In these investigations perhaps nothing has
assisted the great scholars who have devoted themselves to the work, so
much as the so-called “Itineraries” or “Pilgrim Guides” to this great
network of subterranean cemeteries beneath the suburbs of Rome. In the
fifth, sixth, and two following centuries we know that vast numbers of
Pilgrims, not only from Italy but from distant countries, visited Rome,
especially with the view of reverently visiting and praying at the
shrines of the brave confessors of the Faith who suffered in the days
of persecution, from the time of Nero to the accession of Constantine
the Great to power.

To assist these pilgrim crowds, a certain number of “Itineraries”
were composed. Some few of them have come down to us; these curious
and interesting Pilgrim “Hand-Books” have been usually unearthed (in
comparatively speaking modern times) in certain of the greater monastic
libraries.[116]

They date from the last years of the fifth century onwards, and
were written--the copies we possess--mostly in the sixth, seventh,
and eighth centuries. No doubt these “Itineraries” were copied from
still older documents, and it is likely that more will be discovered.
But these that we possess have been of incalculable service to the
researches of men like Marchi, De Rossi, Marucchi, and their companions.

The information contained in these Pilgrim Guide-Books has been found
to be in most cases singularly accurate, and the details set forth
have been found most strikingly to correspond with what has been
discovered. Not only have the more famous shrines alluded to been
identified, but even the general details have been proved to have
been largely correct. One detail, however, in these ancient “Pilgrim
Itineraries” has not received the attention it deserved, and which in a
most striking way confirms the point urged above, that the numbers of
martyrs in Rome (for we are dwelling here especially on Rome) has been
greatly underrated by most historians.

We will briefly glance through the testimony of the “Itineraries” on
this point, touching upon each of the principal Catacombs in order.
As a rule the “Pilgrim Itineraries” class the different groups of
cemeteries (Catacombs) under the different heading of the Roman road in
the immediate vicinity of which they were excavated. Thus cemeteries
are classed together which are situated on the “Via Aurelia,” the
“Via Portuensis,” the “Via Appia,” the “Via Salaria Nova,” etc. This
topographical arrangement was drawn up evidently for the convenience
of these pilgrim travellers, who were thus guided in turn round the
principal shrines.

ON THE RIGHT BANK OF THE TIBER IN THE TRASTEVERE QUARTER

THE VIA VATICANA. (_The Vatican Cemetery._)

The allusion referred to here is to the crypts existing beneath
the great basilica of S. Peter.--“No man knows what the number
is of the holy martyrs who rest in this Church” (Etenim nullus
hominum scit numerum sanctorum Martyrum qui in eadem ecclesia
pausant).--_Itinerary of William of Malmesbury._

This “Guide” was probably published for the use of the
Crusaders. It was evidently made from a much older document, for
many of the shrines alluded to in it belonged to Catacombs which
in William of Malmesbury’s time had been long forgotten.

THE VIA AURELIA. (_The road leading to Civita Vecchia._)

After speaking of the shrines of certain celebrated confessors
buried in a cemetery hard by this road, we read how “these
lie buried with many (other martyrs)” (cum multis sepulti
jacent).--_De Locis SS. Martyrum._

Of this “Itinerary,” the full title of which is “De Locis SS.
Martyrum quæ sunt foris civitatem Romæ,”--the MS. was found in
the Salzburg Library.

THE VIA PORTUENSIS. (_The road leading to Portus, the ancient
port of Rome, constructed by Claudius._)

Certain famous shrines are particularised, after which follow
the words: “Then you go down into a cave (or crypt), and you
will find there an innumerable multitude of martyrs” (invenies
ibi innumerabilem multitudinem martyrum); and again, alluding to
another spot, “that cave (or crypt) is filled with the bones of
martyrs.”

The cemeteries on the Via Portuensis include the cemeteries of
Pontianus and S. Felix.--_Salzburg Itinerary._

CEMETERIES (CATACOMBS) ON LEFT BANK OF THE TIBER (ROME PROPER)

THE VIA OSTIENSIS. (_The road leading to Ostia._)

After alluding to the sepulchre of S. Paul and other shrines,
such as S. Adauctus, mention is made of a martyr Nomeseus, with
many others (cum plurimis aliis).

THE VIA ARDEATINA. (_A road on the right or west of the
Via Appia._)

The “Guide” speaks of various shrines and proceeds to say: “Not
far off lie S. Petronilla and Nereus and Achilles and many other
martyrs.”--_Itinerary of William of Malmesbury._

THE VIA APPIA. (_The “Queen of Roads” leads through
Albano on to Capua._)

(1) After enumerating various notable shrines, such as that of
S. Cecilia, we read: “There we come upon a countless multitude
of martyrs” (Ibi innumerabilis multitudo martyrum).

(2) Further on, mention is made of “80 nameless martyrs who rest
here.”--_Salzburg Itinerary._

(1) In another “Itinerary” describing the cemeteries of the
Appian Way we read of “800 martyrs who are stated to rest in the
great Callistus group of Catacombs.”

(2) And here again the expression is used, “with many
martyrs.”--_De Locis SS. Martyrum._

THE VIA LATINA (_leads out of the ancient Porta Capena
to the left of the Appian Way_).

The “Itinerary” here referred to speaks of some three groups of
cemeteries, in two of which, it states, after particularising
some famous shrines, that “many martyrs rest there.”--_De Locis
SS. Martyrum._

THE VIA LABICANA (_leads out of the ancient Esquiline Gate_).

The “Pilgrim Guide” here referred to mentions that, in the group
of cemeteries situate on this road, “many martyrs rest.” In
another place it alludes to “many other martyrs”; in another,
“30 martyrs.”--_Itinerary of Salzburg._

Another “Pilgrim Guide” tells us of “a countless multitude of
martyrs” buried in this group of Catacombs.--_De Locis SS.
Martyrum._

Another “Itinerary,” after specifying some famous names,
mentions that here were “other martyrs unnumbered.”--_Itinerary
of Einsiedeln._

THE VIA TIBURTINA. (_The road which through the
Tiburtina Gate, now the Porta S. Lorenzo, leads to Tivoli._)

The “Guide” speaks of the Church of S. Laurence and the two
basilicas in the cemetery adjacent. It says: “Many martyrs
rest there”; and again, in the cemetery hard by, mentions “a
multitude of saints” buried there.--_Itinerary of Salzburg._

Another “Itinerary,” describing these cemeteries, records
that “with S. Cyriaca and S. Symphorosa are buried many
martyrs.”--_De Locis SS. Martyrum._

THE VIA NOMENTANA (_leads out of the old Porta Collina
to the town of Nomentum (Mentana). The modern Porta Pia is close
to the old gate_).

After describing the group of cemeteries lying round the
Basilica of S. Agnes, and mentioning some of the better-known
saints, the “Itinerary” says: “Many others sleep there.”--_De
Locis SS. Martyrum._

THE VIA SALARIA NOVA (_leads in a northerly direction out of the
old Porta Collina (Porta Pia now). The great Cemetery (Catacomb)
of Priscilla is a little way out of the city on this road_).

The “Itinerary” is speaking of the old Basilica of S. Sylvester;
its ruins are in the Priscilla Catacomb. There, it says, “a
multitude of saints rest”; and further on, still speaking
of the same Basilica of S. Sylvester, says that “under the
altar with certain famous confessors there are a multitude of
saints.”--_Itinerary of Salzburg._

Another “Guide,” writing of the great ones who rest in the
“Priscilla” Cemetery, adds how they sleep there “with many
saints.” Hard by, the same “Guide” tells us how one of the
confessor-sons of S. Felicitas in the same spot rests “with
many saints”; and again alludes to “the many martyrs buried
there.” And once more, speaking of the shrine of S. Sylvester,
relates that “very many more saints and martyrs lie hard by.” In
one grave, the “Guide” adds, “373 are buried.”--_De Locis SS.
Martyrum._

_William of Malmesbury_, copying--as we said--from a much
older “Pilgrim Guide,” after enumerating the names of the more
prominent martyrs, adds, “and there are innumerable other saints
buried there” (alii innumerabiles).--_William of Malmesbury._

THE VIA SALARIA VETUS. (_This road was in the immediate
neighbourhood of the last mentioned, the “Via Salaria Nova.”_)

The “Itinerary,” describing the group of cemeteries on this
road, writes, after mentioning the better-known names of saints:
“These are buried with many martyrs”; and further on relates how
“230 martyrs are interred here.”--_De Locis SS. Martyrum._

_William of Malmesbury_, writing of the same group, relates
that “in the one grave 260 martyrs rest,” and “in another
30.”--_William of Malmesbury, Itinerary._

THE VIA FLAMINIA. (_This ancient road leads out of the
modern Porta del Popolo, is a direct continuation of the modern
Corso. It is the great road communicating with North Italy._)

There is only one Cemetery or Catacomb on this road, that of S.
Valentinus. The “Guide” relates how the martyr S. Valentinus
rests there together “with other martyrs unnamed.”--_Itinerary
of Salzburg._

Another “Guide” says: “Many saints are buried here.”--_De Locis
SS. Martyrum._

Of somewhat less weight than the testimony of the “Itineraries” or
“Pilgrim Guide” books, but still of great importance as throwing a
strong sidelight upon the evidence we have massed together on the
subject of the large numbers of the martyrs and confessors of Rome
interred in the Catacombs, are the Monza “Catalogue” and “Labels” once
attached to the little phials of oil brought to Theodelinda from the
sacred shrines of Rome.

We have elsewhere briefly described this curious and absolutely
authentic relic.[117] Theodelinda asked for relics from the shrines
of the Cemeteries (Catacombs) of Rome; Pope Gregory the Great in the
last years of the sixth century sent to her a little of the oil from
the lamps which in his days were ever kept burning before each of the
shrines in question.

The original “Catalogue” (Notitia) of these oils, and the “Labels”
(Pittacia) once attached to the phials which held the oils, are
preserved in the Cathedral of Monza.

The “Catalogue” (or Notitia) is preceded by the following words:

“Nōt. de olea scōrum (sanctorum) martyrum qui Romæ in corpore
requiescunt--id est,” etc. Here follows the List of Martyrs from whose
shrines a little of the oil (contained in the lamps always burning
before them) was taken.

In several instances, notably after such names as S. Agnes, S.
Cecilia, SS. Felix and Philippus and S. Cornelius, occur the following
expressions:--

“Et aliaram multarum Martyrum”--“et multa millia scorum”--(sanctorum)
“et alii Sci (Sancti), id est CCLXII.” ... “in unum locum et alii
CXXII. et alii Sci XLVI.”--“et aliorum multi scor” (sanctorum).

In other words, the “Catalogue” and the “Labels” on the phials relate
how the sacred oil was taken from lamps burning before the graves (the
shrines) of S. Agnes and of “many other martyrs buried close by”; of S.
Cornelius and “of many thousands of saints” resting in the immediate
neighbourhood of his tomb; of S. Philippus and of “many other saints
sleeping near his shrine,” etc.

In three instances the exact numbers of the nameless martyrs are given,
viz.: 262, 122, and 46. The expression “many thousands” which occurs in
this venerable memorial of the reverent feeling of Christians of the
sixth century towards the noble and devoted confessors of the Faith,
is of course an exaggerated one; it may even be termed a rhetorical
expression; but it bears its undoubted testimony to the deeply rooted
belief of Christians who lived in the centuries which immediately
followed the Peace of the Church, that in this sacred City of the Roman
dead an enormous number of martyrs was buried, besides those whose
names and stories were, as it were, household words in every land where
Jesus Christ was adored.

III

There is a celebrated inscription of Pope Damasus (A.D. 366-84)
preserved in one of the collections of the epitaphs he placed in the
Catacombs (the Sylloge Palestina), an inscription originally placed in
the Papal Crypt of the “Callistus” Cemetery, which speaks especially
of “a number of martyrs buried together” near that sacred spot. The
epitaph commences as follows:

“Hic congesta jacet quæris si turba piorum
Corpora sanctorum retinent veneranda sepulchra
Sublimes animas rapuit sibi Regia cœli.”[118]

Prudentius (_Perist._ i. 73) (end of fourth century) beautifully
alludes to the veil of oblivion which has fallen over the hidden graves
of these numberless nameless martyrs:

“O vetustatis silentis obsoleta oblivio
Invidentur ista nobis, fama et ipsa extinguitur.”

And again (_Perist._ ii.):

“Vix Fama nota est, abditis
Quam plena sanctis Roma sit,
Quam dives urbanum solum
Sacri sepulchris floreat.”

The martyrs traditionally interred in the various Catacombs of Rome,
and whose graves were reverently and persistently visited by crowds
of pilgrims to Rome from foreign lands after the Peace of the Church
during the fourth, fifth, and following centuries, represent the
victims of the various periods of persecution during the first three
centuries.

It is by no means intended to press the traditional statements
contained in the Pilgrim Itineraries quoted in this chapter respecting
the vast number of martyrs interred in the Catacombs of Rome.

These statements are probably somewhat exaggerated, but the undisputed
fact remains that a _very great number_ of these victims of the various
persecutions were certainly interred in this hallowed city of the dead;
and the unvarying tradition of the number of martyrs so interred must
be taken into account, and gravely reckoned with, wherever the question
of the number of Christian victims is considered.

BOOK IV

THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

[Illustration: THE “COME AND DINE” OF THE LAST CHAPTER OF ST. JOHN’S
GOSPEL--THE MYSTIC REPAST OF THE SEVEN DISCIPLES

CEMETERY OF CALLISTUS--II CENTURY. (A FAVOURITE PICTURE IN THE
CATACOMBS)]

THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

INTRODUCTORY

An absolutely reliable source of information respecting the secret of
the inner life of the Church in the early Christian centuries is the
faithful record of the thoughts, the hopes, the aspirations of the
congregations of the Church of the metropolis of the Empire, carved
and painted on the countless graves of the subterranean corridors and
chambers of the Catacombs of Rome.

“The popular, the actual belief of a generation or society of men
cannot always be ascertained from the contemporary writers, who
belong for the most part to another stratum. The belief of a people
is something separate from the books or the watchwords of parties. It
is in the air. It is in their intimate conversation. We must hear,
especially in the case of the simple and unlearned, what they talk of
to each other. We must sit by their bedsides, get at what gives them
most consolation, what most occupies their last moments. This, whatever
it be, is the belief of the people, right or wrong; this and this
only, is their real religion.... Now, is it possible to ascertain this
concerning the early Christians?

* * * * *

“The books of that period are few and far between, and those books are
for the most part the works of learned scholars rather than of popular
writers. Can we, apart from these books, discover what was their most
real and constant representation of their dearest hopes here and
hereafter? Strange to say, after all this lapse of time (getting on
for some two thousand years) it is possible; the answer, at any rate,
for that large mass of Christians from all parts of the Empire that
was collected in the capital, the answer is to be found in the Roman
Catacombs,”[119]--that great city of the dead which lies beneath the
soil of the immediate suburbs of imperial Rome. This city of the dead
certainly contains several hundred miles of streets of tombs, and the
tombs at least contain three or more millions of silent dwellers!

In this resting-place of the dead the community of Rome, by far the
greatest of the Christian churches who professed the faith of Jesus,
for some two centuries and a half reverently laid their dear ones as
they passed from the stir of busy restless Roman life into the unseen
world. There in these Catacombs they used to pray often, very often
in the years of persecution; there they used to hear the teaching of
Duty, of Hope and Faith from the lips of some chosen master, and it
is from the words written or graven upon the innumerable tombs in
the Catacombs that we gather what was the real belief of these early
congregations--what their sure hopes and aspirations. In these silent
streets, on the walls of the countless sepulchral chambers, they loved
to paint pictures and to grave short epitaphs telling of these same
cherished hopes. Some of these pictures and epitaphs, often dim and
discoloured, often mutilated, are with us still. Not a few of the
artists who worked there were evidently men of no mean power in their
noble craft.

Ruined, desecrated, spoiled though it now is, with only comparatively
small portions accessible at all--what a treasure-house for the scholar
is this silent group of cemeteries!

A careful study of the more recent discoveries in the Catacombs throws
much light on the opinions and thoughts of the Christians of the first
and second centuries, showing us that the current of early Christian
thought not unfrequently ran in a somewhat different channel to the
stream of thoughts presented to us by the contemporary writers of that
very early period. It must, however, be insisted on that the cardinal
doctrines of the Faith taught by the weightiest of the first Christian
writers were absolutely identical with the belief of the Christians of
the Roman Catacombs. If anything, the supreme divinity of the Son of
God--His love for, His care for men, is emphasised more emphatically,
if it be possible, in the silent teaching than in the fervid dogmatism
of the great Catholic writers.

To enable the reader fairly to grasp something of the vast extent,
the nature, and importance of these Catacombs of Rome, whose silent
witness to the “Inner Life” of the early Church is invoked, this
Fourth Book will give: (1) a brief description of the way in which the
investigations into this wonderful “City of the Dead” in later years
has been carried out by careful scholars and experts; (2) a general
and somewhat detailed account of the situation and features of the
several Catacombs, dwelling especially on the more important of these
cemeteries; (3) the teaching contained in the inscriptions, carvings,
and paintings on the graves in the Catacomb corridors.

PART I

Since the date of what may be termed the rediscovery of the Catacombs
in the vineyard on the Via Salaria in 1578[120] the work of excavation
and research in the streets of the City of the Dead which lies beneath
the suburbs of Rome has been slowly and somewhat fitfully carried on,
exciting generally but little public interest, and until the last fifty
years, roughly speaking, has been most mischievous and destructive.

It is probable that more destruction and havoc have been wrought
by the well-meaning but ill-directed efforts of the explorer than
were occasioned by the raids of the barbarians in the sixth and two
following centuries and by the slow wear and sap of time.

Among these, Bosio, A.D. 1593-1629, the pioneer of the Catacomb
explorers, occupies one of the few honourable places; his method of
working was in many respects scientific. He was no mere explorer,
working haphazard, but he guided his labours by carefully sifting
all the information he could procure of the past history of the
vast subterranean necropolis. But, after all, the materials of this
history which he could get together were scanty when compared with the
materials possessed by scholars of our day and time, and in consequence
many of the conclusions to which this pioneer of Catacomb research came
to were erroneous.

But in his manner of working Bosio had no successors. As a rule, since
that really illustrious scholar and searcher has passed away, alas!
a very different method has been with rare exceptions followed by
explorers of the Catacombs, and owing to the careless and ill-regulated
excavations which have been fitfully carried on during some 200 and
more years, irreparable damage has been done, and the losses to
this deeply important branch of early Christian history are simply
incalculable.

The general results of this unfortunate exploration work in the past
have been summarised as follows:

During this long period--roughly from A.D. 1629 to about the
middle of the nineteenth century, some 220 years--_the chief object and
aim of Catacomb exploration were to procure relics_; when these were
once carried away, no heed was paid to the crypts, or to the streets
of graves. The records of the excavations kept were scanty and utterly
insignificant, and each Catacomb from which the relics were taken was
left in a state of utter ruin and deplorable confusion. The result of
these searchings of 220 years has been that few discoveries were made
of any real importance to early Christian history or archæology. At
last De Rossi, in the middle years of the nineteenth century, took
in hand seriously the study and scientific exploration of the vast
Christian necropolis of Rome.

De Rossi was the friend and pupil of Father Marchi, an indefatigable
student of the Catacombs who was really impressed with the
possibilities of a more careful exploration than had hitherto been
undertaken. Marchi’s real title to honour will ever be that he imbued
his pupil with a passionate love of the work to which he has devoted a
long and strenuous life.

The great City of the Dead, largely thanks to De Rossi’s lifelong
labours, is to us something far more than a vast museum of inscriptions
and memorials, the work of the Christian congregations in Rome during
the first two and a half centuries which followed the preaching and
martyrdom of SS. Peter and Paul. It is true that most important is the
testimony of these precious relics to the earliest popular estimate of
Christianity: we shall dwell later on the wonderful witness which the
numberless inscriptions and strange emblems painted and graven on the
tombs bear to the faith and belief of the early Church; but the eminent
Roman scholar of whom we are speaking has taught us that there was more
than even the witness of these precious inscriptions and emblems to be
gathered from a patient study of the Catacomb secret.

De Rossi believed, and the splendid results of his long toil have
strikingly verified his belief, that amidst the ruined and desolated
streets of graves the _historic crypts_ of the more famous and
illustrious martyrs of Christ, of the men and women who during the
first two centuries and a half through pain and agony passed to their
rest and won their crowns, could be found and identified, and that thus
a new and striking proof would be furnished of the truth of much of the
martyr story of the early Church.

The official records of well-nigh all the Roman martyrdoms of the age
of persecution, we know, were destroyed by the imperial government
in the days of Diocletian. The martyrologies or histories of these
heroes and heroines of the faith of Jesus which have come down to us,
it is well known, were with a few notable exceptions for the most part
largely composed some two or even more centuries _after_ the events
they relate had happened, and have in consequence been treated by
careful Christian scholars as not dependable sources of early Christian
history; this has been conceded by the most scholarly of the devout
Christian students.

De Rossi’s great work, however, strange to say, has curiously
rehabilitated very many of these long-discredited martyr stories,[121]
and has clearly shown us that not a few of the more important of these
have been absolutely founded on fact; of course, some of the various
details as recounted in these martyrologies are more or less legendary,
but the great cardinal fact of the existence, of the life-work and
suffering, and noble testimony to the faith sealed with their
life-blood, of these true servants of the adored Master, is positively
established by what has been found in the last fifty years in the Roman
city of the Christian dead.

De Rossi and his companions have indeed given us a perfectly new and
most striking page in the history of this early Christian Church.

It will be of special interest briefly to glance over the principal
portion of the materials which De Rossi made use of as his guide during
his long forty years’ labours in the exploration of the Catacombs.
First in order must be taken what may be termed the literature bearing
on the City of the Dead.

The most important of these pieces are

1. _The Acts of the Martyrs._ These have already been alluded to as
possessing, save in a few instances, little historic authority, as they
were mostly composed two centuries or even more after the events which
they purported to relate happened. But they were not without their
value to the Catacomb explorers, for it must be remembered that when
these “Acts” were put together in the form we now possess them, in the
fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries, the Catacombs were still an object
of eager pilgrimage from all lands, and many of the details in these
“Acts” evidently were based on an historical tradition, such as the
place exactly where the martyr of the “Acts” was buried; such a detail,
for instance, served as a guide to the explorer.

2. _The Martyrology of S. Jerome_--a compilation dating from about the
middle of the sixth century, but certainly containing memoranda of an
earlier date.

3. The (so-called) _Liber Pontificalis_--a generally reliable and most
interesting work, the earlier portion of which has been largely used
throughout Western Christendom, certainly since the sixth century. The
first part of this work contains biographical notices of the Bishops
of Rome from the days of S. Peter to the times of Pope Nicholas,
A.D. 807. The earliest redaction of the first Papal notices in
the _Liber Pontificalis_ which has come down to us was made towards
the end of the fifth century, or in the first years of the sixth. But
it is evidently based on records of a much older date preserved in the
Roman Church.

4. But what De Rossi found most valuable for the purposes of his great
work was a group of writings known as _Itineraries of Pilgrims_. These
were founded on handbooks composed for the use of devout pilgrims from
Britain, Gaul, Spain, Germany, and Switzerland,--men and women who were
desirous to see and to pay their devotions at the celebrated shrines of
Rome.

Some five at least of these precious Pilgrim Itineraries or Guide-Books
to the more celebrated shrines or places where martyrs were interred
in the vast Roman City of the Dead have come down to us. They have
proved of the highest value to De Rossi in his exploration work. The
first perhaps in value of these is contained in the works of William of
Malmesbury, which treat of the doings of the Crusaders in Rome. William
of Malmesbury wrote in the year of grace 1095. But the Itinerary
section in question speaks of the martyr saints as though they were
_still resting_ in their Catacomb graves, although we know that they
had been translated into churches in the city about three centuries
earlier. This clearly shows that the “Itinerary” section had been
written several centuries before the writer William of Malmesbury lived
and copied it into his work.

Other Pilgrim Itineraries have been found in famous monastic libraries,
such as in the libraries of Einsiedeln and Salzburg. These may be
roughly dated about the middle of the seventh century,--that is, before
the days of the Pontificate of Paul I, A.D. 757, and Paschal I, A.D.
817, when the wholesale translation of the remains of the martyrs
from the Catacombs to the securer shelter of the city churches took
place. These were therefore written in a period when the traditions
connected with the historic crypts and their venerated contents were
all comparatively fresh and vivid.

In the same category with the Pilgrim Itineraries which the great Roman
scholar has found so helpful in his Catacomb researches must be placed
the celebrated papyrus preserved in the Cathedral of Monza. This
is a contemporary catalogue or list of the sacred oils sent by Pope
Gregory the Great (A.D. 590-604) to Theodelinda, Queen of the
Lombards. The Lombard Queen sent a special messenger, one Abbot John,
to Pope Gregory the Great asking him for relics of the saints buried
in the Catacombs. At that period no portions of the sacred bodies were
allowed to be removed, even at the request of so powerful a petitioner
as Theodelinda; but as a substitute the Pope sent a little of the oil
which fed the lamps which were ever kept burning before the tombs or
shrines of the saints in question.

Each phial containing the oil was carefully ticketed or labelled, and
a list of these tickets or labels was written on this Monza papyrus.
Some sixty or seventy saints’ shrines are specially enumerated, besides
about eight places mentioned before which oils were kept burning,
before tombs which contained a crowd of unnamed saints and martyrs.

This Monza catalogue of the sacred oils De Rossi carefully compared
with the topographical notices in the Pilgrim Itineraries above
referred to. It was of great service to the scholar explorer in
discovering and identifying many of the principal sanctuaries of the
Catacombs.

Another and quite a different material for his investigations De Rossi
found amidst the desolate Catacombs themselves: he noticed that certain
unmistakable indications ever marked the near neighbourhood of some
historic crypt.

1. The existence above ground of more or less ruined basilicas
of various dimensions,--in some cases showing the remains of a
considerable building, in others of a comparatively small edifice as
of a chapel or an oratory. Such a ruined building evidently pointed to
there being beneath the soil, at times deep down, an historic crypt
of importance. Such a small basilica or oratory had no doubt been
built after the Peace of the Church in the middle or latter years of
the fourth or in the fifth century, when pilgrimage to the shrines
of the saints and martyrs had become the fashion. It was intended
to accommodate the ever-growing crowds who came often from distant
countries to pray near and to venerate the saints and martyrs whose
remains lay buried in the crypt immediately beneath.

2. The remains, more or less perfect, of a staircase or staircases
leading down to the sacred crypt containing a tomb of some great
confessor known and honoured in the tradition of the Church.

3. The presence of a “luminare” or shaft, sometimes of considerable
size, which was constructed to give light and air to a subterranean
chamber in the Catacombs, indicated that in the immediate neighbourhood
of the “luminare” an historic crypt had once existed. These openings
or shafts were mostly the work of Pope Damasus and his successors in
the latter years of the fourth and in the earlier years of the fifth
centuries.

4. Below--in some of the ruined corridors of tombs and in certain of
the cubicula or separate chambers leading out of the corridors--on
the walls a number of “graffiti” or inscriptions, often very rudely
graved or painted, are visible, some of the inscriptions or questions
being simply a name, others containing a brief prayer for the writer
or for one dear to the writer. It was evident that the presence of
such inscriptions indicated the immediate neighbourhood of an historic
crypt which once contained the remains of a revered “great one,”--not
unfrequently the name of the “great one” was included in some of the
graffiti.

Such “graffiti” were clearly the work of the many pilgrims to the
Catacombs in the fifth and following centuries.

5. In certain of the cubicula or separate chambers leading out of the
corridors, remains of paintings, evidently of a period much later than
the original Catacomb work, are discernible--paintings which belong to
the Byzantine rather than to any classical school of art, and which
cannot be dated earlier than the sixth or seventh centuries. The
existence of such later decorative work clearly indicated that the spot
so adorned was one of traditional sanctity, and no doubt had been the
resting-place of a venerated saint and martyr.

6. In his “materials” for the identification of the historic crypts De
Rossi found the inscriptions of Pope Damasus, who died A.D.
384, of the greatest assistance.

Damasus’ love for and work in the Catacombs is well known. He was a
considerable poet, and precious fragments of poetical inscriptions
composed by him have been found in many of the more important
Catacombs which have been explored. These inscriptions were engraved
on marble tablets by his friend and skilful artist Furius Dionysius
Filocalus in clear beautiful characters. These fragments have been in
many cases put together, and where the broken pieces were wanting have
been wonderfully restored with the aid of “syllogæ” or collections
of early Christian inscriptions gathered mostly in the ninth century
by the industry of the monks. These “syllogæ” or collections have
preserved for us some forty of the inscriptions of Pope Damasus in
honour of martyrs and confessors buried in the Catacombs. With perhaps
one solitary exception, they are all written in hexameter verse.

Such collections of early Christian inscriptions have been preserved in
the libraries of such monasteries as Einsiedeln, S. Riquier, S. Gall,
etc.

The result of the forty years of De Rossi’s researches and work in
the Catacombs, based on the above-mentioned historical documents and
on the evidence derived from what he found in the ruined corridors of
tombs and the chambers leading out of them, has been that, whereas
before his time at most three important historical crypts were
known, now already more than fifteen[122] of these have been clearly
identified, a wonderful and striking proof of the reality of the
sufferings and constancy of the heroes and heroines of the faith in the
first two hundred and fifty years of the existence of the religion of
Jesus--sufferings and constancy which resulted in the final triumph of
Christianity.

Briefly to enumerate just a very few of the more prominent later
historical discoveries which have lifted much of the early history and
inner life of the great Church of the Roman congregations from the
domain of tradition into the realm of scientific history--

In the first century--the discoveries in the cemeteries of Domitilla
and Priscilla. The long-disputed story of Nereus and Achilles; the
existence and fate of the two Domitillas, kinswomen of the imperial
house; the Christianity and martyrdom of the patrician Acilius Glabrio
the Consul, have been largely authenticated.

In the second century--the discovery of the tombs of SS. Felicitas
and Cecilia, of the grave of S. Januarius, the eldest son of
Felicitas,[123] substantiate the existence and death of the famous
martyrs, whose very existence has been doubted even by earnest
Christian students, and whose life-story has been generally relegated
to the sphere of religious romance.

In the early years of the third century--the wonderful “find” of the
Papal Crypt in the Callistus Cemetery, and the ruined remains of the
tombs of several of the Bishops of Rome, confessors and martyrs, bear
irrefragable testimony to the truth of records of early Christian
history, and set a seal upon tradition hitherto only held with but a
half-hearted confidence. In the middle years of the same century the
identification of the tombs of Agnes and her foster-sister Emerentiana
replaced in the pages of serious history scenes often quoted in early
martyrology, but which competent Christian critics had long relegated
to the region of the merely legendary. The exploration and labours of
De Rossi and his band of fellow-workers and pupils have also thrown
a flood of light on the days of the fierce continuous persecution of
the Emperor Diocletian, and have opened out to publicity a number of
tombs of nameless martyrs who suffered under the iron hand of imperial
Rome in the bloody times of that last and fiercest of attacks on
Christianity. And besides the many nameless graves of a great multitude
of martyrs and confessors who suffered under Diocletian, these
explorations have identified the tombs of not a few of the more famous
Christian leaders who witnessed a good confession at that same dread
epoch, notably the resting-places of Peter and Marcellinus, of the
Roman bishops Caius and Eusebius, of Marcus and Marcellinus. “A very
glorious group of monuments--a group, too, which we may well expect to
become larger and more far-reaching in its teaching, for _innumerable
crypts are still waiting to be explored and searched out_. Each of the
ancient roads leading from the immemorial capital of Italy, and once
of the world; each historic cemetery or catacomb contains such a crypt
with its central shrine of some once well-known martyr or illustrious
confessor of the Name.”

So writes Marucchi, one of the foremost of the living Roman scholars
in Catacomb lore, the disciple and successor of De Rossi. (These words
were written in the year of grace 1903.)

Following closely upon the notices contained in the Pilgrim Itineraries
of the seventh and eighth centuries, De Rossi, in a catalogue carefully
composed, enumerates thirty-seven cemeteries or Catacombs. Several,
however, of these have not been clearly identified. One or two of them
are very small; while others, apparently extending over a wide area,
communicate with one another; and some are very imperfectly known,
others as yet quite unexplored.

III

It will be an assistance to the student wishing to grasp something
of the vast extent of the great subterranean City of the Dead, and
desirous to arrive at some idea of the present knowledge of the mighty
Christian necropolis of the first days, if a brief sketch of the known
cemeteries and their more important crypts is presented.

The sketch will deal with each of the “Viæ” or public roads leading
out of Rome, in the immediate neighbourhood of which the different
cemeteries or Catacombs have been excavated,--each public road having
its own special group of cemeteries, lying hard by beneath the
vineyards or gardens abutting on the road.

THE VATICAN HILL

Naturally, the cemetery on the Vatican Hill, which includes the tomb
of S. Peter, must be mentioned first. The whole district of the
Vatican in the days of Nero (middle years of the first century of the
Christian era) was covered with gardens and villas; it communicated
directly with the city by means of the Pons Triumphalis, afterwards
termed the Pons Neronianus, and was traversed by the Via Triumphalis
and the Via Cornelia. Between these two roads the Apostle S. Peter
was buried. The Pilgrim Itineraries describe the sacred tomb now as
“juxta viam Corneliam”--now as “juxta viam Triumphalem.” Directly
over the apostle’s tomb[124] Anacletus, the Bishop of Rome, third in
succession, erected a “Memoria” or little chapel. This “Memoria” or
Chapel of Anacletus grew into the lordly basilica known subsequently as
S. Peter’s at Rome.

The tomb in question is situated close by the spot where without doubt
the apostle suffered martyrdom in the year of grace 67. Around the tomb
of S. Peter, as we shall see, were buried the nine or ten first Bishops
or Popes of Rome, as well as other nameless saints once famous in the
early years of the story of the Roman congregations.

It is doubtful if there was ever a Catacomb, as we understand the term,
on the Vatican Hill. No trace of subterranean corridors, or of chambers
leading out of the corridors, have been found; only, it must be
remembered that the neighbourhood of the tomb of S. Peter and the early
Bishops of Rome has been completely changed owing to the excavations
necessary for the foundations of the great basilica erected over the
little Memoria of Anacletus by Constantine the Great in the first half
of the fourth century.

THE VIA AURELIA

The Via Aurelia Vetus was probably originally laid out by C. Aurelius,
Censor in the year of grace 512. It started from the Janiculum (the
modern Gate of S. Pancras) and led directly towards the sea-board. It
was the road from Rome to Centumcellæ (Civita Vecchia).

The cemeteries along the Via Aurelia have been as yet very imperfectly
explored.[125] The ancient Pilgrim Itineraries mention four distinct
cemeteries here. (1) That of SS. Processus and Martinianus, first
century. (2) S. Calepodius or S. Callistus, third century. (3) S.
Pancratius, fourth century. (4) The two Felixes, fourth century.

_Cemetery of SS. Processus and Martinianus._--(Apostolic age.)
Tradition relates that these saints were the gaolers of S. Peter,
and owed their conversion to their prisoner. They suffered martyrdom
shortly after S. Peter’s death, being decapitated on the Via Aurelia;
Lucina, a wealthy Roman matron, buried them in her garden near the
place of their martyrdom. This Lucina was probably the same who gave
her name to the ancient cemetery on the Via Appia, and which now
forms part of the great network of cemeteries known generally as S.
Callistus’ Catacomb.

Very little is known of this Catacomb. Among the network of sepulchral
corridors on this portion of the Via Aurelia this special cemetery has
not as yet been clearly identified.

These cemeteries are in a sadly ruined condition. The loculi which
have been examined are evidently of a very early period. Marucchi, in
pleading for a more detailed exploration here, suggests the probability
of some “Memories” of S. Peter being eventually discovered.

_Cemetery of S. Calepodius._--This saint appears to have been a priest
who suffered martyrdom, probably in a popular rising, in the reign of
Alexander Severus (A.D. 222-35). This cemetery is principally
famous as being the resting-place of Pope Callistus, who also suffered
in a popular rising, A.D. 222, and was laid to rest in this
cemetery, perhaps as being nearer to the scene of his martyrdom than
the official Papal Crypt on the Via Appia to which he gave his name.
The exploration work here, as far as it has gone, has been carried out
with difficulty owing to the ruinous state of the corridors.

_Cemetery of S. Pancratius._--S. Pancras was a boy-martyr twelve, or as
some accounts give fourteen years of age when in A.D. 304 he
suffered for his faith in the Diocletian persecution.

This cemetery was in the first instance known under the name of
Octavilla, a Christian matron who buried the young confessor in her
garden on the Aurelian Way. It had probably been a cemetery before the
deposition of the remains of the famous boy-martyr gave it a new name
and not a little celebrity.

The story of S. Pancras has ever been an attractive one, and a certain
number of churches named in his honour are scattered over many lands.
A small basilica was built over the crypt containing his grave. Pope
Siricius (end of fourth century) restored and adorned it. Honorius I,
A.D. 620, rebuilt it. In the present Church of S. Pancras there are
scarcely any traces of the original basilica. The remains of the martyr
have disappeared. Strange to say, in the great translation of the ashes
of saints and martyrs by Pope Paul I and Paschal I, S. Pancras was left
undisturbed in his tomb. The corridors, however, have been completely
wrecked, and have been very partially explored.

The site of the cemeteries mentioned in the Pilgrim Itineraries,
named after two saints each bearing the name of Felix, has not been
discovered.

THE VIA PORTUENSIS

This road leads from the old Porta Navalis in the Trastevere, the city
“across the Tiber,” direct to Portus the port of Rome, a construction
of Claudius when Ostia (Centumcellæ) was unable to cope with the
commerce of the capital. Three cemeteries, according to the ancient
Itineraries, were excavated on the Via Portuensis. That of Pontianus,
the best known of the three, where lie the remains of SS. Abdon and
Sennen; and a second, nearly five miles from the city, the Catacomb of
Generosa. There is a third, the Cemetery of S. Felix, the position of
which has not yet been discovered.

_The Cemetery of Pontianus._--Pontianus was a wealthy Christian of
the Trastevere quarter, who used in the second century--probably in
the latter years of the century--to gather his fellow-Christians
to prayer and teaching in his house. The cemetery which bears his
name was originally excavated in one of his gardens. The old Pilgrim
Itineraries speak of there being a vast number of martyrs in this
Catacomb--“innumerabilis multitudo Martyrum.” Several of these are
named; the most notable, however, are the two noble Persians, Abdon and
Sennen, who, visiting Rome at the time of the persecution of Decius,
suffered for their faith.

In this Catacomb there is a well-known ancient baptistery of
considerable size, which was richly decorated in the sixth century.
Such baptisteries have been found in other Catacombs, notably in
that of S. Priscilla, a very ancient and vast cemetery which will be
described with some detail later.

The remains of the more famous martyrs were removed into the city at
the period of the great translation of sacred bodies in the ninth
century, after which date this cemetery ceased to be visited. It has
only been partially explored.

_The Cemetery of S. Felix_ mentioned in the Itineraries is completely
unknown as yet.

_The Cemetery of Generosa_, on the road to Porta, is not alluded to
in the Pilgrim Guides, no doubt owing to its distance--some five
miles--from the city. Lanciani gives a vivid description of its story
and of its discovery in 1867. It is of small extent, and apparently was
excavated in the persecution of Diocletian, _circa_ A.D. 303,
in what was once a sacred grove belonging to the College of the Arval
Brothers, but which had been abandoned, probably after the dissolution
of the Brotherhood, which is supposed to have taken place about the
middle of the third century.

THE VIA OSTIENSIS

The _Via Ostiensis_, on the city side of the Tiber, one of the
principal roads of the Empire, begins at the ancient Porta Ostiensis,
known from the sixth century onwards as the Porta S. Pauli, and leads
to the old harbour of Ostia. The Pilgrim Itineraries enumerate three
cemeteries as situated hard by this road--the tomb of the Apostle S.
Paul with the little Cemetery of Lucina, the Cemetery of Commodilla,
and that of S. Theckla.

(1) According to a very general tradition, S. Paul suffered martyrdom,
A.D. 67, and his body was laid in a tomb on the Ostian Way in
a garden belonging to a Christian lady named Lucina,--some identify
her with the “Lucina” of the Cemetery of Callistus on the Appian Way.
There it rested, according to the most recent investigations, until the
persecution and confiscation of the cemeteries in A.D. 258,
when for security’s sake it was secretly removed at the same time as
the body of S. Peter was brought from the grave on the Vatican Hill.
The sacred remains of the two apostles were laid in the “Platonia”
Crypt, in what was subsequently known as the Catacomb of S. Sebastian,
on the Via Appia; and probably after an interval of some two years,
when the cemeteries were restored to the Christian congregations by the
Emperor Gallerius, the bodies of the two apostles were brought back
again to their original resting-places.

Anacletus, the third in succession of the Roman bishops, erected in the
first century a small “Memoria” or chapel over the tomb of S. Paul,
like the one he built over the tomb of S. Peter on the Vatican Hill.

In the year 324-5 the first Christian Emperor, Constantine, over
the apostle’s tomb and little “Memoria,” caused the first important
basilica, known as S. Paul’s, to be erected; the Emperor treated the
loculus or sarcophagus of S. Paul in the same manner as he had treated
the sarcophagus of S. Peter, enclosing it in a solid bronze coffin,
on which he laid a cross of gold. When the basilica was rebuilt,
after the fire of A.D. 1813, a marble slab, which apparently
was a part of the vaulted roof of the original sepulchral chamber of
the apostle, came to light. On this slab, or rather slabs of marble,
which now lie directly under the altar, are engraved the simple words
_Pavlo Apostolo Mart_: the inscription evidently dating from the days
of Constantine (A.D. 324-5). No further investigation of the
tomb was permitted. It is believed that the bronze sarcophagus with its
sacred contents, with the golden cross, lie immediately under the solid
masonry upon which the slab of marble we have been speaking of rests.

On the slab of marble in question, besides the simple inscription
above quoted, are three apertures: the most important of these is
circular; it is, in fact, a little well, and is 23½ inches in depth,
and was no doubt originally what is termed the “billicum confessionis,”
through which handkerchiefs and other objects were lowered, so as to
be hallowed by resting for a brief space on the sarcophagus when
access to the vault itself was not permitted. The other two apertures
or little wells are only 12½ and 8 inches deep respectively. It is not
known for what purpose these two were intended.

The history of the famous basilica is as follows. Lanciani writes how
“wonder has been manifested at the behaviour of Constantine the Great
towards S. Paul, whose basilica at the second milestone of the Via
Ostiensis appears like a pigmy structure in comparison with that which
he erected over the tomb of S. Peter. Constantine had no intention of
placing S. Paul in an inferior rank, or of showing less honour to his
memory.” In his original design which he carried out, the high road
to Ostia ran close by the grave; thus the space at his disposal was
limited. But before the fourth century had run out it was imperatively
felt that the Church of S. Paul ought to be equal in size and beauty to
that on the Vatican Hill: so, in rebuilding the basilica the original
plan was changed by the Emperor Valentinian II., in A.D. 386. The tomb
and the altar above it were left undisturbed, a great arch was raised
above the altar, and westwards from that point, in the direction of
the Tiber, a vast church was built. The great work was continued by
Theodosius and completed by Honorius, and the splendid decorative work
finally carried out by Honorius’ sister, the famous Placidia, who
died in A.D. 450. Certain Popes, notably Gregory the Great, and later
Honorius III, in A.D. 1226, added to the decorations of Placidia.

There was evidently in very early times a cemetery around the crypt
which contained the body of S. Paul; this was the original Cemetery of
Lucina. But it has been disturbed by the subsequent erection of the
Basilica of Constantine, and later by the far larger church begun under
Valentinian II. It is hoped that a future careful exploration of the
cemetery will bring to light much that is at present unknown.

(2) _Cemetery of Commodilla_--is situated on the left of the Via
Ostiensis on the road of the Seven Churches. Commodilla was evidently
a wealthy Roman lady who, like many other Christians of position and
means, gave up her garden to the Christian dead. Nothing, however, is
known of her history.

Two martyrs, SS. Felix and Adauctus, once well known in Christian
story, were interred here. They belong to the time of Diocletian. This
Catacomb, apparently of considerable extent, is only very imperfectly
known. The Martyrologies mention other “confessors” buried here,
but the corridors are either earthed up or are in a state of ruin
and confusion, and any thorough investigation would be a costly and
difficult piece of work.

(3) _Cemetery of S. Thekla._--Nothing is known of the martyr who has
given her name to this Catacomb; who must not, however, be confounded
with the celebrated saint of the same name who belongs to Lycaonia, and
is traditionally connected with S. Paul. This cemetery has been but
imperfectly examined as yet; its extent is unknown.

THE VIA ARDEATINA

The Via Ardeatina lies a little distance to the right of the Via Appia,
from which it branches off close to the Church of “Domine quo vadis,”
the traditional scene of the appearance of the Lord to S. Peter. In
the immediate neighbourhood of the Via Ardeatina and the Via Appia
lie, roughly speaking scarcely two miles from the city, the wonderful
group of cemeteries generally known under the names of Domitilla and
Callistus. These include the Cemetery of Lucina--really an area of
Callistus, the Cemeteries of SS. Marcus and Balbinus and also that of
S. Soteris. This enormous network of subterranean corridors, chambers,
and chapels are all more or less united by passages and corridors
(though this is not quite certain); but much is as yet unexplored,
and the lines of demarcation between the several Catacombs uncertain.
Recent careful investigations of De Rossi, Armellini, Marucchi, and
others less known have, however, led to the discovery of certain
great and notable historic crypts, centres round which the network
of corridors are grouped. These identifications have thrown a flood
of light upon the very early history of the numerous and influential
Roman congregations; much that was supposed to be purely legendary
and fabulous has passed, as we have observed, into the domain of real
history. Very briefly we will touch on a few of the more remarkable
“finds.”

_Cemetery of Domitilla._--The famous group of Catacombs known under
this general title--perhaps with the sole exception of the Cemetery
of S. Priscilla and the Cemetery of S. Callistus, hereafter to be
described, is the vastest of all the Catacombs; and with the exceptions
just alluded to, in some of its areas, the oldest in point of date.

Much of this great cemetery dates from the time of men who knew the
Apostles Peter and Paul.

Its _grandeur_.--It was the burying-place of certain Christian members
of the imperial house of Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian in the days
of their power, and it tells us with no uncertain voice that in the
ranks of the Christian congregation of Rome in the very first days were
members drawn from the highest ranks of the proudest aristocracy of
the world, and who did not shrink from sharing the same seats in the
Christian prayer homes with the slave and the little trader.

Writing of the Domitilla Cemetery in 1903, Marucchi does not hesitate
to style it perhaps the most important of all the Catacombs;
but, “alas!” he goes on to say, “it has been terribly ravaged by
comparatively modern explorers.” These destructive explorations have
sadly affected the importance which the Catacomb and its several
divisions, or areas, would have possessed as a great monument of very
early Christian history, had these recent excavations been carried out
with due care and reverence.

Roughly, the Cemetery of Domitilla is composed of three distinct
divisions or areas. The first, the work of the first and second
centuries. In this area there are several famous historical centres,
_e.g._ the tombs of the two saints Nereus and Achilles, and of the once
famous S. Petronilla, and the well-known entrance or vestibule which
opens on the Via Ardeatina, and the Chapel or Chamber of Ampliatus. The
second area is the work of the third century, and the third dates from
the last years of the third and the first quarter of the fourth. These
areas have been connected with corridors of different periods in the
second, third, and fourth centuries; the whole network is of very great
extent.

[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO THE CEMETERY OF S. DOMITILLA--(CRYPT OF THE
FLAVIANS) CENTURY I]

At the end of the sixth century, in the Pontificate of Siricius, great
damage was occasioned to much of the earlier part of the cemetery by
the construction of the Basilica of S. Petronilla, a building which
also bears the names of Nereus and Achilles.

The fame of these early martyrs and the number of pilgrims to their
shrines in the closing years of the fourth century, induced Pope
Siricius--regardless of the mischief which such a work would occasion
to the many unknown graves of an early period--to build a somewhat
large church or basilica over the tombs of SS. Nereus and Achilles
and S. Petronilla. The position of the tombs of these two saints has
been ascertained; the grave of Petronilla has also been localized with
fair certainty. The high altar of the fourth-century basilica was
placed over the graves of the two martyrs; the remains of Petronilla
lay in a chamber behind the apse of the basilica; without, of
course, maintaining the accuracy of the details of the sixth-century
martyrology of Nereus and Achilles, the discoveries in the Cemetery
of Domitilla have established the fact of the existence of these two
traditional saints and martyrs. Scholars recognize now that much of the
sixth-century martyrology was founded upon dependable tradition.

The much disputed tradition of Petronilla, the wanderings of her body,
and the question whether or not she was the daughter of S. Peter, is
discussed in Appendix I., p. 277, where the story of her tomb is told
at some length.

The crypt of Ampliatus--another of the historic centres of this great
catacomb, is situated in the middle of the area or district originally
occupied by the tombs of the Christian members of the Imperial Flavian
House. The decorations of the sepulchral chambers here and the style of
inscriptions belong to the first century and first half of the second.

In one of the carefully decorated crypts of the Flavian family is an
arched tomb with the word “Ampliatus” graven on marble in characters
which belong to a very early period. De Rossi, after examining the
question at some length, concludes that this grave can be with very
high probability considered to be the sleeping-place of the remains
of the Ampliatus loved of S. Paul (Rom. xvi. 8). The name is clearly
that of a slave or freedman; subsequently the name (Ampliatus) became
the recognized surname of the various members of the family and their
descendants. It seems strange on first thoughts that one of servile
rank should occupy a tomb of considerable importance in the very heart
of a Christian cemetery belonging to so great a House. This is no
doubt explained by the fact that this Ampliatus occupied some very
distinguished position in the early Christian community at Rome. De
Rossi concludes from this, that Ampliatus was most probably the friend
of S. Paul; this would account for the estimation in which this person
of servile origin was held by the noblest of the Roman Christian Houses.

THE VIA APPIA

On the Via Appia--“the Queen of Ways” as it was termed--there are four
groups of cemeteries in close proximity. Two of these groups, probably
three, are linked together by corridors.

The “Via Appia” led from the ancient Porta Capena through Albano,
Aricia, etc., on to Capua, and later it was continued to Brindisi.
Three of the four groups of cemeteries or catacombs coming from Rome
are on the right of the way: the cemetery of S. Callistus, of S.
Sebastian (“ad Catacombas”), of S. Soteris; and on the left that of
Prætextatus.

We have alluded above to the ancient Pilgrim Itineraries as giving a
sure index to De Rossi in his investigation and exploration work. As
an example we append a short extract from the older of the two Pilgrim
Guides known as the Salzburg Itinerary, which dates from about the
year of grace 625: “You come by the Appian Way to S. Sebastian Martyr,
whose body lies deep down; there too are the sepulchres of the Apostles
Peter and Paul, in which they rested for 40 years.... North on the same
Appian Way you come to the Martyrs Tiburtius, Valerianus, and Maximus.
When there you pass into a large crypt and you find S. Urban, Martyr
and Confessor; in another spot Felicissimus and Agapitus, Martyrs; in
a third place, Cyrinus Martyr; in a fourth, Januarius Martyr. On the
same way you find S. Cecilia and a countless multitude of martyrs (‘ibi
innumerabilis multitudo Martyrum’), Sixtus Pope and Martyr, Dionysius
Pope and Martyr, Julianus Pope and Martyr, Flavianus Pope and Martyr.
There are 80 martyrs resting there. Zephyrinus Pope and Martyr rests
above Eusebius; and Cornelius Pope and Martyr rests in a crypt a little
further off; and then you come to the holy Virgin and Martyr Soteris.”

Comparing the various Pilgrim Guides together, De Rossi found that,
with very minor differences in the details, they agreed wonderfully;
and in the main, although composed a thousand to thirteen hundred years
ago, he was able with their help to identify the principal shrines
visited by the pilgrim crowds of the sixth and two following centuries.

(1) _The Cemetery of S. Sebastian_ (“_ad Catacombas_”) is situated on
the Via Appia, right-hand side; about one and a half miles from the
Porta S. Sebastiana (the ancient Porta Appia). The principal “memory”
belonging to this catacomb is the Platonia chamber--so called from
its having been lined with marble--in which for a brief season were
deposited the bodies of the two Apostles SS. Peter and Paul. The fact
of this chamber having been the temporary home of the sacred bodies
is undisputed; the exact date of their having been placed there, and
the length of the period during which they were left in the Platonia
chamber in question, have been the subject of much controversy. The
period of forty years mentioned in the above-quoted Pilgrim Itinerary
is now reduced by the most dependable of modern scholars to two years,
and the date of the placing of the bodies in this spot is now generally
assumed to have been A.D. 258, in the days of the short but
bitter persecution of Valerian, when the tombs on the Vatican Hill
and on the Via Ostiensis were not considered safe from outrage. When
the active persecution ceased, the remains of the two apostles were
restored to their original resting-places; the spot, however, where
the sacred bodies had rested for a brief season assumed in the eyes of
the faithful a singular sanctity, and very many desired to be laid in
the immediate neighbourhood of the hallowed place. This was no doubt
the original reason for the formation of the Cemetery “ad Catacombas,”
the name of the little district in which the temporary tomb of the two
apostles was situated.

The catacomb in question was eventually named after Sebastian, a brave
confessor in the persecution of Diocletian, _circa_ A.D.
289-303. This Sebastian was tribune in the first cohort and commanded
a company of the Prætorians, which was stationed on guard on the
Palatine. He died for his faith under circumstances of a peculiar
dramatic interest, being pierced with arrows and cruelly scourged.
His body, so runs the probably true story, was taken out of the
common sewer, into which it was ignominiously thrown, by a Christian
matron named Lucina, who reverently interred it in the Cemetery “ad
Catacombas” in the neighbourhood of the sacred Platonia chamber.

The remains of S. Sebastian were removed in the seventeenth century
by Cardinal Borghesi from the crypt in which they were originally
deposited and re-interred in the modern chapel which was erected over
the ancient sanctuary. During the Middle Ages, when owing to the raids
of the barbarians and consequent translation of the more celebrated
martyrs to churches within the city, the eventful story of the
catacombs was forgotten, this cemetery, owing to its connection with
the two great apostles, was ever a hallowed sanctuary, and was visited
by an unbroken stream of pilgrim visitors, and after the rediscovery
of the City of the Dead in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,
gave the name of its now famous district “ad Catacombas” to the various
subterranean cemeteries which from time to time since then have been
discovered.

The corridors with their graves in this famous cemetery have not yet
been fully excavated.

_The Cemetery of S. Callistus._--The great group of catacombs generally
known under the title “S. Callistus” is situated on the right of the
Via Appia, about a quarter of a mile nearer Rome than the Cemetery of
S. Sebastian (“ad Catacombas”) just described; the usual entrance being
about one and a quarter miles from the Porta S. Sebastiana (Porta
Appia).

[Illustration: PAINTING IN A CHAPEL OF CATACOMB OF S.
CALLISTUS--SHEWING A TOMB SUBSEQUENTLY EXCAVATED ABOVE THE ORIGINAL
TOMB OF THE SAINT]

It is composed of several groups of cemeteries of different periods
from the first century to the fourth. These groups are so united
by corridors that they may be considered as one vast catacomb. The
Cemetery of Callistus in part dates from the first century, but it only
obtained the designation of “Callistus” in the last years of the second
or in the first years of the third century, when Callistus the deacon
was appointed by Zephyrinus the Bishop of Rome as superintendent of
_The Cemetery_. Subsequently Callistus succeeded Zephyrinus as bishop,
and greatly enlarged the original area, one chamber of which he set
apart as the official burying-place of the bishops or popes of Rome.
Before the time of Callistus the official burying-place of the bishops
was the cemetery on the Vatican Hill, immediately contiguous to the
sepulchre of S. Peter. At the end of the second century the limited
space on the Vatican Hill was completely occupied--hence the necessity
for arranging a new papal crypt.

The oldest portion of the “Callistus” group is the so-called Crypt
of Lucina (first and second century). It was evidently in the first
instance excavated in the property of the noble family of the Cæcilii,
and was used as the burying-place of Christian members of that great
House. De Rossi believes that the “Lucina” in whose land the crypt
was originally arranged was no other than the well-known Pomponia
Græcina, wife of Plautius, the famous general in the days of Nero,
whose conversion to Christianity about the year of grace 58 is alluded
to in scarcely veiled language by Tacitus. If this be the case, the
name “Lucina” was assumed by the great lady in question, and by which
she was generally known in Christian circles. The assuming of such an
“agnomen” was not uncommon among Roman ladies. The original area of
the Cemetery of Lucina was greatly enlarged in the days of the Emperor
Marcus and in the last years of the second century. The chapel of the
popes, above alluded to, and other important funereal chambers, are
included in this enlarged area.

It was in the course of the third century, no doubt after the
construction of the new crypt or chapel of the popes[126] by
Callistus, and of course in part owing to the presence of this great
historical centre, that the cemetery assumed its grandiose proportions.

_The Cemetery of S. Soteris_, a vast catacomb, communicates with the
older portion of the Callistus crypt and corridors. Much is as yet
unexplored here. S. Soteris--virgin and martyr--who has given her name
to this great cemetery, was buried “in Cemeterio suo,” A.D.
304. She suffered when the persecution of Diocletian was raging.

What we have termed the group, included generally under the term of
the Callistus Catacomb, is the largest and most extensive of the
catacombs which lie on the great roads which run through the suburbs
and immediate neighbourhood of Rome.

The discovery of this important area of the ancient Christian City
of the Dead was made in the year 1849, when De Rossi found in an old
vineyard bordering on the Via Appia a fragment of an inscription
bearing the letters “NELIUS Martyr.” The Itineraries had
recorded that Cornelius, Bishop of Rome and Martyr, had been buried
in the “Callistus” Cemetery. In the course of subsequent searches the
other portion of the broken tablet was found, which completed the
inscription “Cornelius Martyr.” The vineyard was purchased by Pope Pius
IX, and very soon the searchers came upon the ruined chapel of
the popes and the crypt of S. Cecilia.

The position of the historic Callistus Catacomb was thus established
beyond doubt, and for some fifty years portions of the great cemetery
have been slowly excavated by De Rossi and his companions; the results
have been of the highest importance, and have contributed in no
little degree to our knowledge of early Christianity--its faith--its
hopes--its anticipations.

_The Cemetery of Prætextatus_ is on the left hand of the Via Appia,
almost parallel with the usual entrance to the vast network of the
Catacomb of Callistus. It is, comparatively speaking, a cemetery of
small dimensions, but of great antiquity. It must have been arranged
quite early in the second century; not improbably portions of this
cemetery date from the first century. Some of the decorations of the
historic crypt are elaborate and striking, and evidently belong to
the best period of classical art. As yet it has only partially been
explored. It runs under private property, and the owner apparently is
unwilling to allow a detailed examination: this is disappointing, as
owing to its great antiquity and possessing some historic crypts, once
the resting-places of famous heroes in the early Christian combat,
probably discoveries of high interest would result from a prolonged and
careful search.

As early as A.D. 1857 De Rossi discovered in this cemetery of
Prætextatus some crypts highly decorated, evidently the resting-places
of certain famous martyrs referred to in the Pilgrim Itineraries as
sleeping in this catacomb.

There are many indications that we meet with here which tell us
that this is a very ancient cemetery. Speaking of this catacomb of
Prætextatus, the pilgrim itineraries mention particularly three of
those small Basilicas in the immediate vicinity, which frequently
in the fourth or fifth centuries were built directly over the crypt
or crypts which contained the remains of well-known martyrs and
confessors; this was for the convenience of pilgrims who came after
from distant countries to pray at the shrines: the ruins of two of
these Basilicas, apparently dedicated to SS. Valerian, Tiburtius,
Maximus, and Zeno, have been discovered here. Of these confessors,
Valerian and Tiburtius were respectively the husband and brother-in-law
of S. Cecilia. Zeno[127] was also a martyr. Maximus was the Roman
officer who had charge of the execution of Valerian and Tiburtius, and
who, seeing their constancy under torture, became a Christian, and was
in consequence put to death.

Other historic crypts have been ascertained to have existed in this
little catacomb--namely, those of SS. Felicissimus, Agapetus, and
Quirinus, with his daughter Balbina--of whom Felicissimus and Agapitus
were deacons in attendance upon Pope Sixtus. They suffered martyrdom
under Valerian, A.D. 258. Quirinus was a tribune who was put
to death at an earlier period under the Emperor Hadrian.

A yet more famous confessor than any of these, S. Januarius, the eldest
of the seven martyr-sons of S. Felicitas, was buried in this sacred
second-century catacomb of Prætextatus. The number of graffiti, the
work of pilgrim visitors in the neighbourhood of the tomb of this
Januarius, bears witness to the great veneration in which this martyr
was held.

The ceiling of the tomb, which has been identified as that of S.
Januarius, is beautifully decorated with paintings of the second
century--representing the four seasons: the spring by flowers, the
summer by ears of corn, the autumn by a vine, the winter by laurels;
birds and little winged figures are artistically mingled in this very
early decorative work. On the wall below a painting, representing the
Good Shepherd with a sheep on His shoulder, has been almost destroyed
by a grave excavated in the fourth century. The grave held the body of
some devout Christian whose friends were anxious to lay their loved
dead as near as possible to the sacred remains of the famous martyr S.
Januarius. Not a few of the more striking of the catacomb paintings
are thus unhappily disfigured by the mistaken piety of subsequent
generations.[128]

The personality of Prætextatus, after whom this cemetery is named, is
unknown.

THE VIA LATINA

The ancient Via Latina branches off from the Via Appia near the Baths
of Caracalla. It is soon, however, lost among the vineyards, but
reappears and leads eventually to the Alban Hills.

The Pilgrim Itineraries mention three cemeteries here. They give a
certain number of names of martyrs buried in these catacombs--none,
however, apparently well known. They also allude to “many martyrs”
interred in these catacombs.

The names of the three catacombs in question are (1)
Apronienus--perhaps the name of the original donor; (2) SS. Gordianus
and Epimachus; and (3) S. Tertullinus. These cemeteries have never been
carefully examined, and even the site of the third has not yet been
identified.

THE VIA LABICANA

Leads from the Porta Maggiore, the ancient Porta Prænestina, to
Palestrina. The Itineraries tell us of two cemeteries on this road,
that of S. Castulus and that of SS. Peter and Marcellinus. The
Catacomb of S. Castulus has only been very partially examined. It is
in a ruinous condition, and is not at present accessible. S. Castulus
suffered martyrdom in the persecution of Diocletian.

The Catacomb of SS. Peter and Marcellinus, sometimes called “ad duas
lauros,” from the original name of the district, is in the immediate
neighbourhood of the famous Torre Pignatara, the tomb of S. Helena,
this appellation being derived from the pignatte or earthen pots
used in the building. The magnificent porphyry sarcophagus now in
the Vatican was removed from this tomb. SS. Peter and Marcellinus,
from whom this once celebrated catacomb is named, suffered in the
persecution of Diocletian. S. Peter was in orders as an exorcist. S.
Marcellinus was a priest. Pope Damasus, in his inscription originally
placed on their crypt, tells us he learned the particulars of their
martyrdom from the executioner employed by the State. This cemetery
has lately been partially explored. The bodies of the two saints who
gave their names to the catacomb were carried away, and are now in
Seligenstadt, near Mayence. The saints termed “the Quatuor Coronati”
were in the first instance buried here, but their remains were
subsequently translated by Pope Leo IV to the church on the Cœlian.
This cemetery is of considerable extent.

The Itineraries enumerate the names of several martyrs once evidently
well known. They also speak of many other martyrs buried here,
using such expressions as “innumerabilis martyrum multitudo sepulta
jacent”--“alii (Martyres) innumerabiles,” etc.

THE VIA TIBURTINA

The Via Tiburtina leads to Tivoli. It quits Rome by the Porta S.
Lorenzo, which stands on the site of the ancient Porta Tiburtina.
On this road are two large cemeteries, that of S. Cyriaca and that
of S. Hippolytus. S. Cyriaca was a Christian widow. The importance,
however, of this catacomb is mainly derived from its possessing the
tomb of S. Laurence. S. Laurence suffered martyrdom A.D. 258,
three days after the death of Pope Sixtus II, to whom he was
attached as deacon. A very general tradition relates that Laurence
suffered on a gridiron. An extraordinary popularity is attached to his
memory. Marucchi, one of the latest scholars who has written on the
catacombs, does not hesitate to say that the veneration paid to him
was almost equal that accorded to the apostles. There is scarcely a
city in Western Christendom which does not possess a church bearing his
honoured name. In Rome itself there are six of these.

Over the crypt containing the tomb of S. Laurence, Constantine the
Great built a little oratory or memoria, which soon became too small
for the crowds of pilgrims. A second church was erected by Pope
Sixtus III, A.D. 432, by the side of Constantine’s Memoria which was
ever known as “Basilica ad Corpus.” The second church was termed the
“Basilica Major.” Three of the fifth century Popes of Rome were buried
in the “Basilica ad Corpus.” In the thirteenth century the two churches
were made into one by Honorius III, A.D. 1218.

The Itineraries mention several well-known martyrs buried in the
cemetery which was excavated round the martyr’s sacred tomb, notably
SS. Justus, Cyriaca, Simferosa, etc., “cum multis martyribus.” The
catacomb in comparatively modern times has been ruthlessly damaged by
the works in connection with a very large modern cemetery. Only since
A.D. 1894 has more care been taken in the preservation of the
precious remains of this once important catacomb.

_Cemetery of S. Hippolytus._--On the same great road, the Via
Tiburtina which stretches across the now desolate Campagna to Tivoli,
on the northern side of the road almost opposite the Cemetery of S.
Cyriaca on which stands the Basilica of S. Laurentius just described,
is the Catacomb of S. Hippolytus. It is only comparatively recently
that this cemetery has been really explored, and much still remains to
be excavated here. A small basilica underground was discovered, with
the historic crypt in which the once famous martyr was buried. The
corridors around have been sadly ravaged again and again by barbarian
invaders in the fifth and following centuries, and the whole catacomb
is in ruin, and has been only in part investigated. It is evidently
of considerable extent. Proximity to the tomb of the great scholar
martyr was evidently a privilege eagerly sought by many from the middle
years of the third century onward. The numbers of Pilgrim “Graffiti”
or inscriptions more or less roughly carved and painted in the
neighbourhood of the sanctuary, tell us that the spot where the remains
of Hippolytus lay, was long the object of reverent pilgrimage after the
Peace of the Church all through the fourth and following centuries. The
Itineraries mention many martyrs buried here, among whom S. Genesius is
perhaps the best known; he was a celebrated actor; once a mocker at the
religion of which eventually he became the brave confessor; he died for
his faith.

But the glory of this now ruined cemetery was the tomb of S.
Hippolytus. He has been well described by Bishop Lightfoot in his long
and exhaustive Memoir (_Apostolic Fathers_, Part 1. vol. ii.).

“The position and influence of Hippolytus were unique among the
Roman Christians of his age. He linked together the learning and the
traditions of the East, the original home of Christianity, with the
practical energy of the West, the scene of his own life labours. He
was by far the most learned man in the Western Church.... Though he
lived till within a few years of the middle of the third century, he
could trace his pedigree back by only three steps, literary as well as
ministerial, to the life and teaching of the Saviour Himself, Irenæus,
of whom he was the pupil, Polycarp, and S. John. This was his direct
ancestry. No wonder if these facts secured to him exceptional honour in
his own generation.”

The position he occupied in the Christian world has been much disputed.
He is usually described as Bishop of Portus, the harbour of Rome,
and modern scholarship has come to the conclusion that he exercised
a general superintendence with the rank of a bishop over the various
congregations of foreigners, traders and others, on the Italian
sea-board, with Portus as his headquarters.

A very dignified and striking statue, alas much mutilated, has been
found amid the ruins over the Cemetery of Hippolytus. On the back
and sides of the chair on which the figure of the scholar-bishop is
sitting, is engraved a generally received list of his works. There is
no doubt as to the genuineness of the statue in question, which dates
from about the year 222. It ranks as the oldest Christian statue which
has come to light; indeed, it stands alone as an example of very early
Christian sculpture, and was probably erected in an interval of the
Church’s peace in the reign of the Emperor Alexander Severus, and is a
striking proof of the unique position which the writer and scholar held
in the Christian community.

There is no doubt he was done to death--what, however, was the peculiar
form of his martyrdom is uncertain. We know he was exiled to Sardinia,
where he suffered, and his remains were brought back to Rome with the
remains of Pontianus, somewhile Bishop of Rome, who also suffered
martyrdom at the same time in Sardinia; Pontianus being laid in the
papal crypt in the Cemetery of Callistus, and Hippolytus in the
catacomb which bears his name on the Via Tiburtina, about the year 237.

Pope Damasus, the great restorer of the sanctuaries of Rome, enlarged
and beautified the crypt where the honoured remains were deposited,
in the latter years of the fourth century, and a few years later
Prudentius the Christian poet in his collection of hymns entitled
_Peristephanôn_--the Crowns of the Martyrs--devotes a long poem to the
shrine and memory of Hippolytus.

In the opening years of the fourth century, when Honorius, Theodosius’
son, was reigning over the Western Empire, it is evident that the
fame and reputation of Hippolytus, scholar and martyr, were among the
popular histories of Christendom, and his tomb one of the chief objects
of pilgrimage.

The lines of Prudentius, written in the closing years of the fourth
century, are quoted as giving a picture of a famous catacomb as it
appeared to a scholar and poet in the days of Theodosius and Honorius.
They also give some idea of the estimation and reverential regard with
which the martyrs and confessors of the first age of Christianity were
held in the century which immediately followed the Peace of the Church:

“Hard by the City walls--amid the orchards--there is a Crypt....
Into its secret cells there is a steep path with winding
stairs.... As you advance, the darkness as of night grows more
dense.... At intervals, however, there are contrived openings
cut in the roof above, which bring the bright rays of the sun
into the crypt. Although the recesses twisting this way and that
form narrow chambers, with galleries in deep gloom, yet some
light finds its way through the pierced vaulting down into the
hollow recesses.... And thus throughout the subterranean crypt
it is possible still to revel in the brightness of the absent
sun.

“To such secret recesses was the body of Hippolytus borne, quite
near to the spot where now stands the altar dedicated to God.

“That same altar-slab provides the sacrament, and is the trusty
guardian of its martyr’s bones, which it guards there in the
waiting for the Eternal Life, while it feeds the dwellers by the
River Tiber with holy food.

“Marvellous is the sanctity of the place. The altar is close
by for those who pray, and it assists the hopes of such by
mercifully giving what they require. Here, too, have I when sick
with ills of soul and body, often knelt in prayer and found
help.... Early in the morning men come to salute (Hippolytus);
all the youth of the place worship here; they come--they
go--until the setting of the sun. Love of religion gathers into
one vast crowd both Latins and strangers.”--_Translated from
Prudentius, “Peristephanôn,” Passion of S. Hippolytus._

The close proximity of the Cemetery and Basilica of S. Laurence (above
described) as years passed on was fatal to the memory of S. Hippolytus.
From very early times S. Laurence, the deacon of Sixtus II,
received extraordinary honour. He suffered, as we have stated, in the
persecution of Decius, _circa_ A.D. 258, and occupies the
place of S. Stephen in the Church of the West. It was of this famous
and popular saint that Augustine wrote: “Quam non potest abscondi Roma,
tam non potest abscondi Laurentii corona.” In the prayer of the oldest
Roman sacramentary we read, “De beati solemnitate Laurentii, peculiaris
præ ceteris Roma lætatur.” “No marvel,” writes Bishop Lightfoot, “that
the aureole which encircled the heads of other neighbouring saints and
martyrs, _even of the famous Hippolytus himself_, should have faded in
the light of his unique splendour.”

As years rolled on, the neighbouring Basilica of S. Laurence grew
larger and grander. The Basilica of S. Hippolytus built over his
cemetery faded away, comparatively uncared for; the great scholar was
forgotten in the fame which gathered round the neighbouring popular
saint. Paul I, A.D. 756-67, removed the sacred relique of the saint
scholar to the well-known City Church of S. Silvester in Capite.

The Cemetery and Basilica of Hippolytus after the remains of the
saint had been translated were quickly forgotten, and the very site
was in time confused with that of the Cemetery and stately Church of
S. Laurence on the other side of the Via Tiburtina. It was only in
1881 that De Rossi discovered the ancient cemetery and the ruined
subterranean basilica above briefly described,--the basilica and
catacomb visited by Prudentius in the last years of the fourth century,
and so vividly painted by him in his hymn in the _Peristephanôn_.

Outside Rome there are traces of the fame of the great scholar, but
not many. There is a ruined church in Portus bearing his name; its
tower, still noticeable, is a conspicuous landmark in the desolate
Campagna. Arles possesses a church dedicated to Hippolytus. A strange
story connects his remains with the once famous royal Abbey of S.
Denis close to Paris. His body, or at least portions of his body, are
also traditionally enshrined in churches at Brescia and Cologne. The
Roman Churches of S. Laurence and the “Quatuor Coronati” also claim to
possess reliques of S. Hippolytus.

But these few scattered and doubtful reliques are well-nigh all that
remains of Hippolytus, and while many of his writings are still
with us, bearing witness to his industry and scholarship, his name
and life-work are virtually forgotten by men; and in ecclesiastical
annals only a dim, blurred memory of the career of one of the greatest
scholars and writers of the first two Christian centuries lives in the
pages of that eventful story.

Of the two saints whose basilicas and cemeteries were so close together
on that Campagna Road just outside Rome, the one, S. Laurence, men have
crowned with an aureole of surpassing glory; the other, S. Hippolytus,
whose title to honour was really far superior to that of his companion
in the tombs of the Via Tiburtina, men have chosen to forget.

THE VIA NOMENTANA

The Via Nomentana leaves Rome on the north through the modern Porta
Pia; in ancient times the Porta Nomentana, and in the Middle Ages
the Porta S. Agnesi. On this road the Itineraries tell us of three
cemeteries: that of S. Nicomedes, of S. Agnes, and the cemetery
generally termed “Cœmeterium majus. De Rossi calls this last the
Ostrian Cemetery; some call it after the famous martyred foster-sister
of Agnes, S. Emerentiana, who was buried there.”

(1) _Cemetery of S. Nicomedes._--This is only a small catacomb, but it
possesses a high interest on account of its age. It dates evidently
from the first century. Tradition tells us that Nicomedes was a
presbyter who lived in the days of Domitian. He suffered martyrdom for
his faith’s sake, and his body was thrown into the Tiber. A disciple of
his, one Justus, recovered his master’s body and buried it “in horto
juxta muros.” The garden in question, hard by the city walls, was the
site of the present little catacomb.

The masonry work here is of a very early date, and the various Greek
inscriptions on the loculi also bear witness to its great antiquity;
Marucchi alludes to a reservoir of water in the principal gallery, and
believes that the presence of water prevented the cemetery from being
further extended.

(2) _The Cemetery of S. Agnes_ is on the Via Nomentana, about a
mile from the Porta Pia. S. Agnes has been from very early times a
singularly loved figure among the heroines of the days of persecution.
Jerome well voices this popular estimate “omnium gentium litteris
atque linguis .... vita laudata est.” Her story is well known; how she
refused to become the bride of the Proconsul’s son, alleging that she
was already the bride of Christ. After some terrible experiences she
was condemned to be burned as a Christian, but the fire was too tardy
or insufficient, so the executioner stabbed her in the throat. The name
“Agnes” is simply a Christian appellation which she assumed signifying
her purity and chastity. The name of her family is unknown; it is,
however, certain that she belonged to a wealthy, probably to a noble
House. She was interred in a cemetery, the property of her parents “in
prædiolo suo.”

Her martyrdom took place in the course of the persecution of the
Emperor Valerian, _circa_ A.D. 253-7. Portions of the catacomb
which bears her name are of a yet older date than S. Agnes. Among other
signs of great antiquity are the Greek inscriptions on various loculi.
The cemetery, which has been explored with some care, consists of three
stories, of different dates. It was, however, after the burying of the
young martyr that the catacomb was developed and assumed considerable
proportions, as many of the Christian congregation of Rome were
desirous of depositing their loved dead in the immediate neighbourhood
of the tomb of Agnes. The Emperor Constantine in the fourth century
built the basilica known as S. Agnes over the tomb. There is an
inscription on a small marble tablet at Naples, originally brought
from Rome, which Armellini considers was originally on the loculus
containing the body of the saint. The inscription is as follows:

AGNE · SANC
TISSIMA

The basilica has been several times restored, but preserves with fair
accuracy the original disposition of the Church of Constantine.

When it was first built in the fourth century, as we find in other
similar instances, considerable destruction and havoc were wrought
in the galleries of the catacomb. The fourth-century builders often
mercilessly cut away and destroyed galleries, cubicula, loculi, when
they arranged for the foundations and lower stories of the church large
or small which arose over the tomb of the special saint and martyr. We
would instance as conspicuous examples of this strange disregard of the
older burying-places, the Basilicas of S. Domitilla, of S. Laurence, of
S. Sylvester; the last-named is built over the Cemetery of S. Priscilla.

The body of S. Agnes was never translated from its original home. In
the year 1605, in the pontificate of Paul V, her remains,
together with those of her foster-sister the martyr S. Emerentiana,
were placed in a silver sarcophagus or urn. This was seen in the year
1901-2, when some work beneath the altar was being carried out.

(3) _The Cœmeterium majus_ in the immediate neighbourhood of the
Catacomb of S. Agnes. De Rossi names it the “Ostrian” Cemetery, and
connects it with the memories of S. Peter, as being the place where
the apostle used to baptize. Marucchi, however, in the light of recent
discoveries in the Catacomb of Priscilla on the adjacent Via Salaria,
unhesitatingly believes that the site of S. Peter’s work and preaching
must be sought for in the last-named cemetery. A brief résumé of
Marucchi’s arguments, which are most weighty, will be given when the
Cemetery of Priscilla is described.

The glory of this cemetery (Cœmeterium majus), as the memory of S.
Peter seems really to belong to the Catacomb of S. Priscilla, is that
here was the original tomb of S. Emerentiana, who for her devotion to
her foster-sister Agnes suffered martyrdom very shortly after the
death of Agnes. The site of the tomb has been ascertained, but the
remains of Emerentiana now rest in the silver urn which contains the
body of S. Agnes in her basilica beneath the altar.

The appellation “Cœmeterium majus” dates certainly from the fifth
century. One of the more striking features of this catacomb is a little
basilica not of later construction but belonging to the original work.
It is simply excavated in the tufa stone, and is divided into two
parts by the passage running through the cemetery. It is a perfect
subterranean church, containing separate divisions for men and women.
The presbytery and the position of the altar are clearly defined; the
very chair for the bishop or presiding presbyter is in its place, as
is the pillar on which the sacred oil burned in front of some hallowed
sanctuary. We wonder what was the special purpose for which this little
church, in the middle of the cemetery, was designed?

The Itineraries mention that various martyrs, whose life-stories are
generally unknown to us, were buried here.

VII

THE VIA SALARIA NOVA

The Via Salaria Nova, like the Via Nomentana, from which it is but
a little distant, lies on the north side of the city. Abutting on
the road are four cemeteries: S. Felicitas, Thrason and Saturninus,
Jordani, and the very important and most ancient Catacomb of S.
Priscilla.

The story of S. Felicitas, who with her seven sons was put to death
for her religion in the reign of and by the direct commandment of the
Emperor Marcus Aurelius, _circa_ A.D. 162, is fairly well
known. The “Acts” of the martyrdom by many scholars are not reckoned
authentic, although the document in question is allowed to be of very
high antiquity.

The story is generally very sharply criticized, as a reproduction of
a story from the Fourth Book of Maccabees. The high estimation in
which the Emperor Marcus universally now is held, no doubt contributes
to the severe criticism with which the story of Felicitas and her
seven sons is received. Naturally there is considerable reluctance in
acknowledging in any way the truth of a story in which the favourite
hero of historians and philosophers, the noble Emperor Marcus, plays so
sorry a part, and in which the brave constancy and noble endurance of a
group of those Christians he so much disliked and tried to despise, is
so conspicuously displayed.

But this is one of the many instances, a witness no one can gainsay,
of the catacombs to the main truth of a story hitherto largely
discredited. The tombs of the heroic mother and her brave sons have
been identified. We recapitulate.

In the Catacomb of S. Felicitas the body of the mother was interred
and subsequently removed to the basilica built over the cemetery in
question. In the ancient Catacomb of Prætextatus, Januarius’ (the
eldest of Felicitas’ sons) tomb has been found; nay more--from the
numerous prayers and allusions in the graffiti around it, it is evident
that the tomb in question was deeply reverenced by generations of
pilgrim visitors. In the famous Priscilla Catacomb two out of the
seven have been found--Felix and Philip. We know, too, that in the
Jordani Cemetery, Martialis, Vitalis, and Alexander lie buried. In
the Catacomb of Maximus, a cemetery on the Via Salaria which has not
been identified, Silanus, the seventh of the faithful band, was laid.
The body of Silanus, the youngest, apparently was carried away, but
subsequently restored, and laid in the same catacomb with his mother.

After the Peace of the Church a little basilica was erected over the
Cemetery of S. Felicitas, and Pope Damasus wrote in her honour one of
his Epistles. At the end of the eighth century Pope Leo III
translated the remains of the mother and her son Silanus to the Church
of S. Suzanna.[129] There they are still resting.

After the translation of its precious relics, the cemetery of which
we are speaking, in common with so many of the catacombs; was deserted
by the pilgrim visitors, and its very site was quickly forgotten. De
Rossi, in 1858, was enabled to point out its situation, but it was not
examined until the year 1884, when some workmen digging the foundations
of a house came upon some ancient loculi, with inscriptions, and a
number of dim faint pictures. The little basilica of the sixth century
thus came to light, and the ruins of what had once been the tomb and
shrine of S. Felicitas in the catacomb which bears her name.

On the Via Salaria Nova, between the Cemetery of S. Felicitas and
the very important Cemetery of S. Priscilla, there exists what may
be termed a network of catacombs only very partially explored. The
first is called after _Thrason_, a wealthy Roman citizen who gave the
hospitality of the tomb in a catacomb beneath his gardens to several
martyrs to the Diocletian persecution--notably to Saturninus. This
portion of the catacombs has as yet been only very little explored; the
corridors, etc., are still earthed up.

A little farther on the same road is another cemetery, generally
known too under the same name--“Thrason.” Marucchi, however, calls it
“_Cœmeterium Jordanorum_.” It is probable that it was joined originally
to that of Thrason. The meaning of the term “Jordani” used in the old
Pilgrim Itineraries is uncertain. This is one of the deepest excavated
cemeteries. As many as four stories of galleries, one beneath the
other, have been found here. Several “Arenaria” or sand-pits intervene
between the groups of galleries of this catacomb. All this extensive
network of catacombs and arenaria has only been partially excavated as
yet. The work is naturally costly to execute, and is accompanied with
some danger.

De Rossi places in one of these “Arenaria” or sand-pits in the midst of
this group of Catacombs of Thrason and the Jordani on the Via Salaria,
the scene of the martyrdom of the well-known SS. Chrysanthus and his
wife Daria, who bore their witness unto death in the persecution of
the Emperor Numerian, _circa_ A.D. 284. Daria had once been a
Vestal Virgin; she became a Christian, and was the especial object of
hatred by the fading pagan party.

S. Gregory of Tours, in his De Gloriâ Martyrum relates how after the
Peace of the Church, when the tombs of these two famous martyrs were
searched for and discovered, in the historic crypt of their tomb were
found the sad remains of a large group of Christians--men, women, and
even children. Some time after the martyrdom of SS. Chrysanthus and
Daria, a number of Christians secretly came to the crypt to pray at
the martyrs’ tomb. Information was given, and the Imperial authority
with all haste directed that the entrance should be walled up. This
was speedily done, and the group of Christian worshippers were thus
buried alive. The bodies were found, as Gregory of Tours relates, and
with them the eucharistic vessels of silver they had brought for the
celebration of the Holy Communion.

Pope Damasus, who made this singular discovery in the latter
years of the fourth century--about a century after this wholesale
martyrdom--would not allow the group or the sacred tomb to be touched;
but simply in the piled-up stones caused a little window to be made,
that pilgrims might look on and venerate this strange sad group of
martyrs.

De Rossi ever hoped to come upon this little window in question, and
after fifteen centuries again to gaze with all reverence on this
“miniature Christian Pompeii!”

S. Gregory in the sixth century tells us the little window looking on
this moving scene was shown to pilgrims of his day and time.

De Rossi’s hope--nay more, his expectation--of finding the window has
not yet been gratified, the ruinous state of the catacomb preventing
any exhaustive search.

There are many martyrs’ tombs and historic crypts, we learn from the
Pilgrim Itineraries, still to be uncovered in this group of cemeteries.

_The Cemetery of S. Priscilla._--Recent researches have added much to
our previous knowledge of this catacomb, and have confirmed De Rossi’s
judgment of its great antiquity and importance. Indeed, it ranks with
the great network of the Callistus and Domitilla Cemeteries on the
Appian and Ardeatina Roads--not in extent perhaps, but certainly in
antiquity and interest. It lies along the Salarian Way above described
as on the north of the city.

De Rossi’s words are memorable: “The Cemetery of Priscilla is a centre
where the various memories connected with the Churches of Pudens and
Priscilla meet like lines drawn from different places.”

Now three of the most ancient churches of Rome--churches whose
foundation stories were laid in apostolic times--are referred to by
the great scholar and archæologist here. They are S. Pudentiana on
the Viminal Hill, S. Prassedis on the Esquiline, and S. Priscilla
(S. Prisca) on the Aventine. Of these S. Priscilla is no doubt the
lineal descendant of the church that was in the house of Aquila and
Priscilla, the friends of Paul. We trace it back to the fifth century.
It is evident that before the fourth century the little church in the
house of the tent-makers had become the public church of S. Priscilla.
Its founders, the well-known Aquila and Priscilla, were buried in the
Cemetery of Priscilla.

Pope Leo IV in the ninth century specially refers to their
tombs in the Priscilla Cemetery.

The second of the three ancient churches, S. Prassedis, in common
with S. Pudentiana, was on the vast estate which the family of
Pudens possessed at the foot of the Esquiline. There is, however, no
tradition extant as to when it was first founded. It is mentioned in an
inscription of the fifth century in the Cemetery of S. Hippolytus, and
again in the year 490 in the Acts of the Council under the presidency
of Pope Symmachus. It has been restored several times, and in the early
Middle Ages is famous as the first place where Pope Paschal I
deposited the remains of the 2400 martyrs which were translated for
security’s sake from the various catacombs.

In our day and time this most ancient church is best known for the
little chapel, called from its unusual and mysterious splendour “Orto
del Paradiso.” It is commonly called the Chapel of S. Zeno, to whom it
was originally dedicated. S. Zeno suffered in the reign of Claudius
(Gothicus), A.D. 268-70. He is buried in a crypt in the Cemetery of
Prætextaus. S. Zeno is called in one of the Itineraries “The Brother of
the S. Valentinus of the Catacomb on the Flaminian Way.” This famous
chapel contains one of the great relics of Rome, the column to which
it is said our Saviour in His Passion was bound--it is of the rarest
blood jasper. In S. Prassedis are two ancient sarcophagi containing
the remains of the two sainted sisters SS. Prassedis and Pudentiana,
brought from their original tombs in the Cemetery of S. Priscilla at
the time of the great translation of the remains of the saints by
Paschal I. In the centre of the nave the well is still shown where S.
Prassedis probably buried the remains of martyrs; a similar well exists
in the sister church of S. Pudentiana.

[Illustration: MOSAIC IN THE APSE OF THE CHURCH OF STA. PUDENZIANA,
ROME

FOURTH CENTURY. OUR LORD WITH APOSTLES AND OTHERS: THE BUILDINGS
IN THE BACKGROUND PROBABLY REPRESENT JERUSALEM. OF THE TWO FEMALE
FIGURES STANDING BEHIND THE APOSTLES, THAT ON THE RIGHT OF THE SAVIOUR
REPRESENTS S. PRASSEDIS, THAT ON THE LEFT S. PUDENZIANA--THE DAUGHTERS
OF PUDENS. THE MOSAIC IS OF THE TIME OF POPE SIRICIUS, A.D. 384-398]

The first of the three churches, S. Pudentiana, is by far the most
interesting of the three. It is generally assumed to be the most
ancient church in Rome; originally--so says the tradition--it was
the church in the house of a senator named Pudens, who received and
gave hospitality to S. Peter. It is mentioned in inscriptions of the
fourth century. Siricius, who followed Damasus in the Roman Episcopate,
A.D. 384-398, restored it. This would imply that it had existed long
before the age of the Peace of the Church. It has alas! undergone many
restorations since; but it still preserves a magnificent and stately
mosaic in the apse, of the date of Siricius. This is the oldest piece
of mosaic work in a Roman church. (S. Constantia with its beautiful
mosaic roof, which is slightly older, was not in the first instance
a church, but simply a mausoleum.) The figures of the two sisters
SS. Prassedis and Pudentiana holding crowns, appear standing behind
the Lord and His apostles. Recent investigations have brought other
indications of its great antiquity to light, and Marucchi considers
that yet more may be discovered.

A close connection evidently exists between these most ancient churches
and the Cemetery of Priscilla we are about to speak of.

A very ancient document--“the Acts of Pastor and Timotheus”--which
Baronius, Cardinal Wiseman, and others deem authentic, gives at some
length the story of the foundation of this very early Church of S.
Pudentiana; the majority of scholars, however, while acknowledging
their great antiquity, hesitate to receive these “Acts” as belonging
to the very early period at which they purport to be written. They
probably, however, embody the substance of the generally received
tradition. This ancient document consists of two letters; the first
from one Pastor, a priest, addressed to Timotheus; the second the
answer of Timotheus. To these is added an appendix by Pastor, which
takes up and completes the story. We give a portion of this:

“Pudens went to his Saviour leaving his daughters, strengthened with
chastity, and learned in all the divine law. These sold their goods,
and distributed the produce to the poor and persevered strictly in the
love of Christ.... They desired to have a baptistery in their house, to
which the blessed Pius (the Bishop of Rome, A.D. 142-57) not
only consented but with his own hand drew the plan of the fountain....
By the advice of the blessed Pius, the enfranchisement of the Christian
slaves was declared with all the ancient usages in the oratory founded
by Pudens; there at the festival of Easter 96 were baptized, so that
henceforth assemblies were constantly held in the said oratory, which
night and day resounded with hymns of praise. Many pagans gladly came
thither to find the faith and receive baptism.... The blessed Bishop
Pius himself often visited it with joy, and offered the sacrifice for
us to the Saviour.

“Then Pudentiana went to God. Her sister (Prassedis) and I (Pastor)
wrapped her in perfumes, and kept her concealed in the oratory. Then
after 28 days we carried her to the Cemetery of Priscilla and laid her
near her father Pudens.”

(Then follows an account of the death of Novatus, who, according to
the Note in the Liber Pontificalis (2nd Recension) in the account of
Pope Pius I, was apparently a brother of the two sisters; he
bequeathed his goods to Prassedis, who proceeded to erect a church in
his Baths.)

“At the end of two years a great persecution was declared against the
Christians, and many of them received the crown of martyrdom. Prassedis
concealed a great number of them in her oratory.... The Emperor
Antoninus heard of these meetings in the oratory of Prassedis, and many
Christians were taken.... The blessed Prassedis collected their bodies
by night and buried them in the Cemetery of Priscilla.... Then the
Virgin of the Saviour, worn out with sorrow, only asked for death. Her
tears and her prayers reached to heaven, and 54 days after her brethren
had suffered, she passed to God. And I, Pastor, the priest, have buried
her body near that of her father Pudens.”[130]

To sum up the general tradition, which the recent investigations in the
Church of Pudentiana and in the Catacomb of S. Priscilla largely bear
out:

A disciple of the Apostles Peter and Paul, one Pudens, a Roman of
senatorial rank and rich, received S. Peter in his house, which
became a meeting-place for Christian folk at Rome in very early days.
This subsequently became the Church of S. Pudentiana. Pudens had
two daughters, Pudentiana and Prassedis. Later the Baths of Novatus
(who was brother of the two sisters), which apparently formed part
of the house or palace of Pudens, became a recognized meeting-place
for Christians, and this subsequently was termed the Church of S.
Pudentiana.

The Cemetery of S. Priscilla on the Via Salaria also belonged to this
Christian family, and was no doubt constructed on the property of the
same Pudens. Pudens and his two daughters were buried in this cemetery.
One portion of this catacomb was used as the burying-place of the
illustrious family of the Acilii Glabriones which evidently numbered
many Christian members.

De Rossi believes that Pudens, the father of the two sisters Pudentiana
and Prassedis, belonged to this illustrious house of the Acilii
Glabriones.

There was also evidently a near connection between the Aquila and
Priscilla so closely associated with S. Paul and the family of Pudens.
It has been suggested with great probability that Aquila was a
freedman or client of Pudens, and that Aquila and his wife Priscilla
were intimately connected with the noble family we have been speaking
of, Priscilla, S. Paul’s friend, being named after the older Priscilla.
All these, we know, were buried in the Cemetery of Priscilla. The
Priscilla who has given her name to the catacomb was the mother of
Pudens.

The foregoing little sketch, showing the connection of this Cemetery of
Priscilla with these most ancient churches, is a necessary introduction
to the description of the catacomb in question, which we have not
hesitated to style one of the most important of the Roman cemeteries.
It is, we think, one of the oldest, ranking here with the Cemeteries
of Domitilla and the Lucina area of S. Callistus. Each of these three
belongs probably to the first century of the Christian era.

From the references in the _Liberian Calendar_, compiled A.D.
354, under the head of “Depositiones Martyrum”; in the _Liber
Pontificalis_, and in the Pilgrim Itineraries, we learn that in the
Cemetery of Priscilla were interred the remains of many martyrs,
confessors, and saints. There for several centuries rested the bodies
of Aquila and Priscilla; Pudens and his sainted daughters Prassedis
and Pudentiana; two of the martyred sons of S. Felicitas, Felix and
Philip, who bore their witness in the days of the Emperor Marcus, and
the Martyr Crescentius. Here too were buried seven of the Bishops of
Rome, two of whom wear the martyr’s crown--Marcellinus and Marcellus,
who suffered in the Diocletian persecution. These are the most notable,
but many other martyrs were interred in this most ancient God’s acre.

Some of these hallowed remains, after the Peace of the Church in the
fourth century, were brought up from the crypts of the great catacomb
and laid in the basilica subsequently known as S. Sylvester.[131]

[Illustration: IN THE CATACOMB OF S. PRISCILLA (II OR III CENTURY).
THE FIGURE OF THE DEAD ONE AS AN ORANTE ON RIGHT THE THREE CHILDREN
IN THE FURNACE--ON THE CEILING THE GOOD SHEPHERD WITH A GOAT ON HIS
SHOULDERS]

In the ninth century, when the great translation of the precious
remains of the saints and martyrs from their old resting-places in
the catacombs outside Rome to securer resting-places within the city,
took place, the Cemetery of Priscilla in common with the other God’s
acres we term catacombs was despoiled of many of its sacred deposits.
In common too with the other catacombs, S. Priscilla at once ceased to
be an object of reverent pilgrimage, and was quickly forgotten, and
remained forgotten for many hundred years. It has only been explored in
the last thirty or forty years, and not yet by any means exhaustively.
It was only in A.D. 1887 that the crypt of the noble family of
the Acilii Glabriones was discovered.

Quite recent investigation and discoveries have now satisfied Marucchi,
the last explorer and student of the catacombs, long the assistant and
disciple of De Rossi, that the Cemetery of Priscilla must be identified
as the locality of the preaching and teaching of S. Peter--so often
alluded to as the “Sedes ubi prius sedit sanctus Petrus”--that the
Cemetery of S. Priscilla was the “_Cœmeterium ad Nymphas beati Petri
ubi baptizaverat_.” Marucchi has with infinite pains and scholarship
proved his point, and has shown to a wondering group of interested
scholars the very pools still filled with water in the dark crypts
of S. Priscilla in which the great apostle probably baptized the
first converts to the religion of his Master, for whom in the end he
witnessed his noble confession on the Vatican Hill in the reign of the
Emperor Nero.

The Cemetery of Priscilla, as at present explored, consists roughly of
two vast galleries; many of its crypts and corridors dating from the
first and second centuries. Their age is accurately determined, among
other well-known signs, by the character of the decorative work and by
the nature and phraseology of the inscriptions; the existence of the
many _Greek_ epitaphs is one other sure proof of the very early date of
the interments.

From the notices in the Pilgrim Itineraries, notwithstanding their
present often ruined and desolate condition, a good many of the
original tombs of the more famous confessors and saints can be fairly
identified. We will indicate a few of the more remarkable features of
this important and venerable cemetery.

On the first story, the original tomb of Priscilla, according to the
ancient Itineraries, is in a crypt close to an old entrance staircase.
Close to the crypt is a large chamber of the second century, evidently
used for public worship. Small chambers or chapels lead out of this
large crypt, one of these being the famous Greek Chapel, so called in
later times from some Greek inscriptions on the walls. The paintings
on the walls are important and highly interesting. This ancient chapel
was also used for worship. In the neighbourhood of this portion of the
cemetery is a large crypt which from various sure signs, such as the
evident desire on the part of many to make it their last home; from
the pillars on which once were placed the lamps which used ever to
burn close to specially revered sanctuaries; from the many means of
access for pilgrims of the third and fourth centuries,--was clearly
the last resting-place of several of the more famous saints of the
Catacomb of S. Priscilla. No inscription or graffiti of pilgrims have
yet been deciphered to tell us _who_ lay here. It has been suggested
that Prassedis, Pudentiana, and other well-known saints were probably
interred in or near this place. Marucchi calls attention to the great
number of loculi in this cemetery, still untouched--not rifled of their
precious contents. The inscriptions on many of these loculi for the
most part are very short and simple, containing little besides the name
of the dead, with just a brief beautiful reference to the sure hope of
the dead in Christ.

In this first or uppermost gallery of the catacomb on which we are
dwelling, was discovered quite lately a very large crypt surrounded
with corridors, sadly ruined, but with the remains of elaborate
decoration still visible and with fragments of marble lying about, with
pieces of sarcophagi and portions of inscriptions carefully carved,
some in Greek, beautifully wrought. This area, which is quite distinct
from the great cemetery in the midst of which it lies, once contained
the remains of the Christian members of the noble Roman house of the
Acilii Glabriones. From the inscriptions which have been found and
deciphered, this burying-place of a famous family dates from the first
century, and the interments from the first and following centuries.

These Acilii Glabriones whose names occur and recur in the broken
inscriptions were members of a distinguished family, holding a very
high position in the aristocracy of Rome under the early Emperors.
We learn a good deal about a head of this illustrious house, Acilius
Glabrio, from the historians Suetonius and Dion Cassius.

In the year of grace 91, Acilius Glabrio was consul, and excited the
jealousy of the Emperor Domitian, who condemned him to fight with wild
beasts in the gardens of one of the Imperial villas. From this deadly
combat he came out victorious, but the hatred of the Emperor was not
satisfied, and he exiled the powerful patrician, and eventually put him
to death.

The accusation against Acilius Glabrio seems to have been that he
was among the “devisers of new things” (“molitores novarum rerum”).
It was a vague and mysterious charge made against various persons of
high degree in the reign of Domitian. The accusation was connected
with the practice of some strange foreign superstition unknown to the
State religion. This crime is now generally understood to have been
the practice of Christianity, and Acilius Glabrio, Clemens the near
kinsman of the Emperor, and many others alluded to by Suetonius who
were arraigned under this charge and put to death, were evidently
Christians. This conjecture, since the recent discovery of the great
crypt of the Acilii Glabriones in the Priscilla Cemetery belonging
to this noble house, has become a certainty, for the Christianity of
those buried there has been absolutely proved from words and sacred
Christian signs carved upon the broken slabs which once formed part of
the sarcophagi and loculi bearing the family name.

Thus, according to Marucchi, to Allard the well-known and scholarly
historian of the Persecutions, and to De Rossi, Acilius Glabrio, the
great patrician, the consul of the first century, the contemporary of
the Apostles Peter and Paul and no doubt their friend and convert, was
one of that aristocratic group in Rome which accepted the faith of
Jesus, a group of which so little is known, and whose very existence
hitherto has been generally questioned; and these, recognizing the
brotherhood of slaves and freedmen and the poorest and saddest of the
dwellers of the great city, not only helped them in their life, and
associated them in all their dearest and most certain hopes, but gave
them the “hospitality of the tomb”--constructing round the stately
family crypt the corridors and funereal chambers where these poor and
insignificant members of the Christian congregation might rest. The
Priscilla Cemetery, dating as it does from the days of the apostle, is
a great example of this loving Christian custom.

Now general tradition ascribes the foundation of this vast and ancient
catacomb to Pudens, the wealthy senator; to his mother Priscilla,
of whom beyond her name we know nothing; to her sainted daughters
Prassedis and Pudentiana. The question then arises--Was this Pudens a
member of the great house of the Acilii Glabriones? The leading Italian
scholars in the lore of the catacombs think he certainly was. De Rossi
even suspects that Pudens was the martyr consul himself. With our
present knowledge this supposition cannot be decisively maintained. It
is, however, an interesting hypothesis.

The Basilica of S. Sylvester, of which we shall speak presently,
which was erected shortly after the Peace of the Church in the fourth
century, was directly over the crypt of the Acilii Glabriones.

A very remarkable feature in the Catacomb of S. Priscilla are the
reservoirs of water, which evidently served in very early days as
baptisteries. The most considerable of these reservoirs or tanks is
on the upper story of the cemetery, and is communicated with by a
broad staircase of over twenty-five steps, which come out behind what
was once the apsidal end of the Basilica of S. Sylvester. Marucchi
describes it as “une vaste piscine encore pleine d’eau, desservie par
un petit canal.” This great baptistery became, from the fourth century
onward, a spot of intense interest to the many pilgrims who visited the
catacomb sanctuaries.

Another large reservoir of water has been found on the second story of
this vast catacomb; other and smaller tanks have also been found.

Marucchi believes that this cemetery is the one alluded to in the
many traditions, including the notices in the Pilgrim Itineraries, as
the special scene of S. Peter’s labours and preaching, teaching and
baptizing, as the “cœmeterium beati Petri ubi baptizaverat,” as the
“sedes ubi prius sedit sanctus Petrus.”

The investigation which has led to recent discoveries in this cemetery
had not been completed when De Rossi identified the Cœmeterium
Ostrianum (of which we spoke above) as the scene of S. Peter’s work. It
is these latest “finds” that have induced Marucchi to fix the Priscilla
Cemetery as the place where the great apostle laboured in those early
years of the history of Roman Christianity.

Beneath the first vast gallery of this catacomb with its many memories
of saints and martyrs, including the famous crypt of the “Acilii
Glabriones” house, lies another and very ancient area of sepulchral
galleries.

This area was communicated with by several staircases, some of which
are now completely closed. This vast sepulchral area has been as yet
only partially explored. It is described roughly as consisting of a
long gallery, out of which lead more than twenty other galleries, many
of which as yet are only imperfectly investigated.

Marucchi, who has devoted a long and important section of his great
work to the Priscilla Catacomb, writes of this second story of the
cemetery as the most extensive and carefully planned of all the
cemeteries of subterranean Rome that have been yet examined.

His words here are remarkable, and must be quoted: “On peut dire sans
exaggeration, que c’est la région cemétériale la plus vaste et la plus
régulière de toute la Rome souterraine.”

The masonry used in its construction; its many inscriptions on the
loculi, carved in marble, or painted in red on tiles,--all bear witness
of its hoar antiquity; much of it dates certainly from the second
century. It contains, as we have remarked already, a reservoir or tank
of water--of course a baptistery--deep and of considerable size.

This singular feature, when taken in conjunction with the great
tank or reservoir of the first story and the several smaller tanks
or reservoirs discovered in the various corridors and sepulchral
chambers--peculiarities and features possessed by no other
catacomb--amply justifies the ancient appellation “ad Nymphas,” which
no doubt exclusively belongs to the Cemetery of S. Priscilla, and which
in several parts seems to preserve a memory of the baptisms of S. Peter.

Over most of the catacombs--certainly over the more important--shortly
after the Peace of the Church, basilicas or churches of various
dimensions were erected for the accommodation of pilgrims and members
of the Roman congregations who desired to visit and to venerate the
sanctuaries of the subterranean cemeteries which soon became famous and
objects of reverence in the Christian world. The basilica subsequently
known as S. Sylvester, which was built over the Cemetery of Priscilla,
no doubt before the year 336, has perhaps obtained a greater notoriety
than any other of these fourth-century cemetery churches.

Into this basilica, apparently shortly after its erection, were
translated many of the bodies of martyrs, whose remains had been in the
first instance deposited in the crypts of S. Priscilla beneath. The
Pilgrim Itineraries dwell upon this, and especially mention how under
the high altar of S. Sylvester two of the martyred sons of S. Felicitas
rested--Felix and Philip.

Into S. Sylvester, too, were brought the remains of the two martyr
Popes, Marcellus and Marcellinus. There also Pope Sylvester, the
builder of the basilica after whom it has been named, was interred;
and at his feet Pope Siricius, the successor of Pope Damasus. Three
more of the occupants of the papal dignity have been interred in this
honoured sanctuary, namely, Liberius, A.D. 353-5; Celestinus,
A.D. 422-32; and at a somewhat later date Pope Vigilius,
A.D. 538-55; in all the remains of seven of the Bishops of
Rome rested in S. Sylvester.

Indeed, this little basilica ranks as the third of the sacred places
of interment of the Bishops of Rome. The _first_ is on the Vatican
Hill--in the immediate neighbourhood of the grave of S. Peter--where
ten or eleven of the first occupants of the See of Rome lie. The
_second_ is the famous so-called Papal Crypt in the Cemetery of
S. Callistus on the Appian Way. The _third_ is the Basilica of S.
Sylvester over the Cemetery of Priscilla. The _fourth_ is once more on
the Vatican Hill, near the grave of S. Peter, in the stately church
erected by the Emperor Constantine on the site of the little Memoria
chapel of Linus.

[Illustration: CHAPEL OF THE TOMBS OF THE III CENTURY BISHOPS OF
ROME--PARTLY RESTORED--CATACOMB OF S. CALLISTUS]

It has been well suggested that in each instance the selection of the
spot for the formal creation of an official papal burying-place was
influenced by some direct memory of S. Peter which was attached to the
spot in question. In the case of the first and fourth this is obvious.

In the case of the first was the little Memoria over the sacred tomb.
In the case of the fourth--the place selected was on the Vatican
Hill--under the shadow of the house of God erected by Constantine over
the first Memoria.

Round the grave of S. Peter it was natural and fitting that the
first Bishops of Rome should lie. When the space was entirely filled
up, as was the case at the close of the second century, and a fresh
official burying-place for the Bishops had to be found, Zephyrinus
and Callistus were, with great probability, directed to that great
cemetery which at a very early date bore the name of Callistus, on
account of the memories of S. Peter and S. Paul, which were connected
with the adjacent cemetery “ad Catacombas” (S. Sebastian); and Marucchi
thinks some treasured memory of the great apostle connected with the
beautiful legend of the “Quo vadis”--a spot not far from the Callistus
Cemetery--hung round the God’s acre selected for the site of the Papal
Crypt.

The third choice of a spot for the burying-place of the Popes, the
basilica on the S. Priscilla Catacomb, has been attributed to the many
memories of S. Peter associated with the Catacomb in question, which
are now identified with the scenes of S. Peter’s teaching and baptizing.

There in the Basilica of S. Sylvester, until the great translation
of the Catacomb saints in the pontificates of Paul I and
Paschal I was carried out, the remains of the seven Popes, the
two sons of Felicitas, and of many other famous and heroic martyrs
rested. When, however, the precious treasure of these saints’ remains
was removed to the securer shelter of the metropolis hard by, S.
Priscilla’s Catacomb and Basilica were soon forgotten.

There is, alas! little left of the basilica of S. Sylvester; its very
existence was unknown until De Rossi discovered its ruins in 1889. The
subterranean crypt and corridors and baptisteries have fared better
than the basilica built above them, and have already provided an almost
inexhaustible mine of riches for the antiquarian, the theologian, and
the historian; and in coming years, when further investigations in this
vast historical cemetery are carried out, discoveries of a yet greater
interest may be looked for--discoveries, to use the words of the latest
toiler in S. Priscilla, which may tell us more of the “passing by”
of S. Peter in this venerable home of so many and such varied sacred
memories.

VIII

THE VIA SALARIA VETUS AND VIA FLAMINIA

_Cemetery of S. Pamphilus._--S. Pamphilus, we learn from the
Itineraries, was a martyr; nothing, however, is known of his history.

The cemetery has not been thoroughly explored. It is, however, of some
importance. Several galleries have been partially examined--but with
some risk.

The _Via Salaria Vetus_, by the side of which this Catacomb, is
situated, branches off from the Via Pinciana on the north of the city.

_Cemetery of S. Hermes and S. Basilissa_ is on the same road, a little
farther from the city.

The “Acts of S. Hermes” are not accepted as belonging to the very early
date (A.D. 119--when Hadrian was Emperor) of the martyrdom,
the particular event they profess to relate. These Acts relate that
Hermes was a Prefect of Rome. No such name occurs in the lists of
Prefects. It has been suggested, however, that he was an official of
the Prefect.

The remains of a very considerable basilica have been discovered in
this Catacomb; a yet older building apparently existed in the same
position.

The galleries of graves that have been partially explored are in a very
ruinous and dangerous condition. It is recorded that the body of S.
Hermes was translated by Pope Gregory IV in the ninth century.
There are parts of this crumbling cemetery evidently of great antiquity.

Other martyrs, once well known, rest in this Catacomb; of these, S.
Basilissa, S. Protus and S. Hyacinthus are perhaps the best known.
SS. Protus and Hyacinthus apparently suffered in the persecution of
Valerian, A.D. 257-8. The tomb of S. Basilissa has not been
identified.

The remains of S. Hyacinthus were found as late as 1841 in a _closed_
loculus and wrapped in a cloth which still emitted a sweet perfume. The
bones had evidently been burned. It has been suggested that probably
the martyr had suffered by fire; this was an unusual form of martyrdom.
The name of the saint and date of the deposition and the word _Martyr_
were on the loculus. The inscription and the hallowed remains are now
in the Church of the Propaganda.

Probably further investigation will be made in this interesting but
ruined Catacomb. Researches here, however, are difficult and dangerous.
Much of the work of Damasus in the later part of the fourth century has
been recognized in this place. This cemetery was apparently held in
high estimation by the earlier pilgrims.

The Itineraries speak of another cemetery on the Via Salaria Vetus
under the name of “ad Clivum Cucumeris.” but it has not as yet been
identified.

_Cemetery of S. Valentinus._--The old Via Flaminia leaves the city at
its north-east corner, and is a direct continuation of the Corso. It is
the great road communicating with the north of Italy, as the Via Appia
does with South Italy. It passes through the Porta del Popolo, formerly
the Gate of S. Valentinus; in old days it was termed the Flaminian
Gate. On this Via Flaminia not very far from the city there is the
Catacomb of S. Valentinus--the only cemetery on this road.

S. Valentinus is the last of our long catalogue of subterranean
cemeteries. Little is known of the confessor and martyr after whom
this Catacomb is named. His “Acts,” as we possess them, were only
compiled in the sixth century. Valentinus suffered martyrdom _circa_
A.D. 268-70. (Claudius Gothicus was then Emperor.) He is
stated to have been a Christian priest and physician.

The martyr’s body was recovered by Sabinilla, a Christian lady, and was
buried near the place where he suffered. The desire to be buried near
S. Valentinus led to further excavations, but the tufa in this place
was too hard and did not lend itself to the formation of galleries.
Corridors were excavated above the tomb of the martyr; little,
however, of interest has been found as yet. A third gallery was also
constructed. It was the second gallery above the grave of the martyr
which became the public cemetery, but it has been only very partially
examined; much is still blocked up.

Some time after the Peace of the Church, under Pope Julius, A.D.
337-52, a basilica named after S. Valentinus was built a little to
the right of the martyr’s crypt. This church was restored, probably
rebuilt, by Pope Honorius I, A.D. 625-38. The ruins of this Church of
S. Valentinus have been recently brought to light. The Itineraries
speak of the body of S. Valentinus as in the restored basilica. These
sacred remains were, as in other cases, no doubt translated from their
original resting-place into the church above. The bodies of other
martyrs who probably suffered in the Diocletian persecution are alluded
to in the Pilgrim Guides. In the ruins of the basilica a chapel was
identified by an inscription as having been dedicated to certain of the
local martyrs, and with these nameless saints S. Zeno is mentioned by
name. S. Zeno was evidently once highly venerated. His presence here is
accounted for by a notice in one of the Itineraries, which styles him
“frater Valentini,”--possibly only signifying “frater in Passione.”

S. Zeno was buried in the well-known Cemetery of Prætextatus on the
Appian Way. He is perhaps best known now from the famous Chapel of
S. Zeno in the Church of S. Prassedis, the work of Pope Paschal
I--usually called the “Orto del Paradiso.” A mosaic in that
beautiful chapel pictures the two martyrs S. Valentinus and S. Zeno
together.

APPENDICES

APPENDIX I.--ON S. PETRONILLA

Baronius, followed by Bishop Lightfoot of Durham and others, calls
attention to an etymological difficulty which exists in attempting to
derive Petronilla from Petros, which at first sight seems so obvious.
These scholars prefer to connect the name “Petronilla” not with Petros
but with “Petronius.” Now, the founder of the Flavian family was T.
Flavius Petro. Lightfoot then proceeds to suggest that “Petronilla” was
a scion of the Flavian house, and became a convert to Christianity,
probably in the days of Antoninus Pius, and was subsequently buried
with other Christian members of the great Flavian house in the
Domitilla Cemetery.

De Rossi, however, and other recent scholars in the lore of the
Catacombs, in spite of the presumed etymological difficulty, decline
to give up the original “Petrine” tradition, but prefer to assume
that Petronilla _was_ a daughter, but only a _spiritual_ daughter, of
the great apostle--that is, she was simply an ordinary convert of S.
Peter’s.

Of these two hypotheses: (_a_) dealing with the first, in the very free
and rough way in which the Latin tongue was treated at a comparatively
early date in the story of the Empire, when grammar, spelling, and
prosody were very frequently more or less disregarded save in highly
cultured circles, the etymological difficulty referred to by Lightfoot
can scarcely be pressed, for it possesses little weight.

(_b_) As regards the second hypothesis--the shrinking, which
more modern Roman Catholic theologians apparently feel, from the
acknowledgment that S. Peter had a daughter at all, was absolutely
unknown in the earlier Christian centuries. To give an example. As
late as the close of the eighth century, on an altar of a church in
Bourges dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and other saints, there is an
inscription attributed to Alcuin the scholar minister of Charlemagne.
In this inscription occurs the following line:

“Et Petronilla patris præclari filia Petri.”

Now, towards the close of the fourth century, Pope Siricius, between
A.D. 391 and A.D. 395, constructed the important basilica lately
discovered in the Domitilla Cemetery on the Via Ardeatina; but although
the basilica in question contained the historic tombs of the famous
martyrs SS. Nereus and Achilles, confessors of the first century,
as well as the body of S. Petronilla, he dedicated the basilica in
question in her honour. Pope Siricius would surely have never named
this important and very early church after a comparatively unknown
member of the Flavian house; still less would he have called it by the
name of a simple convert of the great apostle.

In Siricius’ eyes there was evidently no shadow of doubt but that the
Petronilla for whom he had so deep a veneration was the daughter of S.
Peter, and nothing but such an illustrious lineage can possibly account
for the persistent devotion paid to her remains, a devotion which,
as we have seen, endured for many centuries; the ancient tradition
that she was the daughter of the apostle was evidently unvarying and
undisputed.

It was left to the modern scholar in his zeal for the purity of the
language he admired, and for the modem devout Romanist in his anxiety
to show that S. Peter was free from all home and family ties, to
throw doubts on the identity of one whom an unbroken tradition and an
unswerving reverence from time immemorial regarded as the daughter of
the great apostle so loved and revered in Rome.

In other places besides in Gaul and Rome we find traces of this very
early cult of S. Petronilla. In the neighbourhood of Bury St. Edmunds
her memory was anciently reverenced; under the curious abbreviation
of “S. Parnel,” still in that locality, there is a church named after
her--at Whepstead, Bury St. Edmunds. A yet more remarkable historical
reference appears in “Leland’s Itinerary,” an official writing, be it
understood, which dates _circa_ A.D. 1539-40. Leland, writing
of Osric, somewhile king of Northumbria, the founder of the famous
Abbey of Gloucester, tells us how this King Osric “first laye in St.
Petronell’s Chappel,” of the Gloucester Abbey. Osric died in the year
of grace 729.

Thus before her body, at the instance of the Frankish King Pepin,
was translated into the little imperial mausoleum hard by the great
Basilica of S. Peter from her tomb on the Via Ardeatina, there was a
Mercian chapel named after this Petronilla in the heart of the distant
and only very imperfectly christianized Angle-land (England).

In the “Historia Monasterii S. Petri Gloucestriæ,” a document, or
rather a collection of documents, of great value, we find an entry
which tells us how Kyneburg, the sister of King Osric, and first abbess
of the religious house of Gloucester, ruled the house for twenty-nine
years, and, dying in A.D. 710, was buried _before the altar of S.
Petronilla_; and later an entry in the same Historia relates that Queen
Eadburg, widow of Wulphere, king of the Mercians, abbess of Gloucester
from A.D. 710 to A.D. 735, was buried by the side of Kyneburg _before
S. Petronilla s altar_. King Osric himself, who died in A.D. 729, was
buried in the same grave as his sister Kyneburg, or as it is expressed
in the “Historia,” “in ecclesia Sancti Petri coram altari sanctæ
Petronillæ, in Aquilonari parte ejusdem monasterii.”

Professor Freeman quaintly comments here as follows: “It is certain
that there was a church of some kind, a predecessor, however humble, of
the great Cathedral Church (of Gloucester) that now is, at least from
the days of Osric (_circa_ A.D. 729). But more than this we
cannot say, except that it contained _an altar of S. Petronilla_.”

APPENDIX II.--ON S. PETER’S TOMB

_S. Peter’s Tomb._--While Pope Paul V’s task of destroying and
rebuilding the eastern end of old S. Peter’s (the work of Constantine)
was proceeding, somewhat before A.D. 1615 the same Pope designed to
make the approaches to the sacred “Confession” of the apostle at the
west end of the church more dignified, and it was in the course of
building stairs and making certain excavations which were necessary
to carry out his plans that his architect came upon a number of
graves in the immediate neighbourhood of the walls which encircled
the hallowed tomb of S. Peter. Here was evidently the old Cemetery of
the Vatican which originally had been planned in the first century by
Anacletus. Some memoranda of this discovery were made. But it was a few
years later, when more important excavations were carried on in the
pontificate of Pope Urban VIII (Cardinal Barberini) in connection with
the foundations necessary for the support of the enormous baldachino of
bronze over the high altar, that this most ancient cemetery was more
fully brought to light.

The circumstances which led to these discoveries of Urban VIII
were as follows: The date is about A.D. 1626; Bernini was the
architect in the Pope’s confidence, and it was determined to replace
the existing canopy over the altar and confession, which was considered
too small and insignificant for its position, by the great and massive
bronze baldachino which now covers the high altar and the confession
leading to the sacred tomb.

The materials for this mighty canopy and its pillars were obtained from
the portico of the Pantheon, the roof of the portico of that venerable
building being stripped of its gilded bronze. This portico had survived
from the days of its builder Agrippa, the son-in-law of the Emperor
Augustus.

The act of Urban VIII, thus robbing one of the remaining
glories of ancient Rome, was severely criticised in his day, and the
well-known epigram survives to commemorate this strange act of late
“vandalism”: “Quod barbari non fecerunt, fecit Barberini.”

The new baldachino or canopy of Bernini’s was 95 feet in height, and
is computed to weigh nearly 100 tons. To support this enormous weight
of metal it was judged necessary to construct deep and extensive
foundations. It was in the digging out and building up of these
substructures in the immediate vicinity of the apostle’s tomb that
the remarkable discoveries we are about to relate were made.

[Illustration: S. PETER’S, ROME--THE CONFESSION. 95 EVER-BURNING LAMPS
ARE IN FRONT OF THE ENTRANCE TO THE APOSTLE’S TOMB]

The account from which we quote is virtually a semi-official
procès-verbal, and was compiled by an eye-witness--Ubaldi, a canon of
S. Peter’s, who was present when the discoveries were made, and who has
left us his notes made on the spot and at the time. Singularly enough,
the memoranda of Ubaldi lay disregarded, hidden among the Vatican
archives until comparatively recently. They were found[132] by one
of the keepers of these archives, and have been published lately by
Professor Armellini.

Before, however, giving the extracts from Ubaldi’s memoranda of the
discoveries in the Cemetery of Anacletus in the year 1626, it will be
of material assistance to the reader if a short account of the probable
present position and state of the great apostle’s tomb is subjoined. It
will be borne in mind that the excavations in connection with Bernini’s
baldachino were carried out close to the tomb in question.

The vault, in which we believe rests the sarcophagus which contains
the sacred remains of the apostle, lies now deep under the high altar
of the great church. It was always subterranean, and no doubt from the
earliest days was visited by numbers of believers belonging not only
to the Roman congregation, but by pilgrims from many other countries.
Pope Anacletus, to accommodate these numerous pilgrim visitors, built
directly over the tomb a little Memoria or chapel. This apparently was
done by raising the walls of the vault beneath, and thus a chamber or
chapel above was provided. This Memoria of Anacletus is generally known
as the confession. Both these chambers now lie beneath the floor of the
existing church. Originally the Memoria of Anacletus above the chamber
of the tomb showed above ground; it is no doubt the “Tropæum” alluded
to by the Presbyter Caius, _circa_ A.D. 210.

Roughly, the height of the two chambers from the floor of the original
vault to the ceiling of the Memoria built over it is some 32 feet.
There is little difference in the height of each of these two chambers.

The probable explanation of the details given in the _Liber
Pontificalis_ of the works of Constantine the Great at the tomb is as
follows: Both the chambers of the tomb--the original vault and the
Memoria of Anacletus over it--were left intact, but with certain added
features, simply devised with the view of strengthening and ensuring
the permanence of the sacred spot and its contents. The whole of the
chamber of the tomb was then filled up with solid masonry, except
immediately above the sarcophagus.

The upper chamber, the Memoria, was strengthened with masses of masonry
on each side, so as to bear the weight of a great altar, the high
altar of the Basilica of Constantine, which was erected so as to stand
immediately over the body of S. Peter. A cataract or billicum, as it
is sometimes called, covered with a bronze grating, opened from above
close to the altar. There are two of these little openings, one leading
into the Memoria, and the other from the Memoria to the chamber of
the tomb beneath. Through these openings handkerchiefs and such-like
objects would be lowered so as to touch the sarcophagus. This we know
was not unfrequently permitted in the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth
centuries. Such objects after they had touched the coffin were esteemed
as most precious relics.

In addition to these works in the two chambers, the Emperor Constantine
enclosed the original stone coffin which contained the remains of S.
Peter in bronze, and laid upon this bronze sarcophagus the great cross
of gold--the gift of his mother Helena and himself. This is the cross
which Pope Clement VIII and his cardinals saw dimly gleaming
below, when an opening to the tomb was suddenly disclosed in the great
building operations which were carried out during the last years of the
sixteenth century.

There is scarcely room now for doubt that the bronze coffin and the
golden cross are still in the chamber of the tomb where Constantine
placed them.

When it was found necessary to excavate for the foundation of the new
massive baldachino, Pope Urban VIII was alarmed at first lest
the sacred tomb should be disturbed. The warnings of Pope Gregory
the Great against meddling with the tombs of saints like Peter and
Paul being remembered, “no one dare even pray there,” he once wrote,
“without much fear.” Three years were spent in preparation for the
work and in casting the baldachino. Then the sudden death of Alemanni,
the custodian of the Vatican library, who had the chief charge in
the preparative work, and the passing away of two of the Pope’s
confidential staff just as the work commenced, appalled men’s minds;
but after some hesitation it was decided to go on with the necessary
excavations--“All possible precautions,” Ubaldi tells us, “being taken
for the preservation of the reverence due to the spot, and for the
security of the relics.” The Pope commanded, “that while the labourers
were at work there should always be present some of the priests and
ministers of the Church.”

Ubaldi describes at length what was found, when each of the four
foundations for the four great columns of the baldachino was dug out.
We will quote a few of Ubaldi’s memoranda, and then give a little
summary of what apparently was discovered in this perhaps the most
ancient, certainly the most interesting, of the subterranean cemeteries
of Christian Rome.

In the excavation of the first foundation--“only two or three inches
under the pavement they began to find coffins and sarcophagi. Those
nearest to the altar (above) were placed laterally against an
ancient wall” (this was doubtless part of the wall of the Memoria of
Anacletus), “and from this they judged that these must be the bodies
buried nearest to the sepulchre of S. Peter. These were coffins of
marble made of simple slabs of different sizes.” Only one seems to have
borne an inscription, and that was the solitary word “Linus.” Was not
this the coffin of the first Pope, the Linus saluted in S. Paul’s Roman
Epistle?

“Two of these coffins were uncovered. The bodies, which were clothed
with long robes down to the heels, dark and almost black with age, and
which were swathed with bandages, ... when these were touched and moved
they were resolved into dust.... We can only conclude that those who
were found so close to the body of S. Peter must have been the first
(Martyr) Popes or their immediate successors....

“On the same level, close up to the wall (of the Memoria) were found
two other coffins of smaller size, each of which contained a small
body, apparently of a child of ten or twelve years old.” “Were these,
whose bodies had obtained the privilege of interment so close to the
grave of S. Peter, little martyrs?... Close by ... were two (coffins)
of ancient terra-cotta full of ashes and burnt bones, ... other
fragments of similar coffins were found deeper down as the excavations
proceeded, and also pieces of glass from broken phials. It was evident
that all this earth was mixed with ashes and tinged with the blood
of martyrs.... There were also found pieces of charred wood which
one might believe had served for the burning of the martyrs, and had
afterwards been collected as jewels and buried there with their ashes.”

A little farther on Ubaldi writes, still speaking of what was found
where the first foundation was excavated: “There was next found a small
well in which were a great number of bones mixed with ashes and earth;
then again another coffin; near this was found another square place on
the sides of which more bodies were found, while on one side was the
continuation of a very ancient wall (the Memoria of Anacletus). This
wall contained a niche which had been used as a sepulchre, and in it
were found five heads fixed with plaster and carefully arranged, also
being well preserved. Lower down were the ribs all together, and the
other parts in their order mingled with much earth and ashes, not laid
casually, but with accuracy and great care. All this holy company were
shut in and well secured with lime and mortar....

“It now became necessary to consider how the holy bones and bodies
which had been taken up might best be laid in some fitting and
memorable place; they had been placed in several cases of cypress
wood, and had been carried before the little altar of S. Peter in
the confession, and here all through these days they had been kept
locked up and under seal. It was felt that they ought not to be
deprived of the privilege of being near to the body of S. Peter....
So it was resolved that, as they had been found buried together and
undistinguished by names, so still one grave should hold them all,
since the holy martyrs are all one in eternity,”--as S. Gregory
Nazianzen wonderfully says--“ ... a suitable and capacious grave was
constructed” (close to the spot) “and there re-interment took place.
The following inscription cut in a plate of lead was placed within the
tomb--

_Corpora Sanctorum prope sepulchrum sancti Petri inventa, cum
fundamenta effoderentur æreis Columnis (of the baldachino of
Bernini) ab Urbano VIII--super hac fornice erectis, hic
siul collecta et reposita die 28 Julii 1626”_

In digging for the second foundation a very wonderful “find” was
recorded. Ubaldi relates how, “not more than three or four feet down,
there was discovered at the side a large coffin made of great slabs of
marble.... Within were ashes with many bones all adhering together and
half burned. These brought back to mind the famous fire in the time
of Nero, three years before S. Peters martyrdom, when the Christians,
being falsely accused of causing the fire, and pronounced guilty
of the crime, afforded in the circus of the gardens of Nero, which
were situated just here on the Vatican Hill, the first spectacles of
martyrdom. Some were put to death in various cruel ways, while others
were set on fire, and used as torches in the night, thus inaugurating
on the Vatican, by the light that they gave, the living splendour of
the true religion.... These, so they say, were buried close to the
place where they suffered martyrdom, and gave the first occasion for
the religious veneration of this holy spot.... We therefore revered
these holy bones, as being those of the first founders of the great
basilica and the first-fruits of our martyrs, and having put back the
coffin allowed it to remain in the same place.”

* * * * *

With great pathos Mr. Barnes, from whose translation of the Ubaldi
Memoranda on the discoveries in the Cemetery of Anacletus these
extracts are taken, describes the scene of the interment of these
sad remains of the martyrs in the games of Nero. We quote a passage
specially bearing on this strange and wonderful “find,” where, after
describing what took place in the famous games, he went on thus:

“The horrible scene drew to a close at last; the _living_ torches,
burning slowly, flickered and went out, leaving but a heap of ashes
and half-burnt flesh behind them; the crowds of sightseers wended
their way back to the city, and silence fell again on the gardens of
Nero. Then there crept out through the darkness, within the circus and
along the paths of the gardens, a fresh crowd--men and women, maidens
and even little children, taking every one of them as they went their
lives in their hands, for detection meant a cruel death on the morrow;
eager to save what they could of the relics of the martyrs: bones that
had been gnawed by dogs and wild beasts; ashes and half-burnt flesh,
and other sad remnants, all of them precious indeed in the sight of
their brethren who are left, relics that must not be lost.... Close
by the circus, on the other side of the Via Aurelia, some Christians
had already a tiny plot of ground available for purposes of burial.
There on the morrow, in a great chest of stone, were deposited all the
remains that could be collected; for it was out of the question to keep
them separate one from another.” It was the beginning of the Vatican
Cemetery, hereafter to become so famous. “ ... More than 1600 years
afterward, when the excavations were being made for the new baldachino
over the altar tomb of S. Peter himself, the sad relics of this first
great persecution were brought to light. But they were not disturbed,
and still rest in the place where they were originally laid, where now
rises above them the glorious dome of the first Church of Christendom.”

In the memoranda on the third foundation there is nothing of very
special interest to note.

On the fourth foundation Ubaldi wrote the following strange and
peculiarly interesting note: “Almost at the level of the pavement
there was found a coffin made of fine and large slabs of marble....
This coffin was placed, just as were the others which were found on
the other side, within the circle of the presbytery, in such a manner
that they were all directed towards the altar like spokes toward the
centre of a wheel. Hence it was evident with how much reason this
place merited the name of ‘the Council of Martyrs.’ ... These bodies
surrounded S. Peter just as they would have done when living at a synod
or council.”

These apparently were the remains of the first Bishops or Popes of
Rome, for whom Anacletus made special provision when he arranged this
earliest of cemeteries. Their names are, Linus whose coffin lies apart
but still close to the apostle’s tomb, Anacletus, Evaristus, Sixtus I,
Telesphorus, Hyginus, Pius I, Eleutherius, and Victor. Victor was laid
in this sacred spot in the year of grace 203. After him no Bishop of
Rome was interred in the Cemetery of Anacletus on the Vatican Hill.
Originally of but small dimensions, by that date it was filled up, and
the successors of Pope Victor, we know, were interred in a chamber
appropriated to them in the Cemetery of S. Callistus in the great
Catacomb so named on the Appian Way.

The other interments in the sacred Vatican Cemetery in the immediate
neighbourhood of the apostle’s tomb--some of the more notable of
which have been noticed in our little extracts from the Ubaldi
Memoranda--were apparently the bodies or the sad remains of martyrs of
the first and second centuries of the Christian era, or in a few cases
of distinguished confessors of the Faith whose names and story are
forgotten, but to whom Prudentius (quoted on p. 216) has alluded.

There is an invaluable record of what lies beneath the high altar and
the western part of the great Mother Church of Christendom.

In a rare plan of this Cemetery of the Vatican drawn by Benedetto
Drei, Master Mason of Pope Paul V, which apparently was made during
the period of the first discoveries under Paul V, some time between
A.D. 1607 and 1615, and which has received certain later corrections
no doubt after the second series of discoveries consequent upon the
excavations for the foundations in the neighbourhood of the tomb of S.
Peter, for the great bronze baldachino of Bernini in the days of Pope
Urban VIII, about A.D. 1626.

This plan of Drei is most valuable, though not accurate in detail. It
marks the position of some of the graves which were found, but not of
all that were disclosed in the second series of discoveries under Urban
VIII. It was not issued until A.D. 1635. This later date explains the
corrections which have been inserted.

PART II

TWO EXAMPLES OF RECENT DISCOVERIES

CRYPT OF S. CECILIA--THE BURIAL-PLACES OF S. FELICITAS, OF
JANUARIUS, AND OF HER OTHER SONS

Out of the many pages of Catacomb lore, the story of the Crypt of
S. Cecilia and its recent discovery, and the identification of the
burial-places of S. Felicitas and her seven sons, have been selected
to be told here as specially interesting examples of the historical
and theological importance of these investigations among the forgotten
cemeteries of subterranean Rome.

Allard’s words in his edition of Northcote and Brownlow’s exhaustive
résumé of a portion of De Rossi’s monumental work, deserve quoting.
Writing of S. Cecilia, he says:

“Les découvertes modernes l’ont bien vengée du scepticisme ou
de la prudence excessive de Tillemont: on sait aujourd’hui que
Sainte Cecile n’est ni un mythe, ni une martyre venue de Sicile,
mais une vraie Romaine, du plus pur sang romain; sa noble et
gracieuse figure est décidément sortie des brumes de la légende
pour entrer dans le plein jour de l’histoire.”

The “Acts” of her martyrdom in their present form are probably not
older than the fifth century, although S. Cecilia suffered in the
reign of the Emperor Marcus Antoninus, _circa_ A.D. 177. But
these “Acts” are undoubtedly very largely based upon a contemporaneous
record: the recent discoveries have enabled historical criticism fairly
to restore what was original in the story of the martyr.

Cecilia was a noble Roman lady, who belonged to a family of senatorial
rank; her father apparently was a pagan, or if a Christian at all was
a man of the world rather than an earnest believer, for he gave his
daughter in marriage to a young patrician, one Valerianus, a pagan,
but a pagan of the highest character. Cecilia was a devoted Christian:
at once she induced her husband and his brother Tiburtius to abjure
idolatry. Accused of Christianity at a moment when the Government
of the Emperor Marcus was determined to stamp out the fast-growing
religion of Jesus, the two brothers were condemned to death, and they
suffered martyrdom in company with the Roman officer who presided at
their execution, and who, beholding the constancy of the two young
patricians, embraced the faith which had enabled them to witness their
good confession.

Cecilia shared in their condemnation. The Government, however, dreading
the example of the death of so prominent a personage in Roman society,
determined to put her to death as privately as possible. She was
doomed to die in her own palace. The furnaces which heated the baths
were heated far beyond the usual extent, and Cecilia was exposed to
the deadly and suffocating fumes. These failed in their effect: after
being exposed in her chamber for a night and a day to these fumes, she
was still living, apparently unharmed. The Prefect of the city, who
was in charge of Cecilia’s execution, then gave orders to a lictor to
decapitate the young Christian lady who persistently refused to abjure
her religion.

There is nothing improbable in the story, which goes on to relate
how the executioner, unnerved with his grim task, inflicted three
mortal wounds, but Cecilia, though dying, yet breathed and preserved
consciousness.

The Roman law forbade more than three strokes with the sword, and she
lived on for two days and nights, during which long protracted agony
she was visited by her friends, among whom was a Bishop Urbanus, not
the Urbanus Bishop of Rome, as the “Acts” with some confusion tell us,
but another Urbanus, probably a prelate of some smaller see.

After she had passed away, her body with all care and reverence was
laid in a sepulchral chamber which subsequently became part of the
great Cemetery of Callistus. The martyr was interred evidently in
a vault or crypt which belonged to her illustrious family; several
inscriptions belonging to Christian members of the gens Cæcilia have
been found in the immediate vicinity of S. Cecilia’s grave. Less than
a quarter of a century after her martyrdom, the subterranean cemetery
in which the Cæcilian vault was situated became part of the general
property of the Roman congregations. Callistus, afterwards Bishop of
Rome, held a high office under Bishop Zephyrinus, and he was set over
the cemetery, which was subsequently called after him, the Cemetery of
Callistus. At the beginning of the third century--as in the Vatican
Crypt, where the earliest Bishops of Rome had been deposited round the
body of S. Peter, there was no more room for interments--Callistus
arranged the sepulchral chamber known as the Papal Crypt to be the
official burying-place of the Bishops of Rome. The chamber in which S.
Cecilia was laid was close by this Papal Crypt. De Rossi graphically
expresses this: “Ce n’est donc pas sainte Cecile qui fut enterrée parmi
les Papes, c’est elle au contraire qui fit aux Papes du III^{me} siècle
les honneurs de sa demeure funèbre.” (From Allard.)

* * * * *

We will trace the story of the celebrated Roman saint through the ages.

The statement contained in the “Acts of S. Cecilia” of her interment
in the Cemetery of S. Callistus no doubt is accurate, although the
hand of a somewhat later “redactor” is manifest, for the cemetery only
obtained its title of “Callistus” some thirty years after the martyrdom
of the saint. S. Cecilia at once seems to have won a prominent place
among the martyrs and confessors of the persecution of Marcus Aurelius.
This is accounted for not only by the dramatic scenes which a generally
accepted tradition tells us were the accompanying features of her
passion, but also by the high rank and position of the sufferer and her
generous bequest to the Roman congregations.

Towards the close of the fourth century S. Cecilia’s crypt was among
the popular sanctuaries specially cared for by Pope Damasus, much
of whose work is still, in spite of centuries of neglect, clearly
visible. Damasus’ work here was by no means confined to decoration,
but included elaborate arrangements for the visits of pilgrims to the
shrine, such as a special staircase and considerable masonry work to
secure the walls and approaches. Somewhat later, Pope Sixtus III,
A.D. 432-40, continued and amplified the decoration and constructive
improvements of his predecessor Damasus.

The decorations and paintings of this crypt, as at present visible,
clearly date from the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries. De
Rossi considers that the existence of these successive decorations,
and the fact that various works, constructive as well as ornamental,
were evidently at different epochs executed here, tell us that this is
an historic sepulchral chamber highly venerated by many generations of
pilgrim visitors.

From very early times, most probably from the days of the Emperor
Marcus, there has been a church traditionally constructed on the site
of an ancient house, the house of the martyr Valerian, Cecilia’s
husband. Recent investigations, have gone far to substantiate the
ancient tradition, for beneath the existing Church of S. Cecilia
portions of an important Roman house of the second century have come to
light.

The church, originally a private house of prayer, at a very remote
period became a public basilica. It had fallen into a ruinous
condition, and was rebuilt by Pope Paschal I in the ninth
century. This restoration of the old basilican church no doubt
suggested to Paschal his inquiry after the remains of the loved martyr
in whose memory the church had been originally dedicated. The dramatic
and well-authenticated story of the finding of the body by Paschal is
as follows:

The great translation of the remains of the 2300 martyrs and confessors
from the catacombs into the city for the sake of protecting these
precious relics from barbarian pillage took place in the days of Pope
Paschal I (ninth century). When this translation was going
on, Paschal made an inquiry after the burying-place of S. Cecilia.
Although the lengthy entry in the _Liber Pontificalis_ makes no mention
of any special reason for this investigation, there is no doubt but
that the restoration work which was being carried on at the basilica
of the saint across the Tiber suggested it to the Pope. The tomb of
the famous saint could not be found, although for centuries it had
been emphatically alluded to in several of the Pilgrim Itineraries,
and in the yet more ancient “Guide,” subsequently copied by William of
Malmesbury several centuries later.

[Illustration: A REPLICA OF MADERNO’S EFFIGY OF S. CECILIA--AS SHE WAS
FOUND--IS IN THE NICHE OF THE S. CALLISTUS CATACOMB CHAMBER--WHERE THE
BODY ORIGINALLY WAS DEPOSITED]

It was about the year of grace 821, after long and fruitless searching
for the lost tomb, and when he had come to the conclusion that the
body of S. Cecilia had been carried away probably by Astolphus and
the Lombards in their destructive raids, and that the tomb had been
destroyed, that Pope Paschal early one morning, while listening to the
singing of the Psalms in the great Vatican Basilica, fell asleep; as
he slept he saw the form of a saint in glory; she disclosed her name,
“Cecilia,” and told him where[133] to look for her tomb.

Acting upon the words of the saint in the vision, he found at once the
lost tomb, and when the coffin of cypress wood was opened, the body
of Cecilia was seen unchanged, still wrapped in the gold-embroidered
robe in which she had been clothed when her loving friends laid her to
rest after her martyrdom, with the linen cloths stained with her blood
folded together at her feet.

She lay in the position in which she had passed away. Those who had
buried her, left her thus--not lying upon the back like a body in a
tomb, but upon the right side, with her knees drawn together and her
face turned away--her arms stretched out before her. In her touching
and graceful attitude she seemed as though she was quietly sleeping.

Just as he found her, in the same coffin with the robe of golden
tissue and the blood-stained linen folded by her feet, Pope Paschal
reverently deposited her in a crypt beneath the altar of her church in
the Trastevere district, simply covering the body with a thin veil of
silk.

Nearly eight hundred years after (A.D. 1599), Sfondrati,
titular Cardinal of the Church, while carrying out some works of
restoration and repair in this ancient Church of S. Cecilia, came upon
a large crypt under the high altar. In the crypt were two ancient
marble sarcophagi. Responsible witnesses were summoned, and in their
presence the sarcophagi were carefully opened. In one of these the body
of S. Cecilia lay just as it had been seen eight centuries before by
Pope Paschal I--in the same pathetic attitude, robed in gold
tissue with the linen cloths blood-stained at her feet.

Every care was taken by the reigning Pope Clement VIII to
provide careful witnesses of this strange discovery; among these were
the famous scholars Cardinal Baronius and Bosio; the greatest artist of
the day, Stefano Maderno, was summoned to view the dead saint and to
execute the beautiful marble portrait which now lies in the recess of
the Confession beneath the high altar of the well-known church in the
Trastevere at Rome. In an inscription, Maderno, the artist, tells how
he saw Cecilia lying incorrupt and unchanged in her tomb, and how in
the marble he has represented the saint just as he saw her.[134]

The second sarcophagus found by Cardinal Sfondrati in the crypt of the
Church of S. Cecilia beneath the high altar, was also opened by him. It
was found to contain the bodies of three men, who had clearly suffered
violent deaths--two of them had been decapitated, and the third had
evidently been beaten to death by a horrible means of torture sometimes
used--the “plumbatæ”--leathern or metal thongs loaded with lead; one of
these, which evidently had been used in the death-scene of a martyr,
was found in a crypt of this cemetery. These three were no doubt the
remains of SS. Valerianus (the patrician husband of S. Cecilia),
Tiburtius his brother, and the Roman officer Maximus, whose remains,
brought no doubt by Pope Paschal I from the Prætextatus Cemetery where
we know they had been interred, were deposited by him in the crypt of
the Church of S. Cecilia close to the body of the famous martyr with
whom they were so closely and gloriously connected.

The story of the discovery and certain identification of the original
sepulchral chamber of S. Cecilia is vividly told by De Rossi with
great detail. It was one of his important “finds.” With the tradition
before him--with the clear references in the pilgrim traditions--the
great archæologist was sure that somewhere in the immediate vicinity of
the sepulchral chamber of the Popes or Bishops of Rome of the third
century, must be sought the crypt where S. Cecilia lay for more than
six centuries.

First he discovered that adjoining the official Papal Crypt was another
chamber, evidently of considerable size, in which a luminare[135] had
been constructed, but the chamber and the luminare were choked up with
earth and ruins. He proceeded to excavate the latter; as the work
proceeded, the explorers in the neighbourhood of the chamber came upon
the remains of paintings.

Lower down, almost on the level of the chamber, these paintings
became more numerous and more distinct. The work of digging out went
on slowly; more paintings had evidently once decorated that ruined
and desolate chamber of death--one of them, a woman richly dressed,
obviously represented S. Cecilia. Another of a bishop inscribed with
the name of S. Urbanus, the bishop connected with the story of the
saint. The paintings were of different dates, some as late as the
seventh century. A door which once led into the Papal Crypt was found:
remains of much and elaborate decorative work were plainly discerned,
work of various ages, belonging some of it to the fifth, sixth, and
seventh centuries.

In one of the walls of the chamber a large opening had been originally
constructed to receive the sarcophagus of the martyr.

All showed clearly that this had once been a very famous historic
crypt, the resort of many generations of pilgrims, and its situation
answered exactly to what we read in the Pilgrim Itineraries, in the
_Liber Pontificalis_, and in other ancient authorities as the situation
of the original burying-place of S. Cecilia. The subjects, too, of the
dim discoloured paintings pointed to the same conclusion.

In the immediate neighbourhood of the sepulchral chamber De Rossi
counted some twelve or thirteen inscriptions telling of Christian
members of the “gens Cæcilia” who had been buried there--all testifying
to the fact that originally this portion of the great group of the
so-called “Callistus” Catacomb was the property of the noble house in
question, and that probably at an early date it had been made over to
the Christian Church in Rome. The saint and martyr therefore had been
laid amidst the graves of other members of her family.[136]

In the chain of testimony which has been brought together one link
seems to call for an elucidation. How is it that Pope Paschal
I failed at first to discover the sepulchral chamber of S.
Cecilia, considering it lay so close to the famous Papal Crypt, and
in fact communicated with it? The answer is that no doubt at some
time previous to his research the crypt of S. Cecilia had certainly
been “walled up,” “earthed up,” or otherwise concealed to protect
this revered sanctuary from the prying eyes and sacrilegious hands of
Lombards and other barbarian raiders. It must be remembered that for
centuries the tomb of S. Cecilia had been one of the principal objects
of veneration in this great cemetery. Signs of this later work of
concealment were also discovered by De Rossi.

De Rossi, in his summing up, comes to the conclusion that no doubt
whatever rests upon the identification of the original burying-place
of S. Cecilia, and that the sepulchral chamber discovered by him
adjoining the Papal Crypt was the spot where her sarcophagus lay for
centuries--the actual chamber which was subsequently adorned and made
accessible by Pope Damasus; which was further decorated by several of
his successors in the papacy; and which was visited and venerated by
successive generations of pilgrims from all lands.

In the ninth century the sarcophagus containing the sacred remains was
translated as we have seen by Pope Paschal I, and brought to
the ancient Basilica of S. Cecilia in the Trastevere, where it has
rested securely ever since. In the year 1699 it was seen and opened
and its precious contents inspected by Pope Clement VIII, by
Cardinal Sfondrati, by Cardinal Baronius, by Bosio and others, as we
have related.

After the translation in the ninth century, the original crypt, in
common with so many of the catacomb sanctuaries, was deserted and
allowed to go to ruin--utterly forgotten until De Rossi rediscovered it
and reconstructed its wonderful history.

Writing in the earlier years of the twentieth century, Marucchi, the
follower and pupil of De Rossi, in his latest work on the Catacombs,
reviews and fully endorses the conclusions of his great master on the
question of the tradition of S. Cecilia’s tomb.

What we stated at the beginning of this little study is surely amply
verified. S. Cecilia and her story no longer belong to mere vague and
ancient tradition, but live in the pages of scientific history.

III

We will cite another example, and a yet more striking one, of the light
thrown by the witness of the catacombs on important questions which
have been gravely disputed, in connection with the history of the very
early years of Christianity.

Ecclesiastical historians of the highest rank have gravely doubted
the truth of the story of the martyrdom of S. Felicitas and her seven
sons[137] in the days of the Emperor Marcus about the middle of the
second century. The splendid constancy in the faith of the mother and
of her hero sons, in the opinion of these grave and competent critics
was a recital almost entirely copied from the record of the Maccabean
mother and her seven brave sons, and so the Passion of S. Felicitas and
her sons has been generally consigned to the shelf of early legendary
Christian history; few historians would venture to quote as genuine
this pathetic and inspiring chapter of the persecution of the Emperor
Marcus. It is regarded as a piece of literature, devised in the sixth
century or even later, and quite outside serious history.

But recent investigations in the great subterranean city of the Roman
dead have completely changed this commonly held view, and the episode
in question must now take its place among the acknowledged Christian
records of the middle of the second century. She belonged to the ranks
of the great ladies of Rome; her husband, of whom we know nothing,
was dead, but Felicitas and her sons were well known in the Christian
community of the capital, where she was distinguished for her earnest
and devoted piety.

Her high rank gave her considerable influence, and she was in
consequence dreaded by the pagan pontiffs. These high officials, aware
of the Emperor Marcus Antoninus’ hostility to the Christians, laid
an information against the noble Christian lady as belonging to the
unlawful religion. They represented her as stirring up the wrath of the
immortal gods by her powerful influence among the people. Marcus at
once directed the Prefect of the city, Publius, to see that Felicitas
and her sons sacrificed in public to the offended deities. This was in
the year of grace 162.

The “Acts of the Passion,” from which we are quoting here, no doubt
with very little change represent the official notes or _procès-verbal_
of the interrogatory at the trial.

The Prefect Publius at first with great gentleness urged her to
sacrifice, and then finding her obdurate, threatened her with a public
execution.

Finding persuasion and threats of no avail, Publius urged her,
“If she found it pleasant to die, at least to let her sons live.”
Felicitas replied that they would most certainly live if they refused
to sacrifice to idols, but if they did sacrifice, they would surely
die--eternally.

The public trial subsequently took place in the open Forum; again the
Roman magistrate urged the mother to be pitiful to her sons, still in
the flower of their youth, but the brave confessor, turning to the
young men, told them to look up to heaven--there Christ with His saints
was waiting for them: “Fight,” she said, “my sons, the good fight for
your souls.”

The young men in turn were placed before him. The Prefect in the
name of the Emperor offered them each a splendid guerdon and coveted
privileges at the Imperial court if they would only consent to
sacrifice publicly to the gods of Rome. One and all of the seven
refused, preferring to die with their noble mother, choosing the other
guerdon, the alternative guerdon offered in the name of the great
Emperor, the fearful and shameful deaths to which an openly professing
Christian in the days of Marcus was condemned by the stern Roman law.

The interrogatory and the noble answers of mother and sons as contained
in the “Acts of the Passion of S. Felicitas,” are at once a stirring
and pathetic recital.

The final condemnation naturally followed. The death sentences were
confirmed by the Emperor, and sternly carried out.

Felicitas and her seven sons suffered martyrdom,[138] and through pain
and agony passed to their rest and bliss in the Paradise of their
adored Master Christ.

Around these “Acts” a continual war of criticism has been waged: the
question has by no means as yet been positively decided.

Tillemont hesitatingly expresses an opinion that they have not all
the characteristics of genuine “Acts.” Bishop Lightfoot is yet more
positive in his view that they are not authentic. Aubé repeats a
similar judgment. On the other hand, De Rossi, Borghesi, and Doulcet
accept them as genuine. But all are agreed that they are very ancient.
The interrogatory portion is no doubt a verbatim extract from the
original _procès-verbal_.

The piece appears to have been originally largely written in Greek,
but Gregory the Great, who refers to it, speaks of another and better
text which we do not possess. One striking indication of its great
antiquity is that no mention is made of the tombs of the martyrs. Had
these “Acts” dated even from the fifth century this would not have been
omitted, for in the fifth century the martyrdoms had obtained great
celebrity.

A very early mention of these tombs, however, we find in the so-called
“Liberian” or “Philocalian” Catalogue, which was partly composed or
put together not later than the year of grace 334. The alternative name
of the Catalogue is derived from Filocalus, the famous calligrapher of
Pope Damasus, who most probably was the compiler of the work, which
consists of several tracts chronological and topographical of the
highest interest, some originally doubtless composed at a very early
date. It contains, among other pieces, a Catalogue of Roman Bishops,
ending with Liberius, and a piece termed “Depositio Martyrum,” in which
the burying-places of the seven sons of Felicitas are carefully set
out. This ancient memorandum has been of the greatest assistance to De
Rossi and Marucchi in their identification of the original graves of
the “seven.”

When De Rossi had penetrated into the cemetery of Prætextatus on the
Appian Way, he came upon what was evidently a highly decorated chamber,
once lined with marble, and carefully built and ornamented. It was,
he saw, an historic crypt of the highest interest. The vault of the
chamber was painted, and the fresco decorations were still fairly
preserved. The paintings represented garlands of vines and laurels and
roses, executed with great taste and care; the style and execution
belonged to work which must be dated not later than the second century.
Below the beautifully decorated vault was a long fresco painting of the
Good Shepherd with sheep; one sheep was on his shoulders. This painting
has been sadly interfered with by a loculus, or grave, of later date,
probably of the fourth or fifth century; on the loculus in question
could still be read the following little inscription--perfect save for
the first few letters:

. . MI RIFRIGERI JANUARIUS AGATOPUS FELICISSIM
. . . MARTYRES

Some sixth-century Christians, anxious to lay their beloved dead close
to the martyrs, had caused the wall of the chamber to be cut away, for
the reception of the body, regardless of the painting, and then while
the plaster was still fresh had cut these words of prayer, which may
be translated, “May Januarius, Agatopus,[139] and Felicissimus refresh
(the soul of ...).” Agatopus and Felicissimus were two of the deacons
of Pope Sixtus II, who had (probably in the same catacomb)
suffered martyrdom, A.D. 258. Their sepulchral chambers were
subsequently identified.

The question at once presented itself to De Rossi--was not this
chamber ornamented with paintings clearly of the second century, the
crypt where S. Januarius had been laid? All doubt on this point was
subsequently cleared up, for eventually in many fragments the original
inscription which Pope Damasus had caused to be placed over the door or
near the altar was found. The inscription ran thus:

BEATISSIMO · MARTYRI
JANUARIO
DAMASUS · EPISCOP ·
FECIT

The body of S. Felicitas the mother was laid in the cemetery in the
Via Salaria Nova which bears her name. After the Peace of the Church
towards the end of the first quarter of the fourth century, a little
basilica was erected over the spot in the catacomb in question where
the remains of the martyred mother had been deposited. As late as
A.D. 1884, while digging the foundations of a house, the
little basilica was discovered--in Marucchi’s words, “on y reconnut
aussitôt le tombeau de S^{te} Felicité.” Paintings of the mother and
her sons adorn the walls. Beneath the basilica was a crypt in which the
Salzburg Itinerary tells us lay her youngest son S. Silanus: the words
of this Pilgrim Itinerary run thus: “Illa pausat in ecclesia sursum et
filius ejus sub terra deorsum.”

At the end of the eighth century Pope Leo III translated the
remains of the mother and son to the Church of S. Suzanna, near the
Baths of Diocletian, where they still rest.

In the Philocalian or Liberian Calendar, A.D. _circa_ 334, an
entry appears under the heading of “Depositio Martyrum,” telling how
two more of the seven martyred sons of Felicitas were buried in the
Cemetery of S. Priscilla, namely, SS. Felix and Philip.

After the Peace of the Church, the basilica subsequently known as S.
Sylvester was erected over a portion of the great Priscilla Cemetery,
and many of the bodies of the more famous martyrs were brought up from
the subterranean galleries and chambers and buried in conspicuous
places in the new Basilica of S. Sylvester; amongst these were the
remains of the two sons of Felicitas, SS. Felix and Philip. This is
carefully described in the Pilgrim Itineraries or Guides. These two
well-known martyrs were deposited under the high altar of S. Sylvester.
In the second Salzburg Itinerary, known as “De locis SS. Martyrum,”
they are thus specially mentioned: “S. Felicis [_sic_] unus de septem
et S. Philippus unus de septem,” and in William of Malmesbury, copying
from a much older Itinerary, we read, “Basilica S. Silvester ubi jacet
marmoreo tumulo co-opertus ... Martyres ... Philippus et Felix.”
Marucchi thinks he can point out the tomb in the subterranean crypt
where the two originally were laid.

The three remaining sons of Felicitas, namely, SS. Alexander, Vitalis,
and Martialis, were interred in the cemetery of the Jordani on the
Via Salaria Nova. This cemetery, owing to its state of ruin and
the difficulty of pursuing the excavating work, has only been very
partially explored; but Marucchi believes he has found a broken
inscription referring to “Alexander, one of the seven brothers.” It is
probable that other traces of the loculi of these three will come to
light when this large but comparatively little known catacomb, which
is in a very ruinous and desolate condition, is carefully examined: at
present large portions of it are quite inaccessible.

The second Salzburg Itinerary “De locis SS. Martyrum” specially guides
the pilgrim to tombs of these three thus: “propeque ibi” (alluding to
the Basilica of S. Chrysanthus and Daria built over a portion of the
Cœmeterium Jordani) “S. Alexander et S. Vitalis, sanctusque Martialis
qui sunt tres de septem filiis Felicitatis ... jacent.” William of
Malmesbury in his transcript of an ancient Itinerary also mentions
them, as do other of the Pilgrim Guides.

In the celebrated “Monza” Catalogue and in the “Pittacia,” or small
labels, belonging to the phials which contained a little of the sacred
oils which were burnt before the tombs of the more eminent confessors
and martyrs (the phials of oils which were sent by Pope Gregory the
Great (A.D. 590-604) to Theodelinda the Lombard Queen), the
names of Felicitas and six of her martyred sons occur.

In the “Pittacia” or labels they are grouped topographically together,
as we have given them above, Felicitas’ being in a separate label,
Januarius also in a separate label, then the two groups together as
above, the “two” and the “three.” There is a reason for S. Silanus,
who was buried with his mother in the cemetery named after her, being
absent from this “Monza” Catalogue, and from the labels on the phials
of oil. His body, as the “Liberian” Catalogue informs us, was missing
for a season from its original loculus, it having been stolen away, but
was subsequently recovered and replaced.

The suspicion of the legendary character of the story of the martyrdom
of S. Felicitas and her seven sons is largely traceable to the
conclusions of some critical scholars (by no means of all) that the
“Acts of S. Felicitas” and her sons are not authentic, that is, that
they are not a contemporary piece, but were compiled at a somewhat
later and uncertain date. It is, however, by the most trustworthy of
these critics conceded that they are very ancient.

But granting these conclusions are accurate and that the “Acts,” in
the strict sense of the word, are not authentic, the circumstances
of the Passion and the martyrdom of the mother and her heroic sons
rest on other authorities outside and quite independent of the
“Acts”--authorities of the highest value and absolutely unquestioned.

Of these the testimony of the catacomb tombs of the mother and her
seven sons, a somewhat novel witness, is the one we have especially
brought forward here.

It is an evidence unchangeable, and which admits of no subsequent
revision or addition. In its special department it is perhaps the
strongest piece of testimony that can be brought forward, and much of
this strange unexpected witness was unknown until quite lately--until
these forgotten cemeteries were partially explored by competent and
indefatigable scholars of our own day and time.

There are, besides, other important “pieces,” which for want of space
have not been quoted here, bearing on the same subject, namely, on
the historical existence of S. Felicitas and her seven sons, and their
brave witness and consequent martyrdom in the days of the Emperor
Marcus Antonius, such as, inscriptions of Pope Damasus, a homily in
honour of S. Felicitas by Pope Gregory the Great, and a laudatory
notice by S. Peter Chrysologus, Archbishop of Ravenna, A.D.
433-54, etc.

PART III

EPITAPHS AND INSCRIPTIONS FOUND IN THE CATACOMBS

In this section we will give at some length what these (same) catacombs
tell us of the _thoughts_ of the early Christian congregations on some
of the more important problems dealing with death and with the life
beyond the grave, and incidentally with the early Christian view on the
question of the communion of saints.

The scanty remains of the literature of this early period, as we have
already hinted, valuable though they are, partake rather of the nature
of scholars’ researches and conclusions. What we find painted and
graved on the million graves of this vast subterranean God’s Acre tells
us in simple popular language exactly what the Christian folk, who
lived and worked and suffered in the two centuries which followed the
martyrdom of SS. Peter and Paul, thought and felt on these momentous
points.

The graves in this silent city, perhaps numbering some three, four, or
even five millions, belong to all ages, to every rank and order. There
are crypts containing the remains of members of the Imperial family,
of men and women of senatorial and of the most exalted rank among the
proud patrician houses. There are graves of merchants and traders,
of the very rich, of the very poor; there are innumerable graves of
freedmen, of the vast class too of the sad-eyed slave.

Here, too, are not a few tombs of men and women who gave up all,
even dear life, for the Name’s sake, and who, because they professed
unswerving faith in the divine Son of God, through pain and agony
passed to their rest in the Paradise of God.

Some of the ruined graves were once strikingly adorned; very many of
them being made of costly marbles and beautifully decorated, while
around these sepulchral memorials of the great and wealthy are found
numberless graves roughly though lovingly fashioned.

Of the epitaphs and inscriptions carved and painted on these graves,
some are exquisitely worked, evidently by professional artists. Many
more, however, were rudely and hurriedly painted or scratched on the
plaster or stone tablet which closed in the shelf in the wall in which
the dead was laid.

The inscriptions are for the most part in Latin, but in the first
and in much of the second century the words are often in Greek. In
some instances the two languages are curiously mingled, the epitaph
beginning in one tongue and ending in another: occasionally the Latin
words are written in Greek characters.

Various corrupt ways of spelling are not unusual, the ordinary rules of
grammar are not unfrequently broken. Indeed, as is observable in some
of the Latin poetry of the early Christian centuries where the rules
of classical prosody are ignored, so here in the prose used by the
children of the people a similar disregard of language and spelling is
observable. It was the beginning of the popular patois which eventually
crystallized into modern Italian.

There is a curious and interesting difference between the epitaphs of
the catacombs written when Christianity was a proscribed religion, when
those who embraced it were liable to more or less bitter persecution,
and the epitaphs of the latter years of the fourth as of the following
centuries. Men wrote in those first three Christian centuries in the
dark and lonely corridors and chambers where their loved dead were
laid, not for any human eye to read, save their own when they visited
that sacred God’s Acre,--just a name--or an emblem of their dearest
hopes, a little picture of the Good Shepherd and His sheep, a word
or two of sure hope and joyous confidence in the eternal future--and
nothing more. Very short, very simple, very touching are these early
Christian epitaphs. The great and noble set out no pompous statement of
the rank and position of their dead: we read little of the piety and
goodness of the many saintly ones whose remains rested in those long
silent corridors.

But in the cemeteries (mostly above ground) of the last years of
the fourth and in the following centuries, when the Church enjoyed
peace, and when a different spirit brooded over the works and days of
Christians, we begin to meet with those foolish tasteless phrases which
as time went on became more and more in fashion, telling of the dead
one’s rank and position, of the goodness and holiness and devotion of
the deceased.

Dean Stanley quotes an epitaph in the cloisters of his loved Abbey of
Westminster, which he says reminded him of the catacomb inscriptions in
a way which none other of the pompous and elaborate epitaphs in that
noble English home of the great dead had done. It is of a little girl,
and runs thus:

“Jane Lister · deare childe.”

The first and most prominent feature in the life of the Christians of
the first three centuries which the inscriptions of the catacombs make
clear to us was their intense conviction of the reality of the future
life.

The epitaphs speak of the dead as though they were still living. They
_talk_ to the dead. They felt that there was a communion still existing
with them--between them and the survivors--a communion carried on under
new conditions, and finding its consolation in incessant mutual prayer.

They were assured that the soul of the departed was united with the
saints--that it was with God, and in the enjoyment of peace, happiness,
rest; so often the little epitaph breathes a humble and loving prayer
that they, the survivors, might soon be admitted to a participation
in these blessings. Sometimes the survivors invoked the help of the
prayers of the departed, since they knew that the soul of the departed
lived in God and with God; they thought that the prayers of a soul in
the presence of God would be a help--must be a help--to those whose
time of trial was not yet ended.

Dr. Northcote well summarizes all this: “In a word, they realized
most intensely that all the faithful, whether in the body or out of
the body, were still living members of one mystical body, the body of
Christ; that they formed one great family, knit together in the closest
bonds of love; and that this love, stronger than death, had its proper
work and happiness in prayer--prayer of the survivors for those who had
gone before, prayer of the blessed for those who were left behind.”
(_Epitaphs of the Catacombs_, chap. v.)

This deeply rooted belief in the life beyond the grave; this intense
conviction that the division between this life and the life beyond
the grave does not sever the claim of affection and love, never
interrupt--no, not for an hour--the interchange of loving offices.

We will quote a very few of the older epitaphs painted or graved upon
the marble or stone tablet or on the thick plaster-work which closed in
the shelf in which the dead were deposited.

On some of these tablets we read simply the name of the dead; on others
the name is accompanied with a Christian emblem, such as an anchor,
the mystic fish, the ἰχθύς--each letter of which refers closely to the
Saviour: (ι) Jesus, (χ) Christ, (θ) God, (ύ) the Son, (ς) the Saviour;
the palm branch, the token of the victory over death; the dove, symbol
of a Christian soul, occasionally of the Holy Ghost; this dove or
bird was a favourite emblem of the soul, the idea being that the soul
resembled a bird of passage dwelling for a season here and then flying
away beyond the seas to a brighter, serener home. Very often we come
upon the figure of the Good Shepherd, sometimes with a lamb in His arms.

De Rossi tells us how he had studied over fifteen thousand of these
epitaphs, and that every year about five hundred more were deciphered.
We will copy a very few of these:

“To dear Cyriacus--sweetest son--Mayest thou live in the Holy
Spirit.”

“Matronata--who lived a year and 32 days--Pray for thy parents.”

“Bolosa--may God refresh thee--In Christ.”

“Sweet Faustina--mayest thou live in God.”

“Peace to thy soul, Oxycholis.”

“Agape, thou shalt live for ever.”

“Filumena--thy spirit is in peace.”

“Baccis, sweet soul in the peace of the Lord, a virgin--Her
father to his sweetest daughter.”

“Victorina is in Peace and in Christ.”

“Amerinus to his dearest wife Rufina; may God refresh thy
spirit.”

“His parents made this for their good and sweetest son Felix....
May Christ receive thee in peace.”

“Porcella sleeps here in peace.”

“Severa; mayest thou live in God.”

“Farewell, my dear one, in peace with the Holy souls; Farewell
in Christ.”

Never a word of sorrow on these graves of the dead--never a word of
repining--never a regret that they have been taken away. Only just a
few words telling of their sure hope for their dear ones, and a prayer
to God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit to keep them in their loving
guardianship.

[Illustration: SEPULCHRAL INSCRIPTIONS FROM THE ROMAN CATACOMBS]

We must dwell a little on the question of the testimony which these
epitaphs of the first age of Christianity bear on the practice of
the living asking for the _help_ of those who had passed within the
veil. There is no doubt but that at a later period and all through the
Middle Ages this was the practice, and it has led to results which true
theologians generally deplore. The question here is--How far was this
the practice of the Church of the first days?

Now there is no doubt whatever but that the mediæval Church from
very early times taught that the prayers of great saints possessed
a peculiar efficacy, and in the uneducated mind this shaded into
something like a belief that these saints possessed some actual power
of themselves to interfere in and to influence human affairs. We shall
presently quote some of S. Augustine’s views here.

In the case, however, of the early Christians whose thoughts are
reflected in their great City of the Dead, the case was very different.
They believed so intensely in the continuance of life after death that
they maintained their communion with the departed by an interchange of
prayers.

S. Cyprian, a great theologian and a cautious teacher, believed that
the blessed dead were anxious for those whom they had left behind. Now,
granting that this was the common feeling of Christians in respect to
their dear dead ones whom they believed were dwelling close to God and
His Christ, we can well conceive how natural it was for them to ask
them for their prayers--for were they not dwelling close to God and His
Christ to Whom their prayers must be addressed? Thus in the Church of
the first two hundred and fifty years this communion, largely made up
of the constant interchange of prayer between the living and the dead,
rested on this family and friendship bond, and on no other. The formal
invocation of saint and martyr as of some specially powerful soul
belongs to a later date. It was not the teaching, certainly not the
_general_ teaching, of the Church of the catacombs.

But even in the catacombs it appears that very soon the custom crept
in of crowding round the grave of some famous martyr, as though some
special virtue belonged to the spot where the saint’s remains had been
deposited; and the little chamber where the hallowed remains of a
hero or heroine of the faith lay, was soon filled with graves--graves
excavated utterly without any regard to the paintings or decorations
which adorned the chamber and its original tomb, paintings and
decorations which were ruthlessly cut away to make room for new
loculi where the dead might rest close to the remains of the saint or
martyr.[140]

The point, however, which especially concerns us here is the testimony,
repeated many thousand times, which the catacombs bear to the
perfect confidence of the early Christians in the continuance of life
beyond the grave. To the faithful dead--to the believers in Jesus
Christ--there was no break caused by death, for them life went on as
it had done aforetime; conscious life went on after death, only under
different and happier conditions.

To appreciate the striking change in the conception of death--the most
important event in the life of man on earth--it will be interesting to
glance at the testimony supplied in the same period by pagan epitaphs.
A very brief examination will suffice to show what an impassable gulf
separated the Christian from the pagan conception.

What at once catches our attention in any study of pagan epitaphs is
the complete want of any hope beyond the grave. All the elaborate pagan
pictures of the future life popularized in Greek circles by the Homeric
poems, and in Latin society by the exquisite verses of Vergil, when
brought face to face with the stern reality of the tomb are simply
blotted out--are treated as purely fables.

Death, in these pagan epitaphs, the true expressions of popular pagan
belief in the first three centuries of the Christian era, is ever
viewed as an enemy; is described as an everlasting sleep, and the grave
is represented as the last eternal home.

It has been well said that this melancholy idea was conveyed in the
quiet sadness of that one word “Vale,” or in the more impassioned
repetition of it, “Vale, Vale dulcissima--semper in perpetuo vale.”
Farewell, farewell, sweetest one--for ever farewell. Now and again a
favourite pagan formula was summed up in two words--“fuisti; vale.”

Some of the pagan epitaphs are playfully sarcastic, as: “Ah, weary
traveller, however far you may walk, you must come here at last.” Some
even make a mock at death, bidding others enjoy themselves while they
live. “Live for the present hour, drink and play, for you are sure of
nothing, only what you eat and drink is really yours.” “Fortune makes
many promises but keeps none of them; live then for the present hour,
since nothing else is really yours.” Some epitaphs are bitter: “I lived
as I like, but I don’t know why I died.” “Here it is, so it is, nothing
else could be.”

Here an inscription on a young woman’s grave mourns her early death:
“I lift up my hands against the God who took me away at the age of
twenty, though I had done no harm.” A father thus grieves for the loss
of his child: “The fates judged ill when they robbed me of you.” Father
and mother often write themselves down as most wretched, most unhappy
(“miserrimi-infelicissimi”). Sometimes they use these sad and cheerless
terms of their dead children. Mothers now and again describe themselves
as “left to tears and groans,” or as “condemned to perpetual darkness
and daily sad lamentation.” Parents lament their dead child thus: “Our
hope was in our boy; now all is ashes and mourning.” Frequently these
mourn for their dead children as follows: “They have died without
having deserved it.” Another parent bewails the child’s death in these
terms: “Neither talent, nor amiability, nor loving winning ways, have
been of any avail to prolong the child’s days; in spite of all this, he
has become the foul prey of the cruel Pluto.”

On very many indeed of pagan tombs undoubtedly there is evidence of
much love and deep affection for the departed, but there is no gleam
of hope of reunion or of happiness in another life; indeed, as a rule,
there is no other life hinted at. If any venture to look beyond the
grave--which is rarely the case--all _beyond_ the grave is dark and sad
and melancholy.

The following words put into the mouth of a dead girl well voice this
general feeling: “Here I lie, unhappy girl, in darkness.” “Traveller,
curse me not as you pass,” moans another inscription, “for I am in
darkness and cannot answer.”

III

The wonderful change in popular feeling as shown in the Christian
epitaphs when contrasted with the pagan epitaphs of the same period is
indeed startling! What we read in the Roman City of the Dead tells us
something of the spirit which dwelt in these companies of believers in
the Name. This _something_ is sufficient to account for the new life
led by so many, for the superhuman courage displayed by the army of
martyrs and confessors, for the ultimate victory, some two hundred
years later, of the religion of Jesus.

We who live in what is perhaps the evening of the world’s story--we
mark the glowing words of the New Testament writings, the fervid
exhortations and noble resolves of men like Clement of Rome, Ignatius,
and Polycarp--the saintly teachings of great theologians like Irenæus,
Tertullian, and Cyprian.

And as we read, we feel that these writers were evidently intensely
persuaded of the truth of such sublime and soul-stirring assertions;
we know, too, that these writers and teachers lived the beautiful life
they taught,--that they died, many of them, with a smile on their lips
and a song in their hearts.

But what of the People--the common folk, the ordinary everyday citizen;
the slave and the little trader of the thousand cities of the Empire,
the soldier of Rome, and the patrician of Rome--what did _they_ think
of all this?--these new strange words, these sunlit hopes, these
glorious golden promises of the great teachers of Christianity?

The catacombs give us the answer. In quite late years, slowly,
painfully, the antiquary and the scholar have opened out the secrets
of the long-hidden City of the Dead which lies all round immemorial
Rome, and, thanks to their labours, from words and pictures graven and
painted on a million graves, comes to us, across the many centuries,
the answer with no uncertain voice.

Yes, the People--the slave and the trader, the soldier and the
noble--believed the words of the New Testament writings, and accepted
the teaching of the early Christian teachers, and believing, struggled
to lead the life the Master loved. None for a moment would dare to
doubt the mighty power of this strange weird testimony of a million
tombs; it is indeed a voice from a thousand graves.

Then, too, what may be termed the terminology, that is the words and
expressions used in these vast cemeteries for all that is connected
with death and burial, teaches the same truth--that for a believer in
the Name, all the gloom and dread and horror usually associated with
death are absent in these short epitaphs.

The catacomb inscriptions and pictures, besides their overwhelming
testimony to the belief of the early Christians in the continuance of
life after death, in the immortality of the soul, a testimony expressed
in a countless number of ways, bear their witness to some of the more
important dogmas of the Christian faith.

* * * * *

The extreme brevity of the inscriptions and the necessarily small
space allotted to the pictures and emblems graven and painted on the
sepulchral slabs, for the most part very small, of course preclude
anything like any complete enunciation even of the principal Articles
of the Christian faith: still what we find on these slabs tells us with
no uncertain voice in whom these early congregations believed, and to
whom these fervent prayers were addressed. Each of the Persons of the
ever-blessed Trinity are named in many of these epitaphs.

We find many instances of the formula of the ancient creeds, “In God
and in Christ.” This distinct enumeration of the two first Persons
of the Blessed Trinity bears witness to the Catholic faith of the
composers of the epitaphs.

Nor is the Third Person of the Trinity absent from these epitaphs. We
read on some for instance: “In the Holy Spirit of God”; “Mayest thou
live in the Holy Spirit.” Even the mention of all three Persons of the
Blessed Trinity has been found engraved on these sepulchral tablets.

What, however, is most striking in these early records of the belief
of the Christian congregation is the testimony they bear--a testimony
repeated an innumerable number of times--to the primitive belief in the
supreme Divinity of Jesus Christ. We find again and again such formulas
as “In the name of Christ”; “In God the Lord Christ”; “In God Christ”;
“The great God Christ” (“Deo Magno Christo”). In the earliest epitaphs
the most common symbol is the fish, painted, carved, or written at the
beginning or end of the epitaph, not as part of the sentence, but as
a complete formula in itself. Now this was a declaration of faith in
“Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour”; the letters which form the Greek
word Ichthus, as we have explained, being the initials[141] of the
words of this formula.

There is no doubt that from the earliest times the _fish_ was an
acknowledged symbol of our Lord. It became at once a sacred “tessera”
or sign--quite unintelligible to the pagan and official world, but to
the believer a most precious symbol, containing with striking brevity
and yet with striking clearness, a complete précis, so to speak, of the
creed, a profession of facts as far as related to the Saviour.

* * * * *

The catacombs are full of Christ. It was to Him that the Christians
of the age of persecution ever turned: it was on Him they rested--in
gladness and in sorrow; in sickness and in health; in the days of
danger--and these were sadly numerous in the first two centuries and a
half--and in the hour of death. It was from His words they drew their
strength. In the consciousness of His ever-presence in their midst,
they suffered gladly for His sake. With His name on their lips they
died fearlessly, joyfully passing into the Valley of the veiled Shadow.
On the tablet of marble or plaster which closed up the narrow shelf
in the catacomb corridor where their poor remains were reverently,
lovingly laid, the dear name of Jesus was often painted or carved.

* * * * *

The catacombs are full of Christ. We have spoken several times of the
paintings on the walls and ceilings of the corridors and chambers.
There is great variety of these, the Old and New Testament supplying
the majority of subjects. But by far the favourite subject of
representation--certainly the leading type of Christian art in the
first days--was the figure of the “Good Shepherd.” It does not only
appear in the City of the Dead. It was often graved upon chalices used
in the holy Eucharist. It was traced in gold upon glass, it was moulded
upon lamps, it was carved upon rings. But it is to the catacombs that
we must go to find it in its most varied and pathetic forms--now
painted in fresco upon the walls of the corridors and chambers where
the dead lie so thickly; now roughly, now more carefully carved on
countless tablets; now sculptured upon the more costly sarcophagi.

Sometimes the Shepherd is represented with one sheep, at times with
several; some listening to His voice--some turning listlessly away.
We come upon it in a thousand places on the tombs themselves--in the
little chapels or oratories leading out of the corridors where the more
distinguished among the dead sleep. It is the favourite symbol of the
Christian life and faith.

This constantly recurring figure of the Good Shepherd with His sheep
in the catacombs throws much light on this deeply interesting and at
the same time important question--What were the thoughts of that early
Church in Rome respecting Christ and His teaching?

We must remember they lived very near the times when the greatest
figure in history lived on earth, and talked with men. We shall do well
to bear in mind that the first generation of these Roman Christians
were taught by Peter and by Paul, and that through most of the second
century men lived whose fathers must have seen and listened to these
great servants of the Divine Master, certainly to their immediate
disciples.

The form in which they loved best to think of this Almighty Saviour was
as “the great Shepherd of the sheep”--the Shepherd of the First Epistle
of S. Peter--the Shepherd of S. Luke and of S. John.[142]

A great and eloquent writer[143] in one of his most suggestive works
does not hesitate to speak of what he terms the popular religion of
the first Christians as the religion of “the Good Shepherd.” He says
they looked on that figure and it conveyed to them all they wanted. And
then he adds sorrowfully that “as ages passed on ‘the image of the Good
Shepherd’ faded away from the mind of the Christian world, and other
emblems of the Christian faith took the place of the once dearly loved
figure.”

“Instead of the good and gracious Pastor, there came the omnipotent
Judge, or the Crucified Sufferer, or the Infant in His mother’s arms,
or the Master in His parting Supper.”

All these later presentments of the Divine Saviour emphatically are
beautiful and true, but they are _not_ what the first Christians
especially dwelt on. These loved to think of Him first and chiefest as
“the Good Shepherd who gave His life for the sheep.”

Among the many pictured figures of the “Good Shepherd” in the catacomb
sepulchral galleries, the Shepherd is occasionally represented with a
kid or a goat in place of a sheep in His loving arms: “And other sheep
I have which are not of this fold. Them also I must bring, and there
shall be one fold, one shepherd.” The catacomb theology, as expounded
by the catacomb teachers, went beyond even these gracious words, when
it represented the creature on the shoulders of the Master, as not a
lamb but a kid--not a sheep but a goat. These Christians of the first
day were persuaded that their Master’s mission on earth was “not to
repel but to include, not to condemn but to save; they believed in His
tender compassion and boundless charity.”[144]

This sweet and loving view provoked the indignant remonstrance of the
stern Tertullian (_circa_ A.D. 200). On this harsh protest of
the great African Father Tertullian, Matthew Arnold founds one of his
most touching poems:

“He saves the sheep--the goats He doth not save:
So spake the fierce Tertullian.
But she sighed:
The infant Church, of love she felt the tide
Stream on her from her Lord’s yet recent grave,
And then she smil’d, and in the Catacombs,
With eye suffused, but heart inspired true,
She her Good Shepherd’s hasty image drew,
And on His shoulder not a lamb but kid.”

AN APPENDIX TO THE EPITAPHS, ETC., OF THE CATACOMBS

The wish to be buried in the immediate vicinity of a saint or
confessor, though perhaps especially marked in the subterranean
cemeteries of Rome, was not peculiar to the Christians of the very
early centuries. Many other instances could be quoted, from the days of
the old prophet of Bethel who wished his bones to lie beside the bones
of the man of God who came out of Judah (1 Kings xiii. 31) down to
King John, who is said to have requested that he might be interred at
Worcester directly between the bodies of SS. Oswald and Wulfstan.

S. Augustine’s _De curâ pro mortuis gerendâ_ is a peculiarly
interesting treatise. The great bishop discusses at some length this
question, and his words throw considerable sidelight upon the growing
practice of the invocation of saints.

The treatise, written about A.D. 421, was a reply to a question
addressed to him by S. Paulinus of Nola, a very saintly and devoted
man, but at the same time, in common with not a few holy men of his
time, superstitious and often sadly mistaken in his exaggerated
devotion to the noble army of martyrs who had played so well the part
of pioneers in the recent days of bitter persecution.

S. Paulinus had been asked by a certain widow to allow her son to be
buried in the church of the martyr S. Felix at Nola. He said he had
granted her prayer, believing that this longing desire of faithful
souls that their dear ones should be laid close to the remains of a
saint was based not merely on an illusion but on some real need of the
soul. But S. Paulinus evidently was uncertain here, so he asks the
great teacher Augustine--Did it really help one who was dead to be
buried near a saint?

S. Augustine’s reply on the whole was cautious: he remarked that if a
man had lived righteously, to be buried close to a saint could not
possibly be of any use to his soul; again, if his life had been evil,
it would be equally useless.

Everything connected with the burial of the dead, Augustine concluded,
has really more connexion with the survivors than with the dead. He
explains this connexion thus: “When we think of the spot where our
dear one lies, and that spot is in the immediate neighbourhood of the
grave of a saint, we think at once of the saint in question, and we
ask for his or her prayers for our dear dead one.” But if such prayers
be not asked for, Augustine sees no advantage in such a neighbourhood.
(Adjuvat defuncti spiritum, non mortui corporis locus, sed ex loci
memoria vivus affectus.)

The famous North African theologian then proceeds to discuss the
question: “How do martyrs help men?” He says: that they do help them
is certain; then, are these saints, through the virtue of the power
they possess, present in many places, or are they always dwelling in
the home allotted to them--far away from mortal dwellings, but at the
same time praying for those who ask for their intercession? And he
adds that, God hearing their prayers, through the ministry of angels,
grants at His good pleasure to those who have sought the prayers of the
saints, the consolations these saints ask for them.

This seems to be the substance of S. Augustine’s reply to S. Paulinus
of Nola, but he carefully guards his words by adding: “All this,”
namely, the extent of the power of saints who are dead, “is too lofty a
question for me to answer positively. It is too obscure.”

“I should like to ask the question of those who really know, for
possibly there is some one who possesses this knowledge,” curiously
added the great thinker and loving theologian.

BOOK V

THE JEW AND THE TALMUD

INTRODUCTORY

Among all the various evidential arguments adduced in support of the
truth of Christianity, many of them of a most weighty character and
capable of an almost indefinite expansion, the history of the Jewish
people, their wonderful past and their present condition, their
numbers, their books, their ever-growing influence in the world of
the twentieth century, must be considered as the most striking and
remarkable.

The Christianity of the first century was surely no new religion; it
was closely knit to, bound up with, the great Hebrew tradition. The
sacred Hebrew tradition was the first chapter--the preface, so to
speak--of the Christian revelation.

The early or pre-Christian details of the Jewish story are well known
and generally accepted. The Old Testament account of the Jewish race
historically is rarely disputed.

Less known and comparatively little regarded is the subsequent history
of the Chosen People; over the records of their fate, after the
final and complete separation of Judaism and Christianity, an almost
impenetrable mist settled, and the story of the fortunes of the remnant
of the Jews who survived the terrible exterminating wars of Titus and
Hadrian has been generally neglected by the historians of the great
Empire.

Very few have even cared to ask what happened to that poor remnant of
vanquished Jews: all that is commonly known is that a certain number
survived the great catastrophes, and that their scattered descendants,
in different lands, appear and reappear all through the Middle Ages--a
wandering and despised folk, generally hated and hating.

But these are still with us, and among us; that they occupy in our day
and time a peculiar, a unique position of power and influence which
they have gradually acquired in all grades of modern society in many
lands is now universally recognized.

This subsequent history of the fortunes of the Jewish people from the
dates of their final separation from the Christian community, and
the great catastrophes of the years of grace A.D. 70 and
A.D. 135, constitutes a piece of supreme importance in the
evidential history of the religion of Jesus; and yet, strange to say,
it is, comparatively speaking, unknown and neglected.

It will be seen, as the pages of this wonderful story are turned over,
how the guiding hand of the Lord, though in a different way, just as in
the far-back days of the desert wanderings, has been ever visible in
all the strange sad fortunes of the people, once the beloved of God.

The Jews of the twentieth century, numbering perhaps some ten or eleven
millions, although scattered over many lands, constitute a distinct
race, a separate people or nation. While during the Christian centuries
_all_ other races--peoples--nations--without a single exception have
become extinct, or have become fused and merged with other and newer
races and peoples, they, the Jews, have _alone_ preserved their
ancient nationality, their descent, their peculiar features, their
individuality, their cherished traditions--_absolutely intact_.

* * * * *

It does not seem ever to have been remarked that the rise and influence
of the great Rabbinic schools of Palestine and Babylonia, at Tiberias
and Jamnia, at Sura and Pumbeditha--schools devoted to the study of
the Torah (the Law) and the other books of the Old Testament, were
coincident with the rise and influence of the Gnostic schools, schools
in which the Old Testament was generally reviled and discredited. Is it
too much to assume that echoes from the great Rabbinic teaching centres
reached and sensibly influenced the Christian masters in their life and
death contest with Gnosticism, a contest in which the Old Testament,
its divine origin and its authority, was ever one of the principal
questions at stake?

* * * * *

Nor is it an altogether baseless conception which sees that the
reverence and love of at least a large proportion of earnest Christian
folk for the Old Testament books, a reverence and a love that for more
than eighteen hundred years has undergone no diminution or change,
are in large measure due to the reverential handling, to the patient
tireless studies of the great Rabbinical schools of the early Christian
centuries--to the passionate, possibly exaggerated, love of the Jew for
his precious book.

Though men guess it not, surely echoes from those strange Jewish
schools of Tiberias and Sura, whose story we are about to relate, have
reached the hearts of unnumbered Christians to whom the Jewish schools
in question and their restless toil, all centering in the Holy Books in
question, are but the shadow of a name?

THE HISTORY OF THE THREE WARS WHICH CLOSED THE CAREER OF JUDAISM AS A
NATION

In the wonderful Jewish epic--so closely united to the Christian
story--which stretches already over several thousand years, the
history of the three last awful wars which led to their extinction as
a nation, though not as a people, is merely a terrible episode in the
many-coloured records of the wonderful race.

But these wars are specially important, for they were the earthly cause
of the great change which passed over the fortunes of the Jews. Since
the last of the three wars they have ceased to be a separate nation,
and have become a wandering tribe scattered over the earth; but though
wanderers, they are now more numerous, more influential in the world,
than they had ever been even in the days of their greatest grandeur and
magnificence.

The curious religious mania which seems to have possessed them, and
which led them to revolt against the far-reaching power of the Roman
Empire, is in some respects a mystery. We can only very briefly recount
here the state of parties in Jerusalem, the centre of the nation, for a
few years before the revolt which led to the first great war.

In the year B.C. 63 the Roman commander Pompey established the
Roman rule over Judæa; from B.C. 6 the Jewish province, still
preserving a partial independence, was governed by procurators sent
from Rome, and by a native Herodian dynasty. The Palestinian Jews were
roughly made up in this period of three parties:

(1) The _Sadducees and Herodians_, who occupied most of the high
offices and the priesthood.

(2) The _Pharisees_. Strict Jews, loving with a devoted love the
Torah or Mosaic Law; on the whole not favourable to the Roman and
Herodian rule, but generally quiet and peace-loving. These included
dreamers--men quietly longing for the promised Messiah, Essenes, and
later, towards the end of the period we are speaking of, Christian Jews.

(3) _Zealots_--including adventurers, the Sicarii (or assassins), a
wild turbulent clique (or sect), and a confused medley of disorderly
folk, making up a formidable party of enthusiasts, expecting the early
advent of a Messiah who should restore the past glories of the Jewish
race; these were usually fierce revolutionaries, intensely dissatisfied
with the state of things then prevailing; hating Rome and the Herodian
dynasty favoured by Rome with a fierce hatred.

These Zealots had a very large, though disorderly, following among the
people.

In A.D. 66 the revolt broke out in the Holy City. Florus, the
Roman Procurator (or Governor), whose conduct during the early stages
of the great revolt is inexplicable, left the city, leaving behind him
only a small garrison; the revolt spread not only in Palestine and in
parts of the neighbouring province of Syria, but far beyond--notably in
the great city of Alexandria, where a large Jewish colony dwelt. Scenes
of terrible violence were common, and fearful massacres are recorded
to have taken place in various centres of population where Jews were
numerous; the revolt became serious, and the Imperial Legate of Syria,
Cestius Gallus, took the field against the insurgents. He seems to
have been a thoroughly incompetent commander, and failed completely
in his efforts to regain possession of Jerusalem, the headquarters of
the revolutionary party. Gallus retreated, suffering great loss. The
failure of Gallus inflicted a heavy blow upon Roman prestige.

To put an end to the serious and widespread revolt, in the year of
grace 67 Vespasian, one of the ablest and most distinguished of the
Roman generals, was appointed to the supreme command in Syria.

Gradually, as the result of a terrible campaign, Vespasian restored
quiet in Palestine and the neighbouring region, and laid siege to
the Holy City, where the Zealots had established what can only be
termed a reign of terror.

[Illustration: THE TEMPLE, JERUSALEM--THE HOLY PLACE BEFORE ITS
DESTRUCTION BY TITUS, A.D. 70]

In the following year, A.D. 68, the violent death of the
Emperor Nero, and the state of confusion that followed his death
throughout the Empire, determined Vespasian to pause in his operations,
and for a short period Jerusalem was left in the hands of the Zealots.
The brief reigns of the Emperors Galba, Otho, and Vitellius were
followed by the sudden election of Vespasian to the Empire in the
year 69, the electors being for the most part his own devoted and
disciplined legions in Syria.

Vespasian soon after his election returned to Rome, and the Empire, now
under his strong rule, was once more united and quiet. He left behind
him in Palestine as supreme commander his eldest son Titus, a general
of great power and ability.

The siege of the revolted Jerusalem was once more pressed on; an
iron circle now encircled the doomed city, which, in addition to
its wonderful memories of an historic past, was one of the strong
fortresses of the world.

The history of the siege and the eventual fall and ruin of the famous
Jewish capital, with all its nameless horrors, has been often told and
retold; but the sad episode of the burning of the Temple, with all its
eventful consequences, must be briefly touched on.

Why was this world-famous sanctuary--then standing in all its
marvellous beauty, with its matchless treasures, some of them environed
with an aureole of sanctity simply unequalled in the story of the
nations in the sphere of Roman influence--ruthlessly destroyed, and
its wondrous treasures swept out? This was not the usual policy of
far-seeing Rome.

According to Josephus, the burning of the Temple was the result of
accident, and was not owing to any premeditated plan or order issuing
from the Roman commander-in-chief.

Modern scholars,[145] however, believe that a passage from the lost
_Histories of Tacitus_ has been discovered which describes how a
council of war was held by Titus after the capture of Jerusalem in
which it was decided that the Temple ought to be destroyed, in order
that the religion of the Jews and of the Christians might be more
completely stamped out.

In the Talmud[146] the burning of the Temple is ascribed to the
“impious Titus.”

The cruelties which are associated with the storming of Jerusalem--the
loss of life and the subsequent fate of the prisoners captured by the
victorious army of Titus--make up a tale of horror which perhaps is
unequalled in the world’s history; there is, however, no doubt that the
awful scenes of carnage and the fate of the defenders who survived the
fall of the city were in large measure owing to the obstinate defence
and irreconcilable hatred of the party of Jewish Zealots who provoked
the war and for so long a time had been masters in the hapless city.

The result of the siege by Titus may be briefly summed up as follows.
The Temple and the City of Jerusalem were absolutely razed to the
ground, and may be said to have completely disappeared; only the mighty
foundations of the magnificent Temple remained. These still are with
us, and after nearly two thousand years bear their silent witness to
the vastness and extent of the third Temple. It is no exaggeration
which describes it as one of the most magnificent buildings of the Old
World.

For some fifty-two years--that is, from A.D. 70 to A.D. 122--a vast
heap of shapeless ruins was all that remained of the historic City of
the Jews and its splendid Temple. In one corner of the ruins during
this period of utter desolation the Tenth Legion (Fretensis) kept watch
and ward over the pathetic scene of ruin.

In the year of grace 122, under the orders of the Emperor Hadrian, a
new pagan city, known as Ælia Capitolina, slowly began to arise on the
ancient site. This new city will be briefly described in due course.

The year following the awful catastrophe which befel the Jewish nation
witnessed one of the most remarkable of the long series of “triumphs”
which usually marked the close of the successful Roman wars.

[Illustration: THE “WAILING-PLACE” OF THE JEWS BEFORE THE RUINED WALLS
OF THE TEMPLE]

In A.D. 71, Titus, with his father Vespasian and brother
Domitian, with extraordinary pomp and a carefully arranged pictorial
display, entered Rome. This triumph was adorned with a long train of
captive Jews, some of whom were publicly put to death as part of the
great show. Among the more precious spoils of the fallen city were
conspicuously displayed some of the celebrated objects rescued by the
victors out of the burning Temple,--such as the famous seven-branched
sacred candlestick; the golden table of shewbread; the purple veil
which hung before the Holy of Holies; and the precious Temple copy of
the Torah--the sacred Law of Moses.

The story of the great triumph is still with us, graved upon the
marble of the slowly crumbling Arch of Titus,--the traveller may
still gaze upon the figure of the great general, crowned by Victory,
in his triumphal car driven by the goddess Rome, and upon the same
imperial figure borne to heaven[147] by an eagle. Still the carved
representation of the sacred candlestick of the seven branches, and
the golden table, are beheld by the Christian with mute awe; by the
Jew with a mourning that refuses to be comforted. But the sacred
things[148] themselves over which brood such ineffable memories are
gone.

The fall of Jerusalem, the utter destruction of the Holy City, the
burning of the Temple, really sealed the fate of the Jews as a separate
nation. The centre of the chosen race existed no longer. The sacred
rites, the daily sacrifice, and the offering ceased for ever. The great
change in Judaism we are going to dwell upon must be dated from the
year 70. But more terrible events had yet to happen before the Jew
acknowledged his utter defeat, and recognized that a great change had
passed over him and had finally altered the scene of his cherished
hopes and glorious anticipations.

Two more bloody wars had to be fought out before the Jew settled down
to his new life--the life to be lived by the Chosen People for a long
series of centuries, the life he is living still, though more than
1800 years have come and gone since Titus brought the sacred Temple
treasures from the ruined city to grace the proud Roman triumph.

Under Trajan in A.D. 116-7, and again under Hadrian in A.D. 133-4, the
Zealot party of the defeated but still untamed people again rose up in
arms against the mighty Empire in the heart of which they dwelt.

We will rapidly sketch these last disastrous revolts. The spirit of
unrest and of hatred of the Roman power--the wild Messianic hopes which
had inspired the party of Zealots in Jerusalem in the first war which
had ended so disastrously--still lived in the great Jewish centres of
population outside the Holy Land, in countries where the desolation
which succeeded the events in 70 had not been acutely felt.

The Palestinian Jews for a time were apparently hopelessly crushed, but
the Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria were still a powerful and dangerous
group. It is impossible now to indicate the precise causes of the
formidable rising of A.D. 116-7. The absence of Trajan and his
great army in the more distant regions of Asia, and the news that the
Roman arms had met with a serious check in that distant and dangerous
campaign, seem to have given the signal for an almost simultaneous
Jewish uprising in the Cyrene province, in the city of Alexandria, and
in Cyprus.

We do not possess any very exact details here. The revolt was
generally characterized by horrible cruelties on the part of the
Jewish insurgents, and we read of fearful massacres perpetrated by
the revolted Jews. The insurrection spread with alarming rapidity,
and became a grave danger to the Empire. At first we only hear of
several successes and victories. In the cities of Alexandria and
Cyrene a reign of terror prevailed; but, as was ever the case when
Rome in good earnest put forth her disciplined forces, the insurgents
found themselves outnumbered and out-generalled. Two of the most
distinguished of the imperial commanders, Marcius Turbo and Lucius
Quietus, conducted the military operations. The war--for the Jewish
revolt of A.D. 116-7 assumed the proportions of a grave war--lasted
well-nigh two years; but the insurgents were in the end completely
routed.

The numbers of slain in this wild and undisciplined outburst of Jewish
fury, according to the records of the historians of the war, are so
great that we are tempted to suspect them exaggerated. In Cyrene
and the neighbouring districts the number who perished is given as
twenty-two thousand; the loss of life in Alexandria, Egypt, and Cyprus
seems to have been equally terrible. But even granted that the numbers
of Jews who perished in this fanatical rebellion have been, from one
cause or other, exaggerated, it is certain that the numbers of the
slain were enormous, that the power and influence of the Chosen People
suffered a terrible check as the result of this rising, and that in the
great cities of Cyrene and Alexandria the Jewish population of these
centres--large and flourishing communities, possessing great wealth
and influence, distinguished for their high culture and learning--were
almost annihilated. The results of the insane revolts of A.D.
116-7 were indeed disastrous to the fortunes of this extraordinary and
wonderful people.

* * * * *

But the end was not yet. Another bloody war, with all its fearful
consequences, had to be waged between the Jew and the Empire before the
Chosen People finally resigned itself to the new life it was destined
to live through the long centuries which followed. The old spirit of
restlessness, of wild visionary hopes of some great one who should
arise in their midst, still lived among the more ardent and fervid
members of the now scattered and diminished people.

The exciting causes of the last great revolt have been variously
stated. It is probable that the conduct of Hadrian in his latter years
had become less tolerant, while a persecuting spirit more or less
prevailed in his government. Among other irritating measures devised
by Rome, the ancient rite of circumcision apparently was forbidden.
But the immediate cause of the Jewish uprising no doubt was the steady
progress made in the building of the new city, Ælia Capitolina, on the
site of Jerusalem and the Temple.

That a pagan city, with its theatres, its baths, its statues, should
replace the old home of David and Solomon; that a Temple of Jupiter
should be built on the site of the glorious House of the Eternal of
Hosts; that the very stones of old Jerusalem and her adored sanctuary
should be used for the construction of the new city of idols--was
indeed especially hateful to the proud and fanatic Jew. Sacrilege could
go no further. Rapidly the insurrection which began in Southern Judæa
spread. Once more the Holy Land, especially in the southern districts,
became the scene of a fierce religious war; Bethia, a fortress some
fifteen miles from Jerusalem, became the central place of arms of the
fierce insurgents, but the revolt spread far beyond the districts of
Palestine.

In one striking particular this third Jewish war differed from
the first and second revolts. In the earlier uprisings it was the
_hope_ of the appearance of a conquering Messiah which inspired the
fanatical insurgents. In the third revolt a false Messiah actually
presented himself, and gave a new colour and spirit to this dangerous
insurrection.

The hero of the war--the pseudo-Messiah known as Bar-cochab (the son
of a Star)--is a mysterious person; his name appears to have been a
play upon his real appellation, and was assumed by him as representing
the Star pictured in the famous prophecy of Balaam (Num. xxiv. 17): “I
shall see him,” said the seer of Israel, “but not now.... There shall
come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel.” Was
this pseudo-Messiah simply an impostor, a charlatan, or did he really
believe in his mission? The Talmud generally execrates his memory,
but the principal doctor of that age, Rabbi Akiba, at a time when
the Doctors of the Law had begun to exercise a paramount influence
among the Jewish people, believed in him with an intense belief, and
supported him in his Messianic pretensions.

Many, but by no means all, of the great Rabbis of the day seem to have
supported this Bar-cochab, and the Talmud tells us that not a few of
them endured martyrdom at the hands of the victorious Roman government.
All contemporary history of this war is, however, confused,--the
Talmud notices are especially so; the details are simply impossible to
grasp.

Of the bravery of Bar-cochab there is no doubt; he perished before the
end of the war, and some time after Rabbi Akiba, his most influential
supporter, was put to an agonizing death by the victors.

Of Rabbi Akiba’s sincerity there are abundant proofs. His memory was
ever held in the highest honour by his countrymen. He was reputed to
be the most learned and eloquent of that famous generation of Jewish
teachers. The strange mistake he made in recognizing the false Messiah
Bar-cochab is hard to account for.

As in the case of the two first famous Jewish wars, the Roman power
seems at first to have underrated this rebellion, which, however,
soon assumed a most formidable character. The general commanding in
the Syrian provinces proving incapable, the ablest of the imperial
generals, Sextus Julius Severus, was summoned from his command in
distant Britain to Judæa. The Roman tactics employed were generally
similar to those adopted by Trajan’s generals in the second Jewish
war of A.D. 116-7. Severus avoided any so-called pitched
battle, but advanced gradually, attacking and besieging each of the
rebel garrisons, thus gradually wearing out the impetuosity and
ardour of the fanatical insurgents. The war lasted from two to three
years. The devastation, the result of this war, was evidently very
awful, and the numbers of the slain seem to have been enormous. We
read of 50 armed places being stormed, 985 villages and towns being
destroyed; 580,000 men were said to have been slain, besides many who
perished through hunger and disease: the numbers of slain in another
account are, however, only given as amounting to 180,000. One cannot
help coming to the conclusion that all these numbers are considerably
exaggerated. Judæa, however, there is no doubt, especially in the
southern districts, became literally a desert; wolves and hyenas are
stated to have roamed at pleasure over the ravaged country; the south
of Palestine became a vast charnel-house, and the present barren
appearance of the country indicates that some terrible catastrophe has
at some distant period passed over the land.[149]

The sternest measures effectually to stamp out all traces of revolt
on the part of the Jewish nation were adopted by the Roman government
after the close of the campaign. Numbers of the fugitives were
ruthlessly put to death. Many were sold into slavery. No Jew was ever
allowed to approach the ruins of the Holy City. Once in the year, on
“the day of weeping,” such of the hapless race who chose were suffered
to come and mourn for a brief hour over the shapeless pile of stones
which once had been a portion of their sacred Temple.

For a time a bitter persecution throughout the Empire punished this
last formidable uprising; but these rigorous measures were very soon
relaxed when all fear of another outbreak had passed away, and the
Jews, or what remained of the people, were suffered to live as they
pleased, to worship after their own fashion, and to pursue the study of
their loved Law unmolested.

M. de Champagny (_Les Antonins_, livre iii. chap, iii.) estimates the
number of Jews who perished in the three great wars of A.D. 70, of A.D.
116-7, and of A.D. 132-3-4 roughly as follows: Under _Titus_, about two
millions; under _Trajan_, about two hundred thousand; under _Hadrian_,
about one million.[150]

The third war was termed in the Babylonian Talmud “the War of
Extermination.”

(_a_) RABBINISM

We have described the three fatal wars at some length, because the
wonderful history of the Jewish race entered upon an entirely new
phase after the disastrous termination of the third of these terrible
revolts. From the year of our Lord 134-5 they ceased to be a nation and
became wanderers over the earth.

Yet in numbers and influence they can scarcely be said to have
diminished. They amalgamated with no nation; they remained a marked and
separate people, and so they continue to this day, though well-nigh
eighteen long and troubled centuries have passed since the great ruin.

To what earthly cause is this marvellous preservation of the Jews to be
attributed? Unhesitatingly we reply, Not to the rise of Rabbinism,--it
had long existed among the Chosen People,--but to the development and
consolidation of Rabbinism and to the famous outcome of Rabbinism, the
Talmud.

The traditional history of Rabbinism and the beginning of the
marvellous Rabbinic book, the Talmud, is given in the Mishnah treatise
“Pirke Aboth” (Sayings of the Fathers). It is as follows:--

Moses received the written Law (the Torah) on Mount Sinai. He also
received from the Eternal a further Law, illustrative of the written
Law. This second Law was known as the “Law upon the lip.” This was
never committed to writing, but was handed down from generation to
generation. Moses committed this oral Law to Joshua; Joshua committed
it to the Elders; the Elders committed it to the Prophets; the Prophets
handed on the sacred tradition of “the Words of the Eternal” to the
Men of the Great Synagogue. These last are regarded as the fathers of
“Rabbinism.” Maimonides tells us that these fathers of “Rabbinism”
succeeded each other (to the number of 120), commencing with the
prophet Haggai, B.C. 520, who in the Talmud is described as
the Expounder of the oral Law. The last member of the “Great Synagogue”
was Simon the Just, _circa_ B.C. 301.

After Simon the Just a succession of eminent teachers known as the
“Couples” handed down the sacred traditions of the “Law upon the lip”
to the time of Hillel and Shammai, when we approach to the Christian
era. Hillel, according to the Talmudic tradition, is said to have lived
100 years before the destruction of Jerusalem, A.D. 70, and
thus to have been a contemporary of Herod the Great.

Very little really is known of the “Men of the Great Synagogue,” or
of the ten “Couples” who succeeded them; little more than their names
has been preserved. It is scarcely probable that in each generation
only a pair of specially distinguished scholars should have lived.
Most likely just ten names were known, and they were formed into five
pairs or couples of contemporaries, after the fashion of the last and
most famous pair, Hillel and Shammai. But from the times of Hillel and
Shammai we have abundant historical testimony as to the existence and
labours of the Rabbinic schools. Well-nigh all that we have related in
the above passage is purely traditionary. There is no doubt a basis
of truth in the account we have given, but the contemporary history
is too scanty for us to describe this relation in the treatise “Pirke
Aboth,” which thus connects the Mishnah compilation in a direct chain
with Moses, as anything more than a widely circulated legendary and
traditional story.

We can, however, certainly assert that the foundations of the teaching
of the school of Rabbinism which, after the great ruin of the year of
Grace 70, began to exercise a paramount influence over the fortunes
of the Jewish race, were laid at a very early period, several hundred
years before the Christian era.

There is no doubt that Hillel and Shammai founded or, more accurately
speaking, developed the existing Rabbinic schools and gathered into
them large numbers of disciples. The great development of Rabbinism
which is ascribed to the two famous teachers Hillel and Shammai was
evidently owing to the complete absorption of Palestine by Rome, under
the baleful influence of the royalty of Herod the Great; these causes
were gradually undermining Judaism, not only in a political but also in
its religious aspect. Hillel and Shammai were fervid and earnest Jews,
and were determined to infuse a new religious spirit into the nation.
Still, it is more than probable that all this early Rabbinism would
scarcely have been more than a school of curious literary speculation,
and perhaps would not have seriously and permanently influenced the
life of the Jewish people, had it not been for the awful events of the
year A.D. 70. When Jerusalem ceased to exist, and the Temple
was finally destroyed, then Christianity emerged from the heart of
Judaism, and gathered into its fold many of the Chosen People.

[Illustration: THE TEMPLE, JERUSALEM, BEFORE ITS DESTRUCTION BY TITUS,
A.D. 70

FROM A DRAWING IN THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPÆDIA. (BY PERMISSION)]

What happened in the year A.D. 70 had a tremendous effect on
the life of the Jews,--far more than the ordinary historian usually
assigns to it. It has been tersely but truly said that, “unparalleled
as were the calamities which attended the fall of Jerusalem and the
destruction of the Temple, by far the most terrible of all was the
total collapse of Judaism as a Creed, owing to the annihilation of
all the divinely instituted means of access to God. The religious
pulse of the nation ceased to beat, as it were, with a suddenness most
appalling. We hear nothing of the Sadducees in those days, ... they
were swept away like chaff before the tempest never to appear any more;
but the Pharisees, to whom the Rabbis and Scribes belonged, remained
steadfast, and, collecting the poor remnant of the people around them,
determined to infuse new life into them.”

Mosaism was irretrievably destroyed in the year of our Lord 70, but
the foundations of Rabbinism had, as we have noticed, been laid long
before. It was only necessary to consolidate it, to give it shape
and form, and to claim for the words of its expounders a yet higher
authority than had as yet been conceded even to the written Law (the
Torah). And this was done, or more accurately speaking was commenced,
in the last twenty or thirty years of the first century (the years
immediately following the catastrophe of A.D. 70) by the
disciples of Rabban Jochanan ben Zacchai, who were certainly the
earliest elaborators of the Mishnah,[151] the first and oldest part of
the famous Talmud.

III

(_b_) RABBINISM

WHAT RABBINISM AND ITS BOOK, THE TALMUD, DID FOR THE JEWISH
PEOPLE

Historical summary of events leading up to the compilation and
consolidation of the first part of the Talmud--the Mishnah.

After A.D. 70, when Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed,
an extraordinary group of Rabbis or teachers of “the Law” arose--men of
rare gifts, far-seeing and possessing unusual powers of communicating
their enthusiasm to other men. These teachers recognized the utter
hopelessness of any further war with Rome; they abandoned all
expectation of seeing the Temple rebuilt; they saw that the future of
Israel lay not in any restoration of its nationality as a people--that
was now hopeless. But Israel alone among the people of the world
possessed a Divine Law, was the inheritor of a glorious promise, a
promise which they maintained belonged alone to them; no earthly
misfortune could rob the Jew of this: they were the people specially
beloved of God, and only by neglecting the observance of the Divine Law
could they forfeit the sure and blessed inheritance reserved for them.
That same Law must be their sole guide in all the various details of
life--in the smallest matters as in the more important. In the rigid
keeping of it they would in the end receive their great reward, the
reward reserved for them, and for them alone, as the peculiar people of
God the Supreme, the Almighty.

For some five centuries, since the days of Ezra and the return of
the remnant of the people from the Captivity, “the Mosaic Law,” as
contained in the Pentateuch, essentially in the same form as we
now have it, had been regarded by the Jew with an almost limitless
reverence. The acknowledgment of its awful and binding precepts was the
condition without which no one was a member of the Chosen People, or
could have a share in the glorious promises reserved for them.

Their teachers insisted that the commands of “the Law” (the Torah)
were in their entirety the commands of God. “He who says that Moses
wrote even one verse of his own knowledge is a denier and despiser of
the Word of God.” The whole Pentateuch thus came to be regarded as
dictated by God. Even the last eight verses of Deuteronomy, in which
the death of Moses is told, were asserted to have been written by means
of a divine revelation. Some of the teachers even went further; they
asserted that the complete book of the Law had been handed to Moses by
God.[152]

As time went on, the other Books of the “Old Testament”--at first the
writings of the older prophets and works on the pre-exilic period of
Israel; then the body of the “prophets” and the other Old Testament
writings, became also regarded as documents in which the will of God
was revealed in a manner absolutely binding.

Round the Law (Torah) had gathered a vast number of explanatory
directions, and a certain number of traditional additions known as
“Haggadah.” The first of these, the directions or explanations, were
known by the term “Halachah.”[153] It had become necessary, seeing that
the Law of Moses was accepted as the divine code for the guidance of
the Chosen People, to explain and enlarge it further, so as to apply
its brief enactments to all the conditions of everyday life. Some
few of these Halachah were traditionally derived from Moses himself.
Others had probably been composed very early in the schools of the
prophets; yet more were the work of the Scribes,[154] a numerous class
of teachers which had arisen after the return from exile in the days of
Ezra. These Halachah (we use the well-known expression in preference
to the more accurate plural form Halachoth; the same course has been
followed in that of the expression “Haggadah”) had been largely
augmented in the half-century preceding the catastrophe of _A.D._ 70.

The group of eminent Rabbis who arose after the fall of the City and
Temple, and who set themselves the task of reconstituting Israel on
a new and purely religious basis, took these Halachah, studied them,
meditated on them,--no doubt recast many of them to suit the new
position of the people, now that the Temple and its complicated ritual
of sacrifice and public prayer had disappeared, and framed them into an
elaborate system of regulations, thus pointing out how the Law might be
rigidly observed in all the relations of ordinary life.

This great and elaborate work is termed the Mishnah[155]--or
“Repetition,”--the term originally derived from the method in which
it was elaborated. It was not written down in the first instance, but
was _repeated_ again and again by the more famous teachers and heads
of schools to their pupils. The term “Mishnah” came in time to signify
“the second Law,” but that was not the original meaning; it belonged to
a period when the whole instruction was _oral_.

The period of the elaboration of these Halachah (rules) and Haggadah
(tradition) lasted somewhere about a hundred years or a little more.
The great teachers who busied themselves in this work are ordinarily
termed the Mishnic Rabbis--the Talmud term for them being Tannaim.

In the last years of the second century the Mishnah or first part
of the Talmud was virtually closed, and the great Rabbinic schools
then busied themselves in further commenting upon and explaining the
Halachah (rules) and Haggadah (traditions) of the Mishnah; these
further comments and explanations are known as the Gemara.

This second part of the Talmud, known as “Gemara,”[155] the complement
of the first or Mishnic portion, was the outcome of the labours of
several hundred Doctors or Rabbis. Two famous schools of Rabbinical
study carried on the great work of commenting on the Mishnah. The one,
the Palestinian, had its headquarters in Tiberias. The chief centres
of the other, the Babylonian, were Sura and Pumbeditha. In both these
compilations the same Mishnah is the text on which the vast body of
commentary is based. But the Gemara, or commentary, is in many cases
different. The Palestinian Talmud in the form which now exists is much
shorter than the Eastern or Babylonian work. The Palestinian Rabbis
worked from about the year of our Lord 190; their work was closed in
the middle of the fifth century. The labours of the Babylonian doctors
may be dated from the last years of the second, and were closed in the
middle or later years of the sixth century.

The Babylonian--the larger Talmud, containing the Mishnah and Gemara,
which has come down to us fairly intact, fills some twelve large folio
volumes, and covers no less than 2947 folio leaves in double columns;
or in other words, 5894 pages written in Hebrew, Aramaic, or Rabbinic.
The nature of these vast compilations is described more in detail in a
later section of this Fifth Book.

The Talmudic term for the doctors of the Gemara is Amoraim.

* * * * *

The one purpose and object of the Talmud, followed out with a
changeless and restless industry by the doctors of the Mishnah
and the Gemara, from the year 70 to nearly the close of the sixth
century--that is to say, for a period of some five hundred years--was
the _Glorification of Israel_. Law and legend, rule and tradition,
massed together with rare skill, all dwell on this. The Jews, and only
the Jews, were the people chosen by God. If they would but honour
Him and serve Him faithfully they would in the end win the exceeding
great and promised reward. The way, and the only way, to know Him and
to serve Him was pointed out with unerring lucidity and a marvellous
wealth of detail in the mighty compilation of the Talmud. They were
strictly warned against encouraging proselytes. The ineffable blessings
belonged to the Jew and to the Jew alone. Again, the exceeding great
reward belonged not to the successful Jewish soldier, but to the Jew
who kept the stern Law handed down from Moses to prophet, and by
prophet to scribe, and by scribe to the Rabbis who compiled the Mishnah
and Gemara, which together make up the Talmud. The question of revolt
against Rome found no place in the Talmud teaching.

After the three great wars--especially after the first, which closed
with the destruction of the Temple--the Jew had no nationality, no
country. He needed none. He had something far greater. He, and only
he, was possessor of the blessed Divine Law; the solitary heir of its
glorious promises.

The Talmud became the bond which linked together in one solid group
the Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria, of Rome and Babylonia. Its power
over the Jewish mind became boundless. It possessed indeed a wondrous
fascination for every child of Israel. It impressed upon each member
of the scattered race, in a way no teaching had ever previously done,
the consciousness who he was, and what was the awful nature of his
inheritance. Strong in this consciousness, he endured all the wrongs
and persecutions, the cruel acts and yet more cruel words which have
been, with rare interludes, his lot since A.D. 70. All through
the subsequent ages he endured a bitter persecution, which even in our
own day and time is still in many lands constantly ready to break out
against him.

Strong in this consciousness he lives on, a willing wanderer and
a stranger among the various nations of the earth, hated and
hating,--feared but at the same time honoured; ever increasing in
numbers, in wealth, and influence. His hand is in each group of
statesmen, now publicly, more often hidden, but always there: he is yet
greater in the exchanges and marts of the nations; the finance of every
civilized country is more or less guided by him, more or less subject
to his dictation and supervision.

Who now, men ask, is this ever-present changeless Jew? What is the
secret of his power and ever-growing influence? The second great
awakening--the awakening to the grandeur of his true position in the
world’s story--when all seemed lost, when his Temple and City were
destroyed, when he became at once homeless, landless, an outcast
hated, even despised, as far as we can _see_, was the work of the
Doctors and Rabbis of Tiberias in Galilee, and of Sura and other
centres in Babylonia, in the years which followed the crushing ruin
of A.D. 70. It was the work of the compilers and teachers
of the Mishnah and Gemara which together made up the Talmud. We may
now and again wonder at the curious and startling assertions of the
Mishnah, and even smile at some of the marvellous extravagances of
the Gemara; but when we ponder over the wonderful story of the Jew
during the eighteen centuries which have passed since the desolation of
A.D. 70, we dare not mock at the Talmud.

When we consider the whole question of what we have termed “the great
awakening” of the Jewish people after the sudden and tremendous ruin
of the City and Temple; the complete change in the heart of the Jew;
the abandonment of the old dream of the restoration of the kingdom
of Israel; the adoption of a spiritual kingdom in its place: when we
remember the universal reverence for, the implicit obedience which very
soon began to be paid to, the teaching of the Mishnah and Gemara--the
Talmud--a reverence and an obedience which completely changed the
life, the views, the hopes of the scattered race in all lands,--we ask
the pressing question: _Whence_ came all this--the mighty change, the
enthusiasm which has never paled or waned? The Mishnic Rabbis--the
Gemara teachers, numerous, able, and devoted though they were, some few
of them men of lofty genius and profound scholarship, do not account
for this amazing result.

The “Talmud,” the outcome of these famous Rabbinic schools of the early
Christian centuries, with its wild extravagances, its many beautiful
thoughts, its peculiar and rigid system, touched the heart of the Jew,
and bound together this people condemned to wander through the ages
without a home, a country, a nationality, with a link no time, no human
hate or scorn has been able to break or even to loose.

The strange weird Book was God’s mysterious instrument by which He has
chosen to preserve intact the people He once loved--loves still--until
the day, perhaps still far distant, dawns when the Jew, with eyes
opened at last, shall look on Him whom they pierced.

THE TALMUD

One[156] who loved with a love passionate, though not always
discriminating, this vast wondrous compilation which has so
marvellously affected the fortunes of the Chosen People, has written
the following words: “The origin of the Talmud is coeval with the
return from the Babylonish Captivity (some five centuries before
Christ). One of the most mysterious and momentous periods in the
history of humanity is that brief span of the Exile. What were the
influences brought to bear upon the captives during that time we know
not. But this we know, that from a reckless, lawless, godless populace
they returned transformed into a band of Puritans.... The change
is there, palpable, unmistakable--a change we may regard as almost
miraculous. Scarcely aware before of the existence of their glorious
national literature, the people now began to press round these brands
plucked from the fire, the scanty records of their faith and history,
with a fierce and passionate love, a love stronger than that of wife
and child. These same documents, as they were gradually formed into a
canon, became the immutable centre of their lives, their actions, their
thoughts, their very dreams. From that time forth, with scarcely any
intermission, the keenest as well as the most practical minds of the
nation remained fixed upon them. _Turn it, and turn it again_, says the
Talmud with regard to the Bible, _for everything is in it_.”

After the fall of the City and the burning of the Temple in
A.D. 70 the wonderful records of the Jew and his Book (the
Talmud) are all clear and definite. How it was composed, who compiled
it, and why it was put out, all this belongs to history, and forms a
most important though little known chapter in the annals of the Chosen
People; in some respects also it is a most weighty piece of evidential
history--perhaps the most weighty--possessed by Christianity.

But some of the materials out of which the great Book (the Talmud),
which has so enormously influenced the fortunes of the Chosen People
for so many centuries, was composed, existed before the catastrophe of
A.D. 70. We will briefly examine what we know of the ancient materials
of the Talmud; the examination will be of the highest interest.

* * * * *

It is certain that very early--no doubt in the far-back days of
Moses--there must have existed, as we have already suggested, a number
of explanatory laws which set forth in detail many of the laws and
regulations broadly laid down in the original written code of the great
lawgiver. Questions must have been asked again and again--To what cases
in actual life the brief written precept applied, what consequences
it in general entailed, and what was to be done that the commandments
might be fairly, even rigidly observed. In a number of cases the
original written Law gave no direct answer.

To supply this need a body of Halachah (the word Halachah, as we have
stated, signifies rule, practice, custom) gathered round the written
Law (the Torah). Some of these Halachah, tradition said, were given by
Moses himself; others were said to have been devised by that primitive
council of the desert wanderings, the elders, and by their successors,
the later “judges within the gates,” referred to in the Pentateuch.
As time went on the Halachah or authoritative oral Law of explanation
no doubt formed an important branch of the studies pursued in those
schools of the prophets founded by Samuel in the early days of the
monarchy--schools of which we know so little, but which throughout the
pre-exilic days evidently played a part in the life of the kingdoms of
Israel and Judah.

On the return from the Captivity, some five centuries before the
Christian era, the remnant of the nation who returned to their
desolated land came back a changed people--“a band of Puritans” we
have, with scarcely any exaggeration, termed them; while the Divine Law
which once many, perhaps the majority, of the people neglected, the
very existence of which they had ignored, almost forgotten, became the
object of their passionate love.

During the period of exile, of which we know so little but in the
course of which the great change to which we have been dimly alluding
passed over the people, the memory of the oral Law, much of the
ancient Halachah, the traditions, the sacred expositions which make
up the Haggadah, were kept alive by teachers, in the first instance
by the men who had been trained in the schools of the prophets.
Then after the return from exile the study of all these treasured
memories--some, as we have already suggested, possibly dating from the
days of Moses--which surrounded the now precious Law, received a new
development. The Law, the Halachah, the traditions generally known as
Haggadah, were no longer the mere heritage of the scholars who composed
the somewhat mysterious schools of the prophets we read of in the days
of the kings, but were now regarded as the precious treasure of the
whole nation.

As the Divine Law rose in public estimation its scientific study and
exposition became a great and popular craft. Every individual of the
nation was interested in knowing it and obeying it. A numerous and
independent class or guild arose which made its investigation and study
the chief business of life. These men were known as the Scribes; they
became the recognised teachers of the nation. Some of them were men of
independent means, but the majority practised some trade or business
out of which they lived. They were tent-makers, sandal-makers, weavers,
carpenters, tanners, bakers, etc., but the study of the Law was their
loved occupation, and some of them attained great proficiency in their
work. Such a class of men had never existed in any people before--has
never made its appearance since in any nation.[157]

This study of the Law became a veritable science, a science that
gradually assumed the very widest dimensions. The name given to it
is “Midrash”--interpretation, and it included study, meditation,
exposition, investigation, inquiry. The men of the “Return from Exile”
who devoted themselves to this work took as the foundation of their
labours, first the written Law of Moses, then gradually the records of
the Prophets and the other writings subsequently included in the Old
Testament canon; and to this material was added the oral Law, or such
portion of it which had been preserved, including the sacred traditions
which had been handed down from the days of Moses and his successors,
and treasured up in the schools of the prophets. In this “Midrash”--for
we will keep to the well-known term which generally included all this
varied and comprehensive study of the Scribes who lived in the period
between the Return from the Exile and the Christian era--two distinct
currents can be distinguished. The first of these great currents
may be termed Prose, the second Poetry. The first (the prose) is
called Halachah (rules, customs); the second (the poetry), Haggadah
(tradition and legend, including parable, allegory, lessons).[158]

The Halachah (rules) for a very long period were never written down,
but were transmitted from teacher to teacher in an unbroken succession,
orally, with many and various additions. The Haggadah (traditions) in
many cases were, however, written down, and so transmitted.

Thus from the period of the Return from the Exile a vast bulk of
teaching, largely unwritten, traditional, and legendary, all founded
on and closely bearing on the Law (Torah), had been collected by the
Scribes and their schools stretching over a period of about five
centuries. Some thirty years before the Christian era Hillel, the great
Rabbinic master of the period, endeavoured to reduce this great mass of
teaching, oral and written, rule and tradition, Halachah and Haggadah,
to some definite system and order. He did something in this direction,
but died before his task was in any real way completed, and for many
years nothing further was done in the way of codifying or arrangement.

Then came the great upheaval of A.D. 70, when the Holy City
was razed to the ground; when it appeared as though the religion of the
Jew was destroyed, now that the Temple round which all the cherished
memories of the people were grouped had disappeared. Curiously
enough, as it appears to men, the contrary was the case: a wonderful
resurrection of religious life was the almost immediate outcome of the
fall of the City and Temple.

A group of singularly able and devoted men, as we have already
remarked, arose at this critical moment in Jewish history--when all
seemed lost. Judaism in the year 70, when the long and bitter war with
Rome was finally closed, was stripped of everything. It had lost for
ever its position as a nation. Its Temple, the joy of the whole world,
as their royal songman pictured it, was a heap of shapeless ruins. Its
most sacred treasures were carried away to adorn an Italian triumph.
The Holy City was literally razed to the ground. The promised land
of their fathers was desolated. Thousands of the people were slain
or reduced to slavery. Of the Jews who dwelt as strangers in Egypt,
Syria, and Italy--the very name was hated and despised. Only one thing
remained to the sad remnant of the Chosen People: the sacred Law of
Moses, the Torah--the writings of their old prophets--their treasured
Psalms--the undying records of their past glorious history.

And these precious writings, and the wonderful body of rule and
tradition, oral and written, which had gathered round them, the
Halachah and Haggadah of the Scribes, collected during the previous
four or five centuries,--these were saved from the awful wreck, and a
group of devoted Jews gathered them together, and with them at once
proceeded to train up a new and a yet greater and more influential
people than had ever before worshipped the Eternal of Hosts, even
in the golden days of their mighty kings David and Solomon; but the
foundation stories of the grandeur of the new Israel were not to be
built with human materials. No army, no strong fortress, no stately
city, not even a visible temple made with hands after the fashion of
the glorious lost House of God, were for the future to rank among the
proud and cherished possessions of the Jew. Only the Divine Law given
him direct from God the One Supreme, the Everlasting, for the future
was to represent to the Jew home and hearth, family and nation, City
and Temple.

If the Jews--the scattered harassed remnant who survived the bloody
Roman war of Titus--would with heart and soul keep the precepts of the
Divine Law, what mattered insult and cruelty, human scorn and malice,
suffering and misery for a little season; for eye hath not seen, nor
ear heard, the beatitude which awaited the Jew who loved the Torah.
This was the teaching of that group of fervid and devoted men who, so
to speak, arose out of the ashes of the ruins of Jerusalem and the
Temple. And the sad remnant of the people hearkened to this teaching,
and with heart and soul revered the Law, the Torah of their God.

All this is no mere rhetoric, strange though it reads: it is plain
unvarnished history.

Undismayed by the crushing ruin of A.D. 70, the chief Rabbinic leaders,
when Jerusalem was destroyed, re-established their schools at Jamnia
(Jabne), a town close to the sea, south of Joppa. They had little
sympathy with the extreme party of Nationalists, the Zealots; for they
saw that any serious conflict with Rome was utterly hopeless, so they
diverted the thoughts and aspirations of the survivors of the great
revolt into other channels. The cult of the Law henceforward must be
the work of Israel. They were wonderfully successful, and soon infused
into the heart of the Chosen People something of their burning zeal;
for what they taught, they maintained, were the very words and commands
of the Eternal of Hosts.

A great master, Jochanan ben Zacchai, soon made the new school of
Jamnia a notable centre of the new work. We use the term “new”; for
although Rabbinism and the scientific study of the Law had existed long
before the events of A.D. 70, it received a fresh and striking
impulse when the Temple and City existed no longer.

Round the chair of Jochanan gathered quickly a band of faithful
disciples who shared in the quiet enthusiasm of the great master, and
in the last twenty-five or thirty years of the fatal century which
had witnessed the terrible victory of Titus, the real foundations of
the Talmud, which united and bound together the Chosen People for
centuries, which preserved them from disintegration and welded them
once more into one great race, were laid.

Rome allowed this new spirit to grow up among the remnant of the
people she had crushed, and made no effort to interfere with the
Jamnia Rabbinic school. The statesmen of the Empire were quite content
that the restless people, so long a danger to the State, should turn
its attention to other matters unconnected with aspirations after
independence. It was no doubt with some contempt that they witnessed
the growth of the new spirit among the turbulent nation. It was nothing
to Rome--this singular devotion to an old Law and a traditional
revelation which the Jew considered divine. They little thought that
the Jew and his ancient Law would outlive the mighty Empire of which
they were so proud, and that the despised and crushed race and its
cherished belief would influence in a marvellous way the civilized
world for hundreds of years after Rome had become the mere shadow of a
name.

The great Jewish revolt of A.D. 117 had little influence upon
the fortunes and wonderful growth of the Rabbinic schools, the chief
seat of which was in Palestine. The scenes of that rebellion and its
ghastly punishment were far removed from Palestine, and what happened
in Cyrene, Egypt, and Cyprus only slightly affected the dwellers in the
old Land of Promise.

But the next revolt--the rebellion we have termed the third great
Jewish war--had a different scene. Once more Palestine witnessed a
dangerous and bloody war, when Bar-cochab, a mistaken enthusiast and
patriot, raised again the standard of rebellion against Rome, and,
asserting that he was the long-looked-for Messiah, gave this last
formidable Jewish rising the character of a religious war.

As a rule the great masters of the new Rabbinic schools were out of
sympathy with the Zealots who had risen against Rome in this last
disastrous revolt; but one of their number, the famous Rabbi Akiba,
curiously enough, had espoused their cause, and certain others of
the more eminent Rabbinic teachers, no doubt owing to his influence,
had rallied to the cause of Bar-cochab in the desperate and hopeless
struggle.

Rabbi Akiba occupies among the early group of founders of the Talmud,
who flourished from _circa_ A.D. 70 to _circa_ A.D. 190, perhaps the
most prominent position. He was even termed the “second Moses,” so
sought after were his teachings and expositions of the sacred Law, and
its subsequent explanations and additions--the Halachah. He gathered
round him not only a host of younger pupils, but among his disciples
were numbered a group of Rabbis who became subsequently the chief
teachers of their day and time. It has been often asked what induced
this great Rabbinic scholar and teacher to throw in his lot with a wild
enthusiast like Bar-cochab, and to support that impostor’s baseless
claim to be recognized as the promised Messiah.

The answer perhaps is that Akiba, in common with others of the new
school of Rabbinism, which aimed at restoring the fallen Judaism by
means of an enthusiastic devotion to the Divine Law, recognised that
in Christianity must be sought and found the most dangerous foe to
the Rabbinic conception of the Chosen People. After the fall of the
City and Temple, and the breaking up of every national and religious
bond, there was grave danger that the Jewish people would become
absorbed among the Gentile Christians. It is probable that already
some of the Rabbis were secretly persuaded of the truth of the Gospel
story. Rabbi Akiba was, however, one of the most energetic opponents
of Christianity, and he welcomed the appearance of the pseudo-Messiah
Bar-cochab as a rival to Jesus of Nazareth.

But great though the influence of Akiba was, for he persuaded some
Jews, he evidently did not carry the bulk of the Rabbinic teachers with
him, for the Talmud execrates the name of Bar-cochab, though it ever
mentions the name of Akiba with the deepest and tenderest veneration.
The great learning and the devoted behaviour of the loved teacher
under the most excruciating tortures which accompanied his execution
by the Roman government, saved his memory from the bitter reproaches
with which the Talmud speaks of Bar-cochab and the authors of the last
ill-fated and useless revolt.[159]

Akiba is ever remembered as one of the greatest of this wonderful group
of Talmud founders, as well as a very noble martyr.

Rabbi Akiba’s work was not limited to exposition and explanation and
elaborate discussions in the academies of the traditional Halachah or
oral comments on the Law of Moses. He was virtually the first[160]
who attempted to codify and arrange the vast accumulation of these
Halachah and Haggadah, and to reduce them into something like order
and arrangement. Some years after Akiba’s death, about the middle of
the second century, his most famous disciple, the Rabbi Meir, who is
known in the Talmud as the “Light of the Law,” took up his master
Akiba’s work, and went on with arranging and codifying the Halachah,
introducing, however, many more Halachah into his codification, and
supplementing and illustrating his expositions with many interesting
traditions (Haggadah)[161]; thus preparing the way for the more
elaborate collection or recension of Rabbi Judah Ha-Nasi--the Holy--who
is known in the Talmud as “Rabbi”--_the_ Rabbi _par excellence_.
“Rabbi’s” great work of codification may be dated about the years
A.D. 200-19, or thereabouts.

The work of “Rabbi,” somewhat enlarged and recast, is with us still.
It represents fairly the Mishnah which was used as the text of the
great Gemara[162] commentaries compiled in the schools of Palestine
and Babylonia[163] between the end of the second century and the last
years of the sixth century. The Mishnah of “Rabbi,” which was largely
based upon the collections of Rabbi Akiba and his disciple Rabbi Meir,
and the Gemaras of Palestine and Babylonia,[163] compiled in centuries
three, four, five, and six, make up the Talmud.

There was a strict traditional interdiction which dated back at least
to the centuries which followed the Return from the Exile, if not
earlier, against ever committing the Halachah and the discussions of
the Scribes upon the Halachah to _writing_. The latest Jewish scholars
have decided that to a certain extent the interdiction was removed by
“Rabbi” in the very early years of the third century, or at the close
of the second century.

We may assume, then, with tolerable certainty that “Rabbi” in his old
age reduced the great collection of Halachah to writing, transgressing,
in a way, the ancient tradition which forbade this. He seems to
have considered that the prohibition, if maintained in its ancient
strictness, might endanger the preservation of the precious teaching.

“Rabbi” did not entirely abrogate the interdiction, for the oral method
of instruction continued during the period of the Gemara discussions
in Palestine and in Babylonia: the teacher alone using the _written_
Halachah, which made up the redaction of the Mishnah by “Rabbi” as a
guide; the pupils, however, always repeating the lesson _orally_.

Before the fall of Jerusalem the great Sanhedrim was the ultimate
resort for decisions in the law, though it is true that as a rule it
accepted the Law as developed by the great teachers; but still, “from
thence,” _i.e._ from the Sanhedrim, as the Mishnah says, “proceeded the
Law for all Israel.” But after A.D. 70 the great Sanhedrim
ceased to exist. This of course gave a very marked increase in prestige
and power to the acknowledged leading Rabbis or Masters in the Rabbinic
schools.

The principal task of these doctors was to teach the Law. The ideal
was that every Israelite should have a knowledge of this Divine
Law. Of course, this ideal was unattainable, but the famous Rabbis
without doubt gathered round them great numbers who longed for special
instruction in what had come to be looked on as the glory and hope of
their race. “Bring up many scholars” was a famous ancient saying.

The instruction in the Palestinian schools of Jamnia and Lydda, and
a little later more especially at Tiberias, and also in the famous
Babylonian schools such as Sura,[164] Nehardea, and Pumbeditha,
consisted in a continual exercise of the memory. The oral Law before
the days of “Rabbi,” at the close of the second century, was never
committed to writing, the teacher repeating his matter again and
again. This invariable method of teaching in the Rabbinical schools
was the origin of the term _Mishnah_ (repetition).[165]

The system of teaching was absolutely different from that of our modern
colleges and universities. The masters of the various schools did not
confine themselves to giving lectures which the pupils could take
down. Here all was busy life, excitement, debate; question was met by
question, and countless questions and answers were given, wrapped up
in allegory, parable, and legend,--of course under the guidance and
direction of the head of the academy.

A most interesting picture of the inner life and organization of
the Rabbinical schools or academies in which the Talmud was slowly
and deliberately composed is given in the vast and scholarly Jewish
Encyclopædia (completed in the year 1906). A very brief précis of this
is attempted here. The date of the picture in question is as late as
the tenth century, and refers especially to a comparatively late period
in the Rabbinical work; but much of it goes back to the time of the
Amoraim, the earliest Rabbis of the Gemara, who were the teachers from
the first part of the third century.

It may be taken as an account and general description of the method in
which the two versions of the Talmud were composed, in Palestine as
well as in Babylonia, in such academical centres of Rabbinism as Sura
and Tiberias. The picture especially refers to the Babylonian academies
of Pumbeditha and Sura, but without doubt a very similar procedure was
followed in the Palestinian academy of Tiberias.

The students or disciples appear to have assembled twice every year,
the discussion and instruction lasting four weeks.

In the month Elah at the close of the summer, and in the month Adar
at the end of the winter, the disciples desiring instruction in the
sacred Law journeyed to the academy, say of Sura, or of Pumbeditha,
from their various abodes, having carefully studied and prepared during
the previous five months the special treatise of the Mishnah announced
at the academy at the close of the preceding session by the head of the
Rabbinic school as the subject for discussion at the next session.

They at once presented themselves on arriving at Sura to the head of
the academy, who proceeded to examine them on the treatise of the
Mishnah fixed beforehand.

They sat in the following order or rank: seventy of the senior or
principal pupils were placed nearest to the head, or president, of the
school, the number seventy being a reminiscence of the great Sanhedrim.

Behind these seventy sat the other disciples and members of the academy.

The foremost row--the seventy--recited aloud the subject-matter of the
discussion and of instruction which were to follow; they recited,
too, any passage which seemed to require especial consideration, which
they debated among themselves, the “head,” or president, all the while
silently taking notes of the debate.

The “head” after this lectured generally on the treatise, the subject
of the discussion, adding an exposition of those special passages which
had given rise to the debate.

Sometimes in the course of his lecture the “head” asked a question as
to how the disciples would explain a certain Halachah. The question had
to be answered by the scholars he chose to name. After the answer or
answers had been received the “head” added his own exposition of the
Halachah in question.

Subsequently one of the “seventy” senior students gave an address,
summing up the arguments which had arisen out of the theme--the
Halachah--which they had been considering.

In the fourth week of the session the “seventy” and other of the
students were examined individually by the “head” of the academy.

Questions received from various quarters were also discussed for final
solution. The “head” listened, and finally formulated his decisions,
which were written down. The results of the meeting of the academy
during the month of session were finally signed by the “head” of the
academy.

* * * * *

The details and comments contained in the foregoing sections of the
Fifth Book (“The Jew and the Talmud”) are mainly confined to the great
official work of Rabbinic Judaism known as the Talmud, made up of the
Mishnah and its commentary, the Gemara.

But besides this vast compilation, it must be borne in mind that there
exists an enormous mass of Rabbinic literature outside the Talmud, such
as the non-canonical Mishnah, the Targumim, the Midrashim, the Kabbala,
etc. Some of this dates from a very early period, and possesses a high
authority among the recognized Jewish teachers.

Most of these extra-Talmudical writings are Haggadic in character.

THE TEXT OF THE SACRED BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

All this mighty superstructure of “Mishnah and Gemara,” which occupied
so many of the greatest and most earnest minds in Israel for several
centuries, was built up on the foundations of a Law (Torah) recognised
as given by God Himself. The Books containing this Law (Torah), the
Pentateuch, were accepted as divine in the course of the five centuries
which intervened between the return from exile and the Christian era.
The Pentateuch at first constituted the canon of Jewish Scripture. Its
acknowledgment, though, no doubt dates from a much older period--long
before the days of the Exile. We do not, however, possess sufficient
historical data to define accurately the position which the Law held
in pre-exilic Israel. To the Pentateuch was subsequently added the
writings of the Prophets and the sacred works belonging to the older
pre-exilic history of Israel. The canon of Scripture was completed and
acknowledged much in its present form certainly 200 years before the
age of Jesus Christ.

But although the prophets and other writings belonging to the
pre-exilic period had been subsequently added to the Torah (the Law of
Moses), it is certain that they never were placed quite on a level with
it.

THE MASSORAH

After the question--What constituted the canonical writings, the Divine
Word?--was finally and authoritatively settled, the next step was to
ensure the preservation of the sacred text which contained the Divine
Revelation. The Scribes had determined what were the canonical books.
The text of these books was handed over to another group of scholars
known as the Massoretes. The precise chronology of these various steps
is unknown.

The word “Massorah” comes from the Hebrew “Masar,” to give something
into the hand of another so as to commit it to his trust. The work
and duty of the Massoretes--the authoritative custodians of the sacred
text--was to safeguard it, so as to protect it from any change. This
they did effectually by “building a hedge round it.” To do this, they
carefully registered all the phenomena in the ancient manuscripts,
the reason for and meaning of many of which were not understood; but
they were carefully noted and preserved. Some words were found which
had been dotted over; some were spelt with large, some with smaller
letters; some words and expressions were archaic, that is, belonging
to a much earlier date in their history; some were suspended above
the line; some sentences contained peculiar expressions: such-like
phenomena and peculiarities in the ancient MSS. were diligently
recorded by the Massoretes,--none were overlooked.

Other textual notes were carefully made, such as the number of verses
in each sacred book. The middle verse and word of each great section in
each book and even in the whole Bible were also recorded. All important
words were noted; the number of times that each letter of the alphabet
occurs in each division in each book and in the whole Bible were
diligently written down. All this, and very much more of such curious
statistical information, was registered by the Massoretes so as to lock
and interlock every letter, word, and line into its place, that the
original text of the ancient MSS. might be preserved and faithfully
reproduced and handed down by any copyist who followed the direction of
the Massorah.

That some of this curious elaborate work was done, that some of this
vast hedge[166] round the Law was planted _before_ the fall of the
City and Temple in A.D. 70, is fairly certain. But there is
no doubt that the extremely complicated and exhaustive work of the
Massoretes to ensure the preservation of the ancient text was really
elaborated and completed in those centuries after the Christian era
when the composition of the Mishnah and Gemara occupied the attention
of the great Rabbinic academies which arose after the ruin of the City
and Temple, in Palestine and in Babylonia.

This very brief sketch of the Massorah will give some idea of how
exceedingly precious in the eyes of the Jew for many centuries has been
the text of his loved Scriptures.

We possess no MSS. of the Hebrew Bible older than the first half of the
ninth century. The reason of the non-existence of any very ancient MSS.
is probably owing to the fact of the Jews being in the habit of burying
old and worn-out copies of the Scriptures lest the worn material, the
valuable parchment or papyrus, should be employed for any secular
purpose. The text we now possess is, however, certainly that which was
current in the seventh and eighth centuries of the Christian era, and
there is little doubt that it accurately represents a much older text.

The Massoretic notes, something of the general purport of which is
described above, are written above and below the three columns into
which usually each page of the MS. of the Scriptures is divided. These
notes are termed the “Massorah Magna”; while on the margin and between
the columns are more Massoretic notes. These are termed the “Massorah
Parva.”

The composition of these notes, which included every phenomenon of
the text, as well as a vast number of interesting statistical facts
bearing on the text, went on for well-nigh a thousand years, and
eventually they amounted to an enormous bulk of material. It became
in time absolutely impossible to write down anything approaching to
the whole of the Massorah in any single MS. Hence, whenever a new copy
of the Scriptures was ordered by an individual or a community, the
Massoretic scribes were in the habit of transcribing only so much of
the Massorah as they deemed of especial importance and interest, or as
much of the Massorah as they considered a fair equivalent for the price
paid for the MS. Thus it has come about that there is no single MS. of
the Old Testament which contains the whole or anything approximating
to the whole Massorah. The present scholarly editor of the Massorah
(Dr. Ginsberg) has some seventy-two ancient MSS. of the Old Testament
collected in the British Museum, from which he is gathering the
different Massoretic notes for the monumental work on which he is
engaged.

The mass of material put together by successive generations of scribes
is so enormous that much of it has been even gathered into separate
treatises; it having been found in old time simply impossible to find
space for it in any codex, although all manner of abbreviations and
signs to compress the notes into a smaller compass have been devised by
the ancient scribes.

* * * * *

Such was the Massorah, that marvellous and unique apparatus devised by
the Rabbis for the preservation of the ancient text of the Scriptures.
A brief sketch showing the estimation in which these Scriptures, or
at all events the Law proper, the Pentateuch, was held by the great
Rabbinical schools, is indispensable to this little study on the Talmud.

CONCLUDING MEMORANDA

THE TALMUDICAL VIEW OF THE INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURE

We read in the Mishnah such statements as the following: “He who
asserts that the Torah is not from heaven has no part in the world to
come.” (Sanhedrim, x. 7.)

As time went on this view of inspiration was held with increasing
strictness. At first the commands of “the Law” were all that was
signified in such a saying as the one just quoted, but gradually the
whole Pentateuch was included in this assertion of the direct Divine
authority; in the Mishnah we read startling sayings, such as we have
already given, viz.: “He who says that Moses wrote even one word of his
own knowledge is a denier and despiser of the Word of God.” (Sanhedrim,
99.) Even the last verses of Deuteronomy which tell of the death of
Moses were affirmed to have been written by Moses himself,--having been
dictated to him by Divine revelation.

The only point in dispute was whether the whole Torah was given to
Moses by God complete at once, or handed to him by volumes. (Gittin
60_a_.)

In course of time Divine inspiration was taught as belonging to the
Prophets and the Hagiographa, to the Mishnah, the Talmud, and even to
the Haggadah.

A very singular _anticipatory_ revelation was believed to have been
made on Sinai to the prophets. In “Shemoth Rabba” we read: “What the
prophets were about to prophesy in every generation they receive from
Mount Sinai.” The revelation was apparently made to the souls of those
about to be created. And so Isaiah is represented as saying: “From the
day that the Torah was given on Mount Sinai, there I was and received
this prophecy,--and now the Lord God and His Spirit have sent me.”[167]

The Talmud conta ins a somewhat similar curious teaching as regards
“Miracles”--the course of creation was not disturbed by them, _they
were all primarily existing, as well as pre-ordained_. They were
“created” at the end of all things, in the gloaming of the sixth day.
Creation, together with these so-called exceptions, once established,
nothing could be altered in it. The laws of nature went on by their own
immutable force, however much evil might spring therefrom.

THE TALMUD--ITS STORY THROUGH THE AGES

The wonderful Jewish book--the Talmud--cannot complain of neglect or
of oblivion. Never has any writing in the whole human history been
so hated and hunted down. It has been proscribed and burnt again and
again. Before the marvellous compilation was fully completed the
Emperor Justinian, in A.D. 553, condemned it by name. Then
for more than a thousand years anathemas, edicts of the sternest
condemnation, were issued against the Jewish sacred volume which has
done so much for the Chosen People.

Emperors, kings, and Popes in all lands and in every age have warred
against it in each succeeding century. It was forbidden, cursed, often
publicly burnt.

To give an average example of the spirit with which it was universally
condemned by Christians, we would refer to a letter of Pope Honorius IV
to the Archbishop of Canterbury (A.D. 1286), in which he speaks of the
Talmud as “that damnable Book,” desiring him “to see that it is read by
no one, since all evils flow out of it.”

At last, after it had been put out about 1000 years, in the dawn of the
Reformation a great Christian scholar arose who defended it. Reuchlin,
the most eminent Hellenist and Hebraist of his time, remonstrated
against the wild and ignorant prejudice with which Christian men
regarded this wonderful compilation. Long and bitter was the
controversy, but the patient scholar, although formally condemned for
his noble advocacy of the great Jewish book, in the end triumphed, and
the Talmud this time was not burned but printed, and since Reuchlin’s
time has been allowed to live on unmolested. In our day and time it has
come to be regarded as one of the great works of the world, although
among Christian folk its contents are comparatively unknown; while
its surpassing influence in the past is acknowledged in the scholar
community, which recognizes neither land nor race.

* * * * *

It has been curiously suggested that the Talmud contains many of the
divine sayings of our Lord recorded in the Gospels. The fact really
is, that while some few of the beautiful words of Christ are without
doubt to be found in the Talmud, it is only such sayings as are common
to other great teachers and thinkers, such as Seneca and the Emperor
Marcus Antoninus. However, it is more than probable that the Child
Jesus was conversant with some of the more striking maxims of the early
Rabbis and teachers, such as Hillel and the elder Gamaliel, and that
occasionally sayings of theirs are repeated in the Gospel teaching.
But it is beyond all doubt that the general spirit of Rabbinism which
lives through the pages of the Talmud--in the Mishnah and Gemara--was
absolutely at variance with the spirit of Jesus Christ and His
disciples.

To take two notable examples--the position of women and the exclusive
position of Israel. The Gospel teaching is completely different on
the position of women from what we find in the authoritative teaching
of the Talmud treatises. With our Lord the woman was the equal in all
respects of the man, in this world and in the world to come.[168] The
striking inferiority of women in Israel is brought forward again and
again in the sayings of the great Rabbis. We would quote a very few of
their authoritative Talmudical teachings here:--

R. Meir--second century (Mishnah): “A man is bound to repeat three
benedictions every day.” One of these was, “Blessed art Thou, Lord our
God, who hast not made me a woman.”

And again: “Are not slaves and women in the same category? The slave is
more degraded.”

“Blessed is the man whose children are sons, but luckless is he whose
children are daughters.” (Baba-Bathra.)

“The testimony of one hundred women is only equal to the evidence of
one man.” (Yevamoth.)

The stern exclusiveness of Israel is pressed constantly in the Talmud.
This is diametrically opposed to the New Testament teaching so
conclusively formulated by S. Peter (Acts x. 34, 35): “Of a truth I
perceive that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation he
that feareth Him and worketh righteousness is accepted with Him.”

While in the Talmud we read--

“Almsgiving exalteth a nation [that is, Israel], ... but benevolence
is a sin to nations,”--that is to say, for the Gentiles to exercise
charity and benevolence is sin. (Compare Baba-Bathra, fol. 10, col. 2.)

And again: “All Israelites have a portion in the world to come.”
(Sanhedrim, fol. 90, col. 1.) “The world was created only for Israel;
none are called the children of God but Israel, none are beloved before
God but Israel.” (Gèrim.)

“Three things did Moses ask of God”:--1. “He asked that the Shekinah
(the glory of God) might rest upon Israel.” 2. “That the Shekinah might
rest upon none but Israel.” 3. “That God’s ways might be made known
unto him: and all these requests were granted.” (Cf. Berachotk, fol. 7,
col. 1.)

Such teachings as these from the Talmud might be multiplied
indefinitely.

THE AUTHORITY AND INFLUENCE OF THE TALMUD ON JUDAISM

The influence of the Talmud on Judaism has been measureless.

In the second, third, fourth, fifth, and part of the sixth centuries
which followed the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, the
Rabbinic schools of Palestine and Babylonia, where “the great book” was
thought out and compiled, became for the scattered people new centres,
where the old sacred learning was not only carried on, but made to
shine with a yet greater splendour--a splendour never possessed in any
of the ages of its long story.

And when the Book (the Talmud) was finally completed in the sixth
century it was recognized throughout the scattered Jewish people as
having put new life and new meaning into the sacred writings, which to
a certain extent, especially in the case of the Ritual Law, naturally,
after the fall of the Temple and the Holy City, had lost much of their
power and special application.

Then, as time went on, “the Book” became the strongest bond of union
between the exiles of the West and East; between the Jews of Rome and
Constantinople, of Alexandria and the distant East. And later, when the
old Empire of Rome was dissolved and the Teutonic tribes had become
masters of the Western world, the Talmud was still the bond of union
between all the Jews of “the Dispersion” through the Middle Ages.

Thus the Talmud has for centuries been the link which has welded into
one great people all the scattered Jewish race. For every professing
Jew has felt that the great compilation embodied all the ancient
cherished traditions of the people, and was persuaded that the Talmud
in some respects was equal to the Bible, especially as a source of
instruction and decision in the problems of religion.

It has preserved and fostered for some fifteen hundred years in the
“Dispersion” that spirit of deep religion and strict morality which
has kept the Jewish people separate and intact; and be it remembered
under the most unfavourable external conditions, for, with certain rare
exceptions, since the days of the Emperor Constantine and the victory
of Christianity the Jew has been generally hated, despised, persecuted,
an exile and a wanderer over the face of the earth.

In the Jewish race the study of the Talmud has awakened and stimulated
intellectual activity in an extraordinary degree. Its study has given
to the world of letters a vast number of scholars, men of the loftiest
character, belonging to the first rank of philosophers and writers,
whose works, limited though they mostly are by the Rabbinic area of
thought and speculation, have been of high service to civilization.

Among these great ones issuing from the Jews of no one land, and
who form a numerous band, it is difficult in this brief study to
particularize even the most distinguished, but the following names will
at once occur to any competent scholar as prominent examples of famous
men of the Rabbinic school, whose works have shed real light on the
so-called dark mediæval period:--

Raschi A.D. _circa_ 1040-1105

Maimonides " " 1135-1204

D. Kimchi " " 1158-1235

The names, however, of distinguished scholars and writers of the
Rabbinic school who have arisen during the last fifteen centuries in
different lands might be multiplied almost indefinitely.

And this people is with us still, more influential, probably more
numerous, than at any period of its immemorial history. The numbers at
the present day are variously computed as amounting to from seven to
eleven millions.

THE INFLUENCE OF THE TALMUD ON CHRISTIANITY

But not only among the Jewish peoples of the “Dispersion” has this
strange and wonderful book exercised a surpassing influence, but even
among the Christian nations of the world has its spirit percolated,
and in a remarkable way has influenced and coloured certain important
phases of religious thought and belief.

Among Christian peoples the Talmud is virtually unknown; to well-nigh
every individual in the Christian nations it is but the shadow of a
name, to the great majority scarcely even that; and yet the profound,
the awful reverence for the Old Testament Scriptures which lives among
all Christian folk, a reverence that often shades into a passionate
love, though they guess it not, springs largely out of the teachings of
that great Rabbinic book the _Talmud_, the very name of which so many
have scarcely heard.

For the Mishnah and Gemara which make up the Talmud, the thousand
treatises which have been written by learned Rabbis at different
periods during the last sixteen hundred years of the Jewish Dispersion,
are simply all comments upon, explanations and developments of
traditions and history bearing upon the Old Testament Scriptures,
the one precious heritage of the Jew handed down from generation to
generation of the Chosen People from time immemorial.

This story of the changeless love of the Hebrew race for their ancient
writings and records, which the Jew is never weary of reiterating, came
to him direct from God Almighty, and has found an echo in unnumbered
Christian hearts, and so it has come to pass that the Old Testament
Scriptures--the Torah (the Law) of Moses, the Prophets, and the other
sacred books--are received to this day with a deep reverential love as
the expression of the will of the Eternal of Hosts, alike in Christian
Churches as in the Jewish Synagogues.[169]

VII

(_A_) AN APPENDIX ON THE “HAGGADAH”

Before closing this little sketch of the Talmud and of the very early
Rabbinical writings, it will be well to give a somewhat more detailed
explanation of one of its more important features, which we have
already somewhat lightly touched upon--the “Haggadah.”

It is not too much to say that the widespread, the lasting popularity
of the mighty book--the Talmud--is largely owing to this special kind
of exposition, which includes the Historical, the Legendary, the
Homiletical, and the Comforting. It is absolutely peculiar to the
Talmud; there is nothing resembling it in the official or acknowledged
writings belonging to any other religious system.

In the Exile and in the lengthened period which directly followed
the Exile, _i.e._ in the five centuries which intervened between the
“Return from the Exile” and the Christian era, the Chosen People had
learned, as we have noticed, to love their Scriptures with a great
love, a love that may be termed a passion. It was then that the sacred
books became, and for long centuries remained, the centre of their
lives. The study of these books, the study which included research,
investigation, exposition, application to every event in their lives,
to every possible contingency which might happen to them, is known as
_Midrash_.

Legendary history which clustered round the events related in the
sacred books, details not chronicled in the text of the books, but
carefully treasured up, preserved and handed down, circumstances
more or less interesting and important connected with the lives of
the principal Biblical personages, were gradually gathered together,
were carefully sifted out and discussed by the scribes and doctors
of the law, and if finally received as authentic by the great Jewish
teachers, were written down[170] and handed on from generation to
generation.

This work and study especially connected with the non-legal portions of
the Scriptures known as “Haggadah,” certainly received a mighty impulse
in the times of the Scribes before the Christian era, and reached its
highest development in the famous Academies of Palestine and Babylonia
which arose after the events of A.D. 70. We may roughly compute this
great period of the development of the “Haggadah” as reaching from A.D.
72-100 to A.D. 500 or 550. The _creative_ Haggadic activity may be said
to have ceased after this last date.

Although “Haggadic” notices or comments appear not unfrequently in
the exclusively legal section of the Pentateuch, they belong more
especially to those Scriptures which treat of history, narrative,
and teaching--including, of course, the prophetic writings. In the
first instance the “Haggadic” Midrash confined itself to the simple
exposition of the Scripture text, but it very soon developed into
comments of a very varied nature, not unfrequently into homilies
inculcating religious truths and moral maxims, into disquisitions on
the past and future glories of Israel; roughly speaking, the “Haggadah”
on a passage or section of the canonical Scriptures endeavoured, by
penetrating beneath the mere literal sense, to arrive at the spirit of
the Scripture in question. In the Talmud (Sanhedrim Treatise) it has
been well compared to a hammer which awakens the slumbering sparks of a
rock.

Legendary additions, of course, form an important part of the Haggadah,
but these ancient traditions or legends by no means, as some suppose,
constitute the bulk of this vast and wonderful commentary on the
canonical or acknowledged Scriptures.

Among the sources where we find this curious Biblical literature which
has been a very important link in the Talmud chain which has been the
great bond of union of the scattered Jewish race for so many centuries,
of course primarily must be reckoned the Mishnah and the two Gemaras,
the Palestinian and the Babylonian, which constitute the Talmud.
Here are found many of those “Haggadic” comments which naturally are
regarded with the deepest reverence, as they have received the seal of
approval of the doctors of the great Academies of Sura, Pumbaditha, and
Tiberias, who flourished in the early centuries of the Christian era.

But there are “Haggadic” notices of great antiquity and in still
larger numbers preserved in writings which form the non-canonical
Mishnah, works subsidiary and auxiliary to the Mishnah proper, some
of which even date from the second and third century or even earlier,
and have ever possessed among the learned Jews a very high authority.
For example, in the Targums (Targumim) are very many pieces of an
“Haggadic” nature, not a few evidently of a remote antiquity and of the
highest interest.

It is, of course, impossible in the limits of such a brief sketch
of so vast a subject to give any adequate illustration of this
vast collection of Haggadah; we will simply quote two or three
examples taken from the Palestine Targum on the Torah on the Book of
Deuteronomy, where the original text is expanded by words of tradition
or legend, by homiletics, by words of teaching, of comfort and
encouragement.

* * * * *

From the Palestine Targum on the Torah (Deuteronomy chap, xxxiii.).
“And he (Moses) said: The Lord was revealed at Sinai to give the law
unto His people of Beth Israel, and the splendour of the glory of His
Shekinah arose from Gebal to give itself to the sons of Esau; but
they received it not. It shined forth in majesty and glory from Mount
Pharan, to give itself to the sons of Ishmael; but they received it
not. It returned and revealed itself in holiness unto His people of
Israel, and with Him ten thousand times ten thousand holy angels.
He wrote with His own right hand, and gave them His law and His
commandments, out of the flaming fire.”

* * * * *

“And he saw at the beginning that a place had been prepared there for
a sepulchre, a place strewn with precious stones and pearls, where
Mosheh the prophet, the scribe of Israel, was to be hidden, (who) as
he went in and out at the head of the people in this world, so will he
go in and out in the world to come; because he wrought righteousness
before the Lord, and taught the orders of the judgments to the sons of
Israel.”

* * * * *

“There is no God like the God of Israel, whose Shekinah and Chariot
dwell in the heavens. He will be your helper. He sitteth on His
glorious throne in His majesty, in the expanse of the heavens above.
The habitation of Eloha is from eternity; by the arm of His power
beneath the world is upborne. He will scatter your adversaries before
you, and will say by His Word, Destroy them. And Israel shall dwell
safely as of old according to the benediction with which Jakob their
father did bless them, for whose righteousness’ sake He will cause
them to inherit the good land that yieldeth corn and wine; the heavens
also above them will drop with the dews of blessing and the rains of
loving-kindness. Happy are you, O Israel: who of all the nations are
like you, a people saved in the Name of the Word of the Lord? He is the
shield of your help, and His sword, the strength of your excellency.”

* * * * *

From Deuteronomy chap. xxxiv. “Blessed be the Name of the Lord of the
world, who hath taught us His righteous way. He hath taught us to
clothe the naked, as He clothed Adam and Hava (Eve); He hath taught us
to unite the bridegroom and the bride in marriage, as He united Hava
(Eve) to Adam. He hath taught us to visit the sick, as He revealed
Himself to Abraham when he was ill from being circumcised; He hath
taught us to console the mourners, as He revealed Himself again to
Jakob when returning from Padan in the place where his mother had
died. He hath taught us to feed the poor, as He sent Israel bread from
heaven; He hath taught us to bury the dead by (what He did for) Mosheh;
for He revealed Himself in His Word, and with Him the companies of
ministering angels: Michael and Gabriel spread forth the golden bed,
fastened with chrysolites, gems, and beryls, adorned with hangings
of purple silk, and satin, and white linens. Metatron, Jophiel, and
Uriel, and Jephephya, the wise sages, laid him upon it, and by His Word
conducted him four miles, and buried him in the valley opposite Beth
Peor;--that Israel, as oft as they look up to Peor, may have the memory
of their sin; and at the sight of the burying-place of Mosheh may be
humbled; but no man knoweth his sepulchre unto this day.”

[Illustration: He, watch-ing o-ver Is-ra-el, slum-bers not, nor
sleeps.

(_From Mendelssohn’s Oratorio_, “Elijah.”)]

VIII

(_B_) ON THE “HALACHAH” AND “HAGGADAH”

We would add a few words further explanatory of the Halachah. The
Halachic Midrash (or exegesis and development of the passages of the
Law) dealt with the exact purport of the various Divine commands
contained in the Torah, or Law of Moses. It explained in detail how
these precepts were to be carried out in common life. It professed to
be nothing more than an exposition of the original Law; but in reality
it contained vast additions to what was written in the Books of Moses,
and claimed to possess an equal authority with the original charges
contained in the Pentateuch.

Roughly, these so-called Halachic developments were divided into three
classes or categories--

1. Halachah or commands traced back to Moses.

2. A great mass of Halachah--containing _traditional_ ordinances
professedly based on the original Mosaic commands, but in
reality connected with the Mosaic ordinances by the very
slightest of ties.

3. A number of enactments really only emanating from the schools
of the Scribes, but which were taught to be equally binding with
the original Pentateuch ordinances. These Halachah largely dated
from the years which preceded the Christian era; they were,
in the last half of the first century and during the second
century, codified and arranged in the Mishnah.

The general purport of the Halachic Midrash, which contains the rule
of Israelitic life and which so long occupied the Scribes and their
schools, was very largely connected in the first place with the
elaborate network of sacrifice, and the usages which followed and
preceded the many and complicated various offerings. The Halachah
might fairly be called The Law and Rule of Jewish Ritual. Its
subject-matter has been well and tersely summed up as follows: The
Halachic Midrash sought to establish, by laws which were absolutely
binding on every true Jew, the manner in which God desires to be
honoured; what sacrifices are to be offered to Him, what feasts and
fasts are to be kept in His honour, and generally what religious
rites are to be observed by the people. Other questions are, however,
discussed and resolved in the Halachah, but these other points fill
after all a comparatively small space in the great legal commentary
or ritual which occupies so important a place in the vast Talmud
compilation.

HAGGADAH

The writer of the foregoing “study” feels that a sadly incomplete
picture of the “Haggadah,” the popular division of the Talmud, has been
painted. A few more remarks on this singular and important portion of
the Talmud are given by way of further elucidation of this strange form
of exegesis (Midrash) of the Holy Scriptures.

We have already stated that broadly the “Halachic” Midrash or exegesis
belongs especially to the Books of the Pentateuch, and the “Haggadic”
Midrash rather to the other Books of the Old Testament writings.

But even in the Pentateuch, _narrative and history_ occupy a wide
space, and in the Pentateuch Midrash we find too a mass of Haggadic
commentary on the narrative and historic portions of the five Books of
Moses.

Here the “Book of Jubilees” (century 1) may be quoted as a striking
instance of early Haggadic Midrash or exegesis of Scripture. It
reproduces the Book of Genesis, and curiously amplifies and largely
supplements the original text.

Dwelling on the history of Creation, the Haggadic scribe tells us
how “in the twilight on the evening before the first Sabbath, ten
things were created--(1) The chasm in the earth, in which Korah and
his company were swallowed up. (2) The opening of Miriam’s well. (3)
The mouth of Balaam’s ass. (4) The Rainbow. (5) The Manna of the
Wilderness. (6) The famous Shamir, the worm which splits stones,
traditionally used in the making of the Tabernacle and its furniture.
(7) The Rod of Moses. (8) Alphabetic writing. (9) The writing of the
Tables of the Law. (10) The stone tables on which the Ten Commandments
were written.”

The devout student of the Old Testament will read with deep interest
the above-quoted reference to the purely Haggadic passage taken from
the “Book of Jubilees,” in which an allusion is made to the ass who
reproved Balaam.

This is one of the recitals in the Old Testament Scriptures which has
ever, for various reasons, been a difficulty, when regarded as a piece
of actual history. Its appearance in the “Book of Jubilees” among other
evidently Haggadic or purely legendary amplifications of the original
text, suggests that even in the Pentateuch the inspired compiler has
occasionally introduced in his narrative details which in the opinion
of the very early Scribes belonged evidently to the realm of Haggadah
or legend.

In the Haggadah of the Pentateuch a vast cycle of legends accompanies
the original Genesis account of famous heroes of Israelitic history,
such as Adam, Enoch, Abraham, Moses, and Aaron.

A good specimen of Haggadic legendary amplification is given above
in the extract from the Jerusalem Targum on Deut. xxxiv., where the
death of Moses and the circumstances attending his burial are related.
Again, one of the canonical writings of the Old Testament, the Book of
Chronicles, is a fair example of the less fanciful Haggadic historical
Midrash. Here the compiler of the book in question adds to the original
record of the Jewish kings a number of details not found in the Books
of Kings and in the older histories of Israel.

The Haggadah specially enlarges at great length, and with much detail,
the passages which even remotely refer to the future, to the angels,
and to the heavenly world; it amplifies all the mystic sections which
deal with the glory of the Eternal, such as the “chariot” of Ezekiel,
that wonderful introductory vision of his great prophecy.

Even in the New Testament Epistles and in the “Acts,” Haggadic
influence is noticeable in several well-known passages; for instance,
in S. Paul’s 2nd Epistle to Timothy iii. 8, the names of the Egyptian
magicians Jannes and Jambres, which do not appear in the Genesis
history, are given. A still more remarkable example of Haggadic
influence is the singular legendary account of the Rock in 1 Cor. x. 4,
where the rock from which, at Moses’ bidding, the water gushed forth
is represented as positively accompanying the Israelites during their
desert wanderings. Again, in Acts vii. 53, Gal. iii. 19, Heb. ii.
2, the Law is represented, not as given to Moses by God Himself, as
related in the Pentateuch, but as reaching him through the medium of
angels.

WOMEN’S DISABILITIES

Among the disabilities of the women[171] of Israel nothing is more
remarkable than the position they occupied in the public services of
the congregation. The Inner Court of the Temple, within which the whole
of the official worship was celebrated, was divided by a wall into two
divisions--a Western and an Eastern. The latter (the Eastern)--the more
remote from the Temple proper--was called “the Court of the Women,” not
however because none but women were admitted to it, but because women
as well as men were allowed to enter it.

The _Western_ division was reserved exclusively for men; in this
division stood the Temple proper, including the Holy Place and the Holy
of Holies.

In front of the Temple, to the West, stood the great altar of
burnt-offering, at which, except in the matter of incense-burning,
every act of sacrifice had to be performed. In this Western division of
the Inner Court the victims were slaughtered. The Temple itself with
the great altar of burnt-offering was again surrounded by an enclosure,
within which as a rule none but priests might enter. This enclosure was
sometimes called the Court of the Priests.

The men of Israel, however, being admitted into the Western division of
the Inner Court, were spectators of and so assisted at the sacrifices
offered on the great altar, from which they were only separated by the
enclosure--into which, however, in certain circumstances, they were
admitted.

But the women were never allowed to enter the Western division of the
Inner Court--never might pass the wall of separation--never as it were
assist at the sacrifices and the solemn ritual of the great altar which
stood at the Western entrance of the Temple.

INDEX

“Aboth,” treatise, 358 _n._ 1

Acilii Glabriones family, Crypt of, 265, 267, 268-9, 270-1;
was Pudens a member of?, 270

Acilius Glabrio, Consul, martyrdom of, 41-2, 230-1, 269

_Acta Sincera_, of Ruinart, on Martyrdom of Theban legion, 148
_n._ 1

_Acts of the Apostles_, Haggadic influence seen in, 379;
model of, 72;
on Christian assemblies, 107;
on S. Paul’s prison life at Rome, 22;
on status of women, 367 _n._ 1

_Acts of S. Cecilia_, in the light of catacomb discoveries, 289
_et seq._

_Acts of S. Hermes_, 274

_Acts of Martyrdom_, or _Acts and Passions of the Martyrs_,
archæological and literary corroboration of, 81, 82, 94
& _n._ 1
Critical estimates of, 81 & _nn._, 82, 258
Few in early days, 33, 35, 48, 53
Pagan contempt shewn in, 158
Value of, in exploring Catacombs, 226
on Numbers of Christians, 104
on Persecutions, 163

_Acts of the Martyred Slaves_, 136

_Acts of the Passion of S. Felicitas_, 299;
authenticity of, 300, 304

_Acts of Pastor and Timotheus_, tradition in, on Pudens and his
family, 263-5

_Acts of S. Valentinus_, 276

Ælia Capitolina, site of, 77;
insults at, to Christians, 78;
results of building, 332, 335-6 _et seq._

Ælius Verus, adopted by Hadrian, 83

Æneas, piety of, 87

Æneid, teaching of, 88

Africa (_see_ Carthage, _see also_ Egypt), Christian congregations
in, mid-second century, 36

Agaunum (S. Maurice), Martyrdom legend concerning, 148 _n._ 1

Agrippa, builder of Pantheon portico, 280

Akiba, Rabbi, eminence of, and of his pupils, 337, 354-6
Fate of, 355 _& n._ 1
Supporter of Bar-cochab, 78, 336-7
on Massorah, 362 _n._ 1

Alcuin, 278

Aldus Manutius, supporting Pliny’s letter, 46

Alemanni, death of, 283

Alexander, son of S. Felicitas, tomb of, 259

Alexandria, Jewish revolts in, 330, 334-5, 346;
literary support from, of Petrine tradition, 10, 13;
plague of, 155 _n._ 2

Alexandrian-Jewish influences in Revelation of S. John, 72

Allard, --, on Acilius Glabrio, 269;
on Archæology as rehabilitating legend, 289;
on Jewish fecundity, first century, in Rome, 5 _n._ 1;
on the Jews in the Augustan age, 4;
on Nero’s persecution and popular disgust, 42 _n._ 2;
on the Martyrdom of the Theban legion, 148 _n._ 1;
on Pliny’s letter, 46;
on S. Peter’s arrival in Rome, 19 _n._ 1;
on Trajan’s personality, 48
Translation by, of the Epitaph of Pope Damasus, 215 _n._ 1

Almsgiving, in the early Church, 113, 119-22, 123, 130 _et seq._,
138, 139

America, Civil War of, cause of, 135 _n._ 1

Amoraim, the, 345, 358 _n._ 1, 359

Amphitheatre games, horrors of, 50;
Martyrdoms in, 110, 172, 175-6;
training of Christians for, 198

Ampliatus, Chapel or Crypt of, Domitilla Cemetery, 240
Tomb of, identification of, 241-2

Anacletus, Pope, cemetery of, 287;
discoveries in, seventeenth century, 280 _et seq._
Memoriæ erected by, over tombs of SS. Peter and Paul, 233, 237,
281 _et seq._

Ananias and Sapphira, gift of, voluntary, 120 _n._ 1

Anchor, as Christian Emblem, 310

Angels, Haggadic references to, 378, 379

Animals, wild, in amphitheatre games, exposure to, of Christians,
&c., 175-6, 178, 183, 185, 187, 191, 203, 204, 269

Anniversaries of Martyrs, first celebrated, 35

Antioch (_see also_ Ignatius), literary support from, of Petrine
tradition, 9, 13

Antipas, martyr, 169

Antonines, the (_see also_ Antoninus Pius _and_ Marcus Aurelius),
reigns of, 63;
characteristics of, 84 _et seq._;
table of succession of, 83

_Antonins, Les_, by De Champagny, on Hadrian’s character, 77 _n._ 1;
on the number of Jews slain in the last wars, 338 & _n._ 2

Antoninus Pius, 186, 277;
adopted by, and successor to, Hadrian, 83;
family and character of, 83, 84, 85
Attitude of, to Christians, 158;
ignorance of their faith, 77
Coinage of, 87, 90
Persecutions by, and reasons for, 33, 80, 81, 84, 91-3, 95, 137,
163 _n._ 2, 194, 207
Relations of, with Hadrian, 83, 85

_Apocalypse_ of S. John, 72;
place of, in early Christian thought, 156-7;
references in, to Persecution, 37, 157, 165, 167-70

_Apologies, The_, of Justin Martyr, 128, 184
on Assemblies, 108, 113-4
on Persecution, 185-6

_Apology_ of Aristides, on Burial of the dead by Christians, 132,
133;
on Christian charity, 124 & _n._ 1, 126, 130, 138;
on Christians as civil judges, 148;
on Hospitality, 128;
on Slavery, 135

_Apology_, or _Embassy_, of Athenagoras, on Persecution, 188-9

_Apology_ of Tertullian, and the _Octavius_ of Minucius Felix, 186

Apostasy, encouraged by Roman rulers, 195, 197;
Hermas on, 181;
results of, 197, 203;
some causes, 201

_Apostolical Constitutions, The_, on Almsgiving, 122;
on Hospitality, 128

Apostolic Fathers, writings of, cast in Letter form, 73

_Apostolic Fathers_, by Lightfoot, _cited_ on Pliny’s Letters,
46 _n._ 1;
on S. Hippolytus, 251

Apostolic remains, authors and form of, 73;
characteristics and special value of, _ib._, meant for
publication, 74 _& n._ 1

Apronienus, catacomb of, 248

Aquila and Priscilla, associations of, with S. Paul, and with
Pudens, 265-6;
burial-place of, 262, 266;
church founded by, 262

Arch of Titus, witness of, 333 _& n._ 1

Archæological Relics of S. Peter, Chair, and place of baptism, 12

Archæology, witness of, to literature and tradition (_see also_
Catacombs), 17, 19 _n._ 1, 81, 82, 108, 147, 152 _n._ 1,
209 _et seq._, 289, 295, 298, 304
to Pagan and Christian views on Death, 154-5
to Social Status of many early Christians, 111-2

Arenaria, in Jordani catacomb, 260

Aristides, _see Apology_ of, _supra_

Aristotle, works of, 146

Arles, Church of S. Hippolytus at, 255

Armellini, Prof., on Inscription concerning S. Agnes, 256-7;
Ubaldi’s memoranda published by, 281;
work of, in Catacomb exploration, 239

Army, Christians in, 148 _& n._ 1

Arnold, Matthew, on the Good Shepherd with the Kid, 320

Arsacius, Letter to, from Emperor Julian, on Christian
characteristics, 123 _n._ 1, 128, 131

Arval Brotherhood, College of, 236;
M. Aurelius a member, 95 _n._ 1

Asia, Christian congregations in, mid-second century, 36

Asia Minor (_see also_ Antioch, &c.), 71
Christianity in (_see also_ Pliny’s Letter), founder, and
effects on Paganism, and spread of, 51, 107
S. John’s prominence in, 9

Assemblies, Christian, composition of, 110-12, 113, 114, 240, 242
Importance of, 101;
evidenced in literary references, 107-9
Joy in, 155
Places where held (_see also_ Catacombs), 139
Proceedings at, various writers _cited_, 113 _et seq._
References to, in N.T. and later writers, Christian and Pagan,
107 _et seq._
Sunday, 108;
observance of, Justin Martyr on, 113-4
Teaching, doctrines and ritual at, 101, 113 _et seq._, 124, 126,
128-30, 131-3, 138, 139

Astolphus, 293

Athenagoras, 319 _n._ 1;
on Persecutions, 188-9

Attire, Rigourist teaching on, 153-4

Aubé, on the Acts of S. Felicitas, 300;
on Domitian’s persecution, 42 _n._ 2;
on Trajan’s Rescript, 49

Augustus Cæsar, 91, 280;
attitude of, to Imperial cultus, 42;
favour shown by, to the Jews, 3;
and the source of Rome’s greatness, 88, 89

Ausonius, poems of, 64

Autolycus, letters or books to, from Theophilus of Antioch, 108-9,
189

Auvergne, 66

Aventine Hill, church on, 262;
house, &c., of Pudens on, 12, 15

Avitus, made Emperor, 65

Baba-Bathra treatise, in the Talmud, 343 _n._ 1

Babylon, mystic name for Rome, 8, 10, 14

Babylonia (_see also_ Exile), Jews in, 346
Rabbinic Schools of, 326, 362-3, 368, 373
Chief, 358 _n._ 1
Mode of teaching in, 357, 358-60
Work of, 344, 345, 346, 372

Babylonian Gemara, the, 356 _& n._ 4
Talmud, the, 345,
Haggadic notices in, 358 _n._ 1

Baiæ, death at, of Hadrian, 83

Balaam and his ass, Haggadah on, 377, 378

Balbina, tomb of, 247

Baptisteries (_see also_ Wells) in Catacombs of Pontianus, and
S. Priscilla, 236

Baptistery of S. Peter, site of, identified by Marucchi, 12, 257,
267, 271-3

Barberini (Pope Urban VIII), epigram on, 280

Bar-cochab, false Messiah, cause of last war of the Jews, 336-7;
his Rabbinical supporters, 78, 336-7, 354, 355

Barnabas, Epistle of, _see_ Epistles

Barnes, --, _cited_ on Neronic burning of Christians, 285-6;
on S. Peter’s tomb, 281 _& n. et seq._

Baronius, Cardinal, 263;
present at finding of S. Cecilia’s body, 294 _& n._ 1, 297;
on S. Petronilla, 277

Basil of Cappadocian Cæsarea, 138

Basilicas:--
of S. Lawrence “ad Corpus,” Popes buried in, 250
Domitilla, 278
Prætextatus, 247
SS. Hermes and Basilissa, 274-5
in Cœmeterium Majus, subterranean, 258
in Rome, third century number and appointments of, 112
Ruined, crypts beneath, 228
of S. Agnes, 256-7
of S. Cecilia, 292, 293 _et seq._
of S. Felicitas, 302
of S. Hippolytus, 251, 254
of S. Laurence, 250, 254
of S. Sylvester, burials in, 266 _& n._ 1, 272
When and why erected, 272

Benson, Archbishop, on S. Cyprian, 122 & _n._ 1, 127 _n._ 1

Bernini, Baldacchino by, in S. Peter’s, discoveries on erection of,
233 _n._ 1, 280 _et seq._

Bethel, the old prophet of, 321

Bethia, Zealot headquarters, 336

“Billicum confessionis,” nature of, that of S. Peter, 237, 282

Bishops and Popes of Rome (_see under_ Names), claim to be
successors of S. Peter, undisputed, 16
Catalogues of, on date of Linus’s accession, 14;
to Eleutherius, 15
Early, buried around S. Peter, _see_ Papal Crypt

Bithynia and Pontus, 57, 58, 62
Christians in (_see also_ Pliny’s letter), 27, 32, 35 _n._ 1,
45 _et seq._, 50, 71, 75, 77, 103 _& n._ 2, 110, 177

Bliss, instant, after Death, Christian hope of, 156

“Book of Jubilees,” subject-matter of, 377, 378

Borghesi, Cardinal, 300;
re-interment by, of S. Sebastian, 244

Bosio, --, pioneer of Catacomb exploration, 223-4;
present at discovery of S. Cecilia’s body, 294 _& n._ 1, 297

Bourges, mention at, of S. Petronilla as S. Peter’s daughter, 278

Brescia, relics of S. Hippolytus at, 255

Brotherhood character of early Christianity, 38, 122-3, 270

Builders, of Basilicas, &c., injury done by, to Catacombs, 250, 257

Burial customs, Jewish, Christian, and Pagan, 4, 5, 131-3, 264

Bury St. Edmunds, cult of S. Petronilla in, 278

Cæcilian family, the, Christians and martyrs of, burial-place of,
245, 291, 296-7 _& n._ 1

Cæcilius, pagan interlocutor in _Octavius_ of Minucius Felix, 146,
186;
arguments of, source of, 145;
contempt of, for Christians, 158;
on Christian love, 119, 129

C. Aurelius, Censor, 233

Caius, Bishop or Pope of Rome, burial-place of, identified, 231;
martyred relations of, 259 _n._ 1

Caius, Presbyter, 282;
on the Memoriæ of the Apostles in Rome, 11

Caligula, Emperor, and the Imperial cultus, 42 _n._ 1

Callistus, Bishop or Pope of Rome, and martyr, once a slave, 136
_n._ 1
Cemetery or Catacomb of, 234, 236-7, 239, 240, 242, 244-6, 251,
261
Inscription of Damasus once in, on numbers of martyrs, 215
_& n._ 1
Papal burial-place (_q.v._), 231, 245-6, 273

Callistus group of Catacombs, 212

Carthage, Church of (_see also_ S. Cyprian), aid from, to other
Churches, 131
Literary support from, of Petrine tradition, 10-11, 13
Plague at, charity of S. Cyprian and his flock during, 123
_n._ 1, 127

“Catacombas, ad,” _see_ S. Sebastian

Catacombs or Cemeteries, _see also under_ Names of Saints, _&c.,
and under_ Via, _and see_ Inscriptions, Itineraries, and
Translation
Decorations of, deductions from, 133, 147, 219, 220, 221
Exploration of--
beginning, 223 _& n._ 1
progress, 224 _et seq._
results, 219, 220-1, 224, 225, 230 _et seq._
Workers, _see_ Bosio, De Rossi, Marchi, Marucchi
Extent and content of, 133 _et seq._, 220, 233 _et seq._
Jewish burials in, 4
Literature bearing on, 209-14, 226-8
Number of, De Rossi on, 232
Origin of, in general, 38
Rediscovery of, 223 _& n._ 1, 244
Restorations of, by Pope Damasus, 152 _n._ 1
Teaching in, _passim_;
on Death, 309-11
Three oldest, 266
Tombs in, _passim_
Uses of, 133, 139, 220 _et alibi_;
for worship, 118, 253, 258
Witness of, to _Acts of Martyrs_, 81, 82
to Christ, 308, 310, 311, 316-20 _& nn._
to Early Christian history and tradition, 105, 111-2, 133, 163
_n._ 1, 209 _et seq._, 219-21

Catalogues of Roman Bishops on date of Linus’s accession, 14

Celestinus, Pope, burial-place of, 272

Cemeteries (_see also_ Catacombs), Christian names for, 155

Cerinthian heresy, 23 _n._ 1

Chair of S. Peter, long shown, 12

Charity among Jews in Rome, 4

Charlemagne, 278

Christ, Sayings of, 366
Teaching of, contrasted with Talmudic, 366-8
With a Kid, Tertullian on, 319;
M. Arnold’s verses on, 320
Witness to, of the Catacombs, 308, 310, 311, 316-20 _& nn._

_Christian Institutions_, by Dean Stanley, on the Good Shepherd,
318 _& n._ 1, 319 _n._ 1

Christian, name treated as crime, 39, 189, 191
Relatives of Emperors, 110, 112, 148, 240, 241
Religion, powerful factor in spread of, 102-3
Testimony to spread of Christianity, in the New Testament and
after, 107-9
Unity, its double bond of Doctrine and Love, 118-9
Writers, early, on Numbers of Christians, 101, 208;
words _cited_, 103-6
on Persecutions, &c., 36, 37, 81, 82, 163-5, 166-7, 177-91, 208;
words _cited_, 103-6

Christianity, _see also_ Martyrs, Persecutions, _&c._
Early, connection of, with Judaism, 325
Growth of, 37 _et seq._, 107, 150 _& n._ 1, 151
Importance to, of history of the Jews after the last Wars, 326
_et seq._
of the Talmud, 326, 327, 348, 370 _& n._ 1
Influence on, of Rabbinical studies, 326-7
Menace of, to Judaism after the Dispersion, 355
Roman view of, after Jewish War of Extermination, 78, 79, 80

Christians, _see_ Pliny’s Letter, _see also_ Idol-worship, Incense,
_and_ Persecutions
Accused of burning Rome, 27;
and burned by Nero, 28-9
Classes composing, 101, 110-12, 148, 240, 241, 291, 296-7 _& n._
1, 299, 307-8
Discriminated from Jews, 27, 30, 92, 164, 341
Expelled from Rome by Claudius, 25
Fanatics among, 97
Guerdon of the faith of, 154 _et seq._
Jewish opposition to, in Rome, 18
Life of, in early days, 33-7, 101 _et seq._, 78-81, 140 _et seq._
Numbers of, and of Martyrs (_q.v._), 28, 46 _n._ 1, 53, 215;
witnesses to, 82 _& n._ 1, 101, 103-6
Schools of teaching among, two, 101

Christology of the Catacombs, 220;
of S. Paul, 23-4

_Chronicles_, Book of, Haggadic expansion of, 378

Church calendars, Martyrs first mentioned in, 208

_Church, The, in the Empire_, _cited, see under_ Ramsay

Church of the Propaganda, S. Hyacinthus’s remains in, 275

Church of Rome (_see also_ Rome, Christians in, _&c._), early
importance of, 16, 17

Cicero, the first great letter-writer, epistolary style of, 67, 71;
fashion set by, 56-7, 58, 64;
period of, 56;
popularity of, 69
on the Jews in Rome, 3;
on Slaves, 134

Circumcision forbidden to Jews in Rome, 335

Civil service, Christians in, 144, 145, 148-9

Civil War, U.S.A., causes of, 135 _n._ 1

Claudian, poems of, 64

Claudius, Emperor, 235;
expulsion by, of Jews, from Rome, 8, 18, 25;
S. Peter at Rome during reign of, 11, 12, 14

Claudius Gothicus, Emperor, martyrs in reign of, 262, 276

Clement of Alexandria, 179;
teaching of, 138;
writings by, _see Pædagogus_;
_cited_ in support of Petrine tradition, 10, 13;
on Christians living in the world, 146;
on Christians of wealth, 111 _& n._ 1

Clement VIII, Pope, and the finding of S. Cecilia’s body, 294, 297;
and S. Peter’s tomb, 282

Clermont, Sidonius Apollinaris, bishop of, 66

Clitumnus fountain, Pliny’s description of, 60

“Clivium Cucumeris, ad,” Catacomb so called, 275

Codex Sinaiticus, _The Shepherd_ of Hermas included in, 179-80

Cœlian Hill, church on, Saints buried in, 249

“Cœmeterium Majus,” chief interest of, and other names of, 255,
257-8;
subterranean church in, 258

Cœmeterium Ostrianum, 255, 257, 271

“Cognitiones,” the, 43, 50

Cologne, relics of S. Laurence at, 255

Colosseum, the, martyrdoms in, 172

Column of the Passion, at S. Zeno’s chapel, 263

_Commentaries_ on the Gospels, &c., by Theophilus of Antioch, 189

Commodilla, catacomb of, 236, 238

Commodus, Emperor, 333 _n._ 2;
_Apology_ of Athenagoras addressed to, 188
Attitude of, to Christians, 97, 147, 164, 208

Communion of Saints, early Christian view on, 307 _et seq._

Communism and the early Church, 120 _& n._ 1, 130

Constantine the Great (_see also_ Peace of the Church), 197, 369
Basilicas built by, to
S. Agnes, 256-7
S. Paul, 237, 238
S. Peter, 233, 237-8, 273, 279-80, 282-3
Edict of Milan issued by, 150
Memoria built by, to S. Laurence, 250

Corinth, Epistles to, of S. Clement, S. Ignatius, S. Paul, and Pope
Soter, _see under_ Epistles
Literary support from, of Petrine tradition, 10, 13
SS. Peter and Paul at, 10

Cornelius, Bishop or Pope, of Rome, and martyr, tomb of, 243;
discovery of, 246
on Almsgiving by the Roman Church, 105, 120;
on the number of the Christians at Rome, 105, 106

Council, the, of Jerusalem, 8

“Couples,” the, and the oral Law, 339, 340

Crassus, Consul, 56

Creation legends in “Book of Jubilees,” 377-8

Cremation, not practised by Jews, 4

Crescentius, martyr, tomb of, 266

Cross on S. Peter’s sarcophagus, 282-3

Cruelty, Pagan and Christian, Rutilius on, 159

Crusaders, Itineraries for, 210, 227

Crypts, famous, _see_ Acilii Glabriones Lucina, Papal, Platonia,
Prætextatus, SS. Cecilia, Januarius, Priscilla, Silanus, _&c._
Age of, how determined, 267
Identification of, by De Rossi, 225, 230 _& n._ 1, 242
Local indications of presence of, 228-9

Cureton, Canon, and the Ignatian Epistles, 173 _n._ 1

Cyprus, Zealot revolt in, 334-5

Cyrene, Jews of, 346;
revolt of, 334-5

Cyrinus, martyr, tomb of, 243

Damasus, Pope, 263, 272, 301
Epistle of, honouring S. Felicitas, 259
Inscriptions of, aid of, to Catacomb explorers, 229-30;
one _cited_ on many martyrs buried together, 215 _& n._ 1
and the Martyrs at tomb of SS. Chrysanthus and Daria, 261
Work of, in the Catacombs, decoration, inscriptions, and epitaphs,
152 _n._ 1, 215 _& n._ 1, 229-30, 249, 252, 275, 291-2, 296
_n._ 1, 297, 302, 305

Daniel, the prophet, and Idol-worship, 149
Book of, _cited_ on Almsgiving, 121

David, King, 352

Dead, burying of, by Early Christians, 120, 131-3, 264

Death, Christian attitude to, 154-5, 309, 311
Pagan attitude to, 59 _n._ 1, 83, 313-4

De Boissier, --, on Pliny’s letter, 46;
on the School for Martyrdom, 198 _n._ 1

De Broglie, --, on Toleration shown by early Christian teachers,
142-3

De Champagny, --, on Hadrian’s character, 77 _n._ 1;
on number of Jews destroyed in the last wars, 338 _& n._ 2

Decius Aurelius, Emperor, persecutions under, 40, 97, 163 _n._ 2,
250, 254;
martyrs in, 236;
reason for, 194

Decoration of Catacombs, evidence from, and teaching of, 225, 267,
268, 269, 292, 301-2, 308 _et seq._;
portraits among, 296;
value of, to explorers, 229

Deissmann, Prof., on the Epistles, as written for publication, 71

Deities associated with Rome, 87, 89

De Rossi, G., Archæological work of, 209, 239, 246, 260, 261, 267
Excavations and discoveries by, 12, 42, 224, 246, 247, 254, 266
_n._ 1, 274
Results, 225, 230 _et seq._
Value to, of Itineraries, 226 _et seq._, 242, 243, 246, 247
on Acilius Glabrio, 269;
on the _Acts of S. Felicitas_, 300;
on Cœmeterium Majus as S. Peter’s Baptistery, 257;
on Common tombs of martyrs, 215 _n._ 1;
on Crypt of Lucina, 245;
on Epitaphs in the Catacombs, 310;
on the “Ostrian” Cemetery, 255, 257;
on the place of martyrdom of S. Chrysanthus, 260;
on Pudens, 265, 270;
on S. Cecilia’s burial-place, 289, 291, 292, 293 _n._ 1, 295-7,
298;
on scenes of S. Peter’s work, 12, 257, 267, 271;
on S. Petronilla, 277;
on S. Priscilla’s Catacomb, 261-2;
on the Tomb of Ampliatus, 241-2;
on the Tombs of Sons of S. Felicitas, 301-2

Despots, the malady of, 26, 82

Deuteronomy, Rabbinic claim for last verses of, 343, 364

“Devising new things,” a crime under Domitian, 269

_Dialogue with the Jew Trypho_, by Justin Martyr, 184;
on Persecution, 185-6

Diana, worship of, 195

_Didaché_, the, teachings of, 138;
on Almsgiving, 121, 123;
on Assemblies, 108;
on Hospitality, 128;
on Slaves and Masters, 135

Dill, Prof., _cited_ on Roman wish for posthumous remembrance, 59
_n._ 1

Diocletian, Emperor, 75
Baths of, 302
Christian relations of, 148
Christians at Court of, 147
Persecutions under, 97, 163 _n._ 2, 236, 244, 246, 249, 266
Martyrs in, 234, 239, 259 _n._ 1, 260, 276;
official records of Roman martyrdoms destroyed in his reign,
225
Protracted, light on, from Catacombs, 231
Reasons for, 42 _& n._ 1, 194
Severity of, reaction after, 151

Diognetus, Letter to, by unknown writer, on Persecution, 177-8;
suggested date, 178 _& n._ 1

Dion Cassius, 75, 269;
on Domitian’s executions, 41;
on the last wars of the Jews, 338 _n._ 1;
on Nerva’s treatment of Christians, 171

Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria, on Christians at Court, 147;
on Roman generosity to other Churches, 131

Dionysius of Corinth, _cited_ on Alms to other Churches from Rome,
130-1;
in support of Petrine tradition, 10, 13

Dionysius, Pope, martyr, tomb of, 243

Docetic teaching, heresy of, 23 _n._ 1

“Domine quo vadis,” Church, and legend of, 239

Domitian, Emperor, Arch of Titus finished by, 333 _n._ 1
Christian relatives of, 110, 112;
burial-place of, 240, 241
Emperor-worship enforced by, 170
Fate of, 42 _& n._ 2, 43, 48, 171
Persecutions under, 32, 171, 172, 173, 174, 207, 255, 269;
reasons for, and severity of, 40-2, 194
Triumph of, 333

Domitilla, catacomb of, 261
Age, grandeur, and size of, 240, 266
Basilica in, 278
Builder of, 112
Discovery of, 230;
and discoveries in, 239, 240-2
Flavian tombs in, 277
S. Petronilla buried in, 279

Domitilla, two Princesses so named, martyred by Domitian, 41, 230

Doulcet,--, ref. to, 300

Dove, in Christian symbolism, 310

Drei, Benedetto, plan by, of Vatican Cemetery (ancient), 287-8

Dryden, John, poem by on S. Cecilia, 294 _n._ 1

Duchesne,--, on Christianity as equivalent to Martyrdom, 37;
on _The Shepherd_ of Hermas, 179 _& n._ 1, 181;
on S. Cecilia’s burial-places, 293 _n._ 1;
term used by, for Church of Rome, 16 _& n._ 1

Eadburg, Queen, 279

Early Christian writers and teaching on Slavery, 135, 136-7

Ebert and others on relative dates of Tertullian and Minucius
Felix, 186

Edict against Christians issued by Nero, 32, 54;
of Milan, 150

Education, difficulties concerning, of Early Christians, 141-2

_Église, L’, Chrétienne_, ref. by Renan, on Hermas’s _Shepherd_,
180

_Église, L’, et l’Empire Romain_, by De Broglie, on early Christian
toleration, 142-3

Egypt, _see_ Alexandria

Einsiedeln, Itinerary of, _cited_, 212;
date, 227
“Syllogæ” at, 230

Elders and Judges, and the Law, 339, 349

_Elements of the Faith_, by Theophilus of Antioch, 189

Eleutherius, Bishop or Pope of Rome, burial-place of, 287;
list of predecessors of, 15

Elisha, prophet, on Ceremonial idolatry, 149

Emblems used in the Catacombs, 310 _et alibi_

Emperor-worship, 42 _& n._ 1, 169, 170, 181, 194, 195

England, crusade of, against Slavery, Lecky on, 135 _n._ 1

Ephesians, Epistles to, _see_ Epistles

Ephesus, the “highway of martyrs,” 173

Epistles or Letters, anonymous, _see_ Diognetus, Hebrews, Polycarp
Apostolic, 73-4;
on Persecution, 165, 166-7
of New Testament writers, 70-2
Catholic, 71, 72
Pastoral, 72
Patristic, on Persecution, 165, 170-6
by Various writers, Christian and Pagan;
_see also_ S. Cyprian
Barnabas, 74
on Assemblies, 108;
on Christ’s atonement, 116-7
tradition on, 73
Cicero, 56-7, 58, 64, 67, 69, 71
Dionysius of Corinth to the Roman Church, 130-1
Fronto, to M. Aurelius, 63-4 _& n._ 1, 85, 86-7
Horace, 69 _n._ 1
Julian, Emperor, to Arsacius, 123 _n._ 1, 128, 131
Ovid, 69 _n._ 1
Pliny the younger (_q.v._), 57, 59-62
Polycarp, 73, 125
S. Clement of Rome,
to the Corinthians, 73
First, 37, 104 _& n._ 2, 126, 128, 165, 170-2;
teaching of, 138;
_cited_ in support of Petrine tradition, 9
Second, so called, 104 _n._ 2, 121 _& n._ 1
S. Ignatius of Antioch, 73
Authenticity of, 165, 172-3 _& n._ 1
to Corinth, 108, 172-6
to Ephesus, 173
to Magnesians, 174
to Polycarp, 108
to Rome, 9, 37, 154, 173, 174-5, 199, 204-5
to Tralles, 173
S. James, meant for publication, 71;
on Assemblies, 107;
on wealthy Christians, 110;
on “pure religion,” 126
S. John,
First, meant for publication, 71, 72
Third, on Hospitality, 129
S. Jude, meant for publication, 71, 72
S. Paul, two classes of, 70-2
to Colossians, 23-4, 70
to Corinthians, 21
First, 134-5;
Haggadic influence in, 379
Second, 71
to Ephesians, nature of, 23, 70
to Galatians, 21, 135, 379
to Philemon, 71, 134
to Philippians, 23, 70, 154
to Romans, 17, 19 _& n._ 1, 21, 24, 107, 129;
Linus mentioned in, 283
to Thessalonians, 21
to Timothy, First and Second, 72, 379
to Titus, 72, 135
on the Church at Jerusalem, and its poverty, 120 _n._ 1,
130
S. Paulinus of Nola to Sulpicius Severus, on his slave, 136-7
S. Peter, First, 71, 129;
date and place of writing, 8 _& n._ 1, 16, 18, 19, 51, 107,
135, 165, 166 _n._ 1, 167;
to whom addressed, 107
Seneca, 57, 69, 71;
to Lucilius, 29
Sidonius Apollinaris, 64, 66-7
Soter, to Corinth, 104
Theophilus of Antioch, to Autolycus, 108-9, 189

Epitaphs (_see also_ Inscriptions) in the Catacombs, Characteristics
of, Christian, 154-5, 307-9;
Pagan, 154-5, 313-4

Equality without democracy among Early Christians, 38

Eschatologic trend of the Haggadah, 378

Esquiline Hill, church on, 262

Essenes, the, 330

Europe, Christian congregations in mid-second century, 36

Eusebian catalogue of Roman Bishops, value of, in support of Petrine
tradition, 14, 15,
Armenian version of above, _ib. ib._

Eusebius, Bishop or Pope of Rome, 128, 147, 187-8;
attempted exculpation by, of Trajan, 49;
burial-place of, 243;
identified, 243
_cited_ in support of Petrine tradition, 10, 11-12, 14;
on Almsgiving, 120, 127;
on high offices filled by Christians, 149;
on the Plague, and on Christian charity, 127;
on Pliny’s correspondence with Trajan, 45;
on Theophilus of Antioch, 189

Evander, home of, 87

_Évangiles, Les_, by Renan, _cited_ on Pliny’s letter, 46 _n._ 1;
on Trajan as persecutor, 49

Evaristus, Bishop or Pope of Rome, burial-place of, 287

_Exhortatio ad Martyrum_, by Origen, 199

Exile of the Jews, in Babylonia,
Effect of, on their character, 348, 361, 371
Return from,
Rise of the Scribes on, 343, 356
Talmud, origin of, coeval with, 348

Ezra, 342, 343

Fabius, Bishop of Antioch, 105

Faith, in Early Christian Church, 39

Fame, posthumous, Roman yearning for, 59 _& n._ 1, 65

Family life, early Christian difficulties in, 140-1

Fasting, early Church, 124 _& n._ 1;
Rigourist teaching on, 153

Filocalus, Furius Dionysius, inscriptions cut by, 230;
fame of, 301

Fire of Rome, the great, 25;
attributed to Nero, 26-7, 28, 31, 285;
consequence of, to Christians and to Jews, 27-30
Martyrdom by, 28-30, 256;
unusual, 275

Fish, mystic, explained, 310, 316-7 _& n._ 1

Flaccus, 3

Flavian Emperors, the (_see also_ Domitian, Titus, _and_
Vespasian), persecutions under, and reasons for, 39-42, 163
_n._ 1, 172, 173, 174;
tombs of, 277

Flavianus, Pope, martyr, tomb of, 243

Flavius Clemens, Consul, martyred by Domitian, 41

Florus, Procurator of Judea, 330

Forgiveness of Sin, consciousness of, joy from, 155-6

Formula for reply, of possible Martyrs, 199

Fortitude under Torture, Justin Martyr on, 185;
moral effect of, Lecky on, 193-4;
Roman view, 193, 205

Forum, the, 86, 89

Freedmen, in Rome, 137

Freeman, Prof., on S. Petronilla’s altar, at Gloucester, 279

Friedländer,--, views of, on Trajan’s Rescript, 49

Fronto, 95, 145;
contempt of, for Christians, 158;
correspondence with Marcus Aurelius and his colleague, 63-4;
letters of, on Antoninus Pius, 85, 86-7

Galatians, Epistle to, _see_ Epistles

Galba, Emperor, 39, 331

Gallerius, Emperor, and the cemeteries, 237

Gallus, Cestius, siege by, of Jerusalem, 330

Gamaliel, the elder, 366

Gaul (_see also_ Lyons, Vienne, _&c._), Visigoth invasion of, 66

_Gemara_, the, 344-5 _& n._ 1, 346, 362, 370;
basis of, 358 _n._ 1, 360, 361;
exclusive spirit in, 366-8;
extravagances of, 347;
Rabbis of, 358, _n._ 1, 359;
study of, 362-3;
two versions of, 356 _& n._ 4

Generosa, catacomb of, 235, 236

_Genesis_, Book of, Haggadic commentary on, 377-8

Gentle School of Christian teaching, 101, 157

Gieseler,--, views of, on Trajan’s Rescript, 49

Ginsberg, Dr., work of, on Massoretic notes, 363-4

Gloucester Abbey, altar and chapel of S. Petronella at, 279

Gnosticism, rise of, concurrent with Rabbinism, 326
Teachers of, classes addressed by, 112 _n._ 1

_Golden Age, The, of the Church_ (by author), _cited_, on Saints’
power over Animals, 176 _n._ 1

Good Shepherd, the, paintings of, in Catacombs, 248, 301, 308, 310,
317-20 _& nn._

Gospel, the, at Rome, problem of its beginnings, tradition as to
founder, 7;
literary quotations sustaining, 8, 9 _et seq._

Gospels (_see also under_ Names), Canonical, in circulation _temp._
Antonines, 96;
form of, 72;
power of, 103;
woman’s position in, 367 _& n._ 1

Government service, Christians in, difficulties of, 141, 144, 145,
147, 148-9

Graffiti in the Catacombs, 248, 251, 259

Great Synagogue, the Men of, 339, 340

Greece (_see also_ Corinth), S. Paul’s missionary success in, 107

Gregory the Great, additions by, to Basilica of S. Paul, 238;
and the Monza labels, 214, 228, 303-4;
homily by, on S. Felicitas, 305;
prayer of, for Trajan, 49;
on the _Acts_ of S. Felicitas, 300;
on reverence for tombs of great Saints, 283

Gregory IV, Pope, 275

Hadrian, Emperor, 104, 164, 182, 274;
accession and reign of, authorities on, 75;
buildings by, at Jerusalem, 77-8, 332, 335-6 _et seq._;
character of, 75, 85;
cities founded by, 76 _n._ 1;
death, last days, and insanity of, 82-3, 84, 335
Persecutions by, and attitude towards Christianity, 77, 81-3, 163
_n._ 2, 247;
reason for, 194
Rescript of, 80;
effect of, 180
Villa of, 82
Wars of, 325
Zealot revolt under, 334

Haggadah, the, 343 _& n._ 2, 344;
detailed explanation of, 371 _et seq._, 377-9;
Divine inspiration claimed for, 365;
edited by R. Akiba, 356;
in the Exile, and after, 349-50, 351 _& n._ 1, 371 _et seq._;
Talmud popularity largely due to, 371;
sources of, 372-3

Haggadic notices, nature of, 373;
where met with, 358 _n._ 1, 372, 373

Haggai, the prophet, and the oral Law, 339

Hagiographa, Divine inspiration ascribed to, 365

Halachah, the, 343 _& n._ 2, 344, 349, 350;
developments of, 376-7;
discussions on, 360;
editions of, by R. Akiba, 354-6,
by “Rabbi,” 358 _n._ 1;
reduced to writing by “Rabbi,” 372 _& n._ 1

Harnack, A., on authorship of _2nd Epistle_ of Clement of Rome,
104 _n._ 2;
on _The Shepherd_ of Hermas, its date, 179 _& n._ 1;
and various classes in the Church, 124-5;
on the Martyrdom of Theban legion, 148 _n._ 1;
on numbers of early Christians, inference from size of Catacombs,
105-6 _& n._ 1;
on the _Pædagogus_ of Clement of Alexandria, 111 _n._ 1

Hebrews, Epistle to the, 71, 72;
Haggadic influence seen in, 379;
on Christian Assemblies, 107;
on Charity, 130;
on Hospitality, 128-9;
on Persecution, 165, 166

Hegesippus, list by, of Roman Bishops, 15

Heracleon, Gnostic teacher, 112 _n._ 1

Heresies and Heretics, first century, at Rome, 22, 23 _& n._ 1

Heretical teachers, second century, successful contentions of
Christians with, 37

Hermas, author of _The Shepherd_ (Pastor) (_q.v._), 136 _n._ 1, 178;
teaching of, 138, 179, 182-3

Herod Antipas, and S. Peter, 19 _n._ 1

Herod family, 3, 329

Herod the Great, 340

Herodians, 329

Hilary of Poitiers, on persecuting Roman Emperors, 40 _& n._ 3

Hillel, 356;
attempt of, to edit Mishnah material, 351;
codification work of, 356 _n._ 1;
and Shammai, 339,
debt to, of Rabbinism, 340

_Histoire Ancienne de l’Église_, by Duchesne, _cited_, 16 _& n._ 1,
179 _& n._ 1, 181, 293 _n._ 1

_Histoire des Persécutions_, by Allard (_q.v._), _cited_, 19 _n._ 1,
42 _n._ 1, 48

_Histoire des Persécutions_, by Aubé, _cited_, on Domitian, 42
_n._ 2

_Historia Monasterii S. Petri Gloucestriæ_, on Royal burials near S.
Petronilla’s altar, 279

_Histories of Tacitus_ (_q.v._), the Lost, passage from (alleged) on
destruction of the Temple, 331 _& n._ 1, 332

_History of European Morals_, by Lecky, on Christian charity, 137-8;
on Christian fortitude and its effects, 193-4;
on Christianity, causes of its spread, 150 _& n._ 2;
on Slavery, 134, 135 _& n._ 1, 136 _n._ 1

Honorius, Emperor, 56, 252-3;
and the Basilica of S. Paul, 238

Honorius I, Pope, 276;
and the Basilica of S. Pancras, 235

Honorius III, Pope, additions by, to S. Paul’s Basilica, 238;
and the Basilicas to S. Laurence, 250

Honorius IV, Pope, the Talmud condemned by, 366

Hope, Christian, for the joy of the Future Life, 156-8, 311;
evidence of Catacombs on, 268

Horace, poetic epistles of, 69 _n._ 1

Horatius and the bridge, 87

Hospitality, in the early Church, 128-9;
in provision of graves, 38

Hyginus, Pope, burial-place of, 287

Ichthus, meaning of, 310, 316-7 _& n._ 1

Idol-worship (_see also_ Incense), Ceremonial, attitude to, of
Rigourist and opposite schools, 144-5, 147, 148;
Old Testament attitude to, 149;
Tertullian on, 203

_Ignatius and Polycarp_, by Lightfoot, _cited_, 40 _n._ 3

Immortality, Christian ideas on, 156-8

Imperial cultus, _see_ Emperor-worship
Families, Christian members of, 110, 112, 148, 240, 241
Household, Christians in, 147

Incense, offering of (_see also_ Idol-worship), test for Christians,
52, 53, 181, 194-6

Insanity of despots, _see_ Hadrian _and_ Nero

Inscriptions in the Catacombs (_see also_ Damasus), 237, 251, 267,
268, 271, 285, 296-7, 301
Greek, 256-7;
age witnessed by, 267, 268
“Graffiti,” later, 229
Teaching of, 219, 220, 225, 307
Value of, to explorers, 229

Inspiration, claimed for Haggadah, 365;
of Jewish Scriptures, Talmud view on, 364-5;
of New Testament writings, 70;
voice of, cessation of, 73

Invocation of Saints, not generally taught in Catacombs, 312

Irenæus, teacher of S. Hippolytus, 14, 138, 170, 251, 315, 319
_n._ 1;
list of Roman Bishops by, 15;
writings addressed by, to cultured classes, 111 _n._ 1
_cited_ in support of Petrine tradition, 10, 14
on Christians at Court, 147;
on the founding of the Roman Church by SS. Peter and Paul and
on Linus, 15;
on numbers of Christians at Rome, 104, 106, 107;
on Polycarp and his memories of S. John, 73

Isaiah, the prophet, 365;
book of, 53rd chapter of, use made of, by early Christian
writers, 117 _& n._ 1
_cited_ on Forgiveness of Sins, 155

Israel, Glorification of, the object of the Talmud, 345

Itineraries, Pilgrim (_see also_ Names), value of, to explorers of
Catacombs, &c., 209 _et seq._, 227-8, 242, 243, 246, 247

Jamnia, Rabbinic School at, 326, 353, 357, 358 _n._ 1

Jannes and Jambres, source of names of, 379

Jerusalem, Ælia Capitolina built on site of, 332, 335-6;
result, 336-8;
Hadrian’s insults at, to Christianity, 77-8
Apostolic Council at, S. Peter at, 8
Communism in the Church at, results of, 120 _n._ 1, 130
Fall and destruction of, effect on Jewish nation, 22, 39, 340,
342, 346-8, 351, 353, 355, 357, 362, 368
Parties in, before first great war, 329-30
Sieges of, in order of date, by Gallus, 330;
Vespasian, 331;
Titus, 331-3;
Severus, 337
Taken by Pompey, 3

JESUS CHRIST (_see also_ Christ), Godhead of, importance of the
testimony of Apostolic Fathers in regard to, 74

Jew, the, and the Talmud (Book V.), 325 _et seq._

_Jewish Encyclopædia_, _cited_ on the life of Rabbinic schools, 359

Jewish heroes, Haggadic legends of, 378
Learning, stimulus to, of Talmudic study, 369
National ideals as affected by War of Extermination, 78-9
Scriptures, Canonical, 361;
inspiration of, 364-5
Women, disabilities of, 367 _& n._ 1, 380

Jews, attitude of, to the Gospel, reasons for, 7
Discrimination of, from Christians by Romans, progress of, 27,
30, 78, 79, 80, 92, 164
of the Dispersion, influence on, of Rabbinism, 339-41;
and of the Talmud, 339 _et seq._, 368-9
Fate of, after last wars, 325-6
History of, in Old Testament and after, 325-6;
evidential importance of, to Christianity, 325, 326
Persecutions of, and martyrs of, 336, 337, 338
Preservation of, as distinct race, 326;
cause of, 339, 345-7
in Rome, 3-6, 346;
expulsion of, 8, 18, 25;
Roman attitude to beliefs of, 3, 39;
rulers favourable to, 3
Twentieth Century, distinct, still, as race, 326;
influence of, 346;
numbers of, 369
Wars of, the three last, story of, and of consequences, 77, 78-9,
80, 325, 329 _et seq._, 354

Jochanan ben Zacchai, Rabbi, and his school of disciples, work of,
on the Mishna, 341, 353;
teaching of, 358

John, the Abbot, 228

John, the Deacon, 49

John, King, desired burial-place of, 321

John, the Presbyter, _cited_ on S. Mark, 9-10

Jordani, catacomb of, 258, 260;
tombs in, of sons of S. Felicitas, 259, 303

Joseph of Arimathea, 110

Joseph the patriarch, and idol-worship, 149

Josephus, on the burning of the Temple, 331

Joshua, and the oral Law, 339

Judæa, Roman rule over, 329;
and revolts against (_see also_ Jews, Wars of, _and_ Zealots),
329 _et seq._

Judaism, Authority and Influence of the Talmud on, 368-9

Julia Sabina, wife of Hadrian, 75

Julian, Emperor, 75
Letter from, to Arsacius, on Christian characteristics, 131;
on Christian brotherliness, 123 _n._ 1, 128

Julianus, Pope, martyr, tomb of, 243

Julius Cæsar, 56;
favour shewn by, to Jews, 3

Julius I, Pope, 276

Jupiter, worship of, test for Christians, 194, 195

Justin Martyr, 319 _n._ 1;
compared with Theophilus of Antioch, 189;
martyrdom of, 94, 104, 184;
teaching of, 138
on Aid to Prisoners, 130;
on Almsgiving, 113-4, 119, 129;
on Assemblies, 108, 113-4;
on Care of the Sick, 127;
on Christian fortitude, 185;
on Christ’s atonement, 117;
on highly-placed Christians, 111;
on Hospitality, 113-4, 128, 129;
on the numbers of Christians, 104, 106, 107;
on Persecutions, 37, 184-6;
on progress of Christianity, 107

Justinian, Emperor, dedication of a church by, to a slave-saint,
136 _n._ 1;
Talmud condemned by, 365

Justus, and S. Nicomedes, 255-6

Juvenal, on Domitian’s unpopularity, 42 _& n._ 2;
on the ideal Roman, 88;
on Roman Society, 58

Kabbala, the, 360, 362 _n._ 1

Kimchi, D., famous Rabbinist, 369

Kyneburg, Abbess of Gloucester, 279

Lactantius, on Almsgiving, 122;
on Care for widows and orphans, 126-7;
on Christian virtues, and burial of the dead, 131-2, 133;
on Persecutions, 32

Lanciani,--, 236,
_cited_ on Basilica of S. Paul, 238

Languages, of Christian Epitaphs in Catacombs, 308

Lateran Museum, Christian sarcophagi in, sculptures on, 19 _n._ 1

Latin language, debt of, to Cicero, 58

_Latin Literature_, by Dr. Mackail, _cited_ on Marcus Aurelius’s
letters, 63 _n._ 1

Law, Mosaic (_see_ Torah _and_ Midrash), Commentaries on, _see_
Haggadah, Halachah, Midrash, Talmud, Targumim, &c.
Roman, on treatment of Christians, 32, 49

“Law upon the Lip,” tradition on, 339

Le Blant,--, on the School for Martyrdom, 198 _n._ 1

Lecky, W. H., _cited, see History of European Morals_

Leland’s Itinerary, on cult of S. Petronilla (Petronell), 278-9

Leo III, Pope, translation of S. Felicitas and Silanus by, 259, 302

Leo IV, Pope, saints translated by, 249;
on tombs of Priscilla and Aquila, 262

Letter-form, of Apostolic “remains,” 73;
in Literature, reason of popularity, 70-1;
sole O.T. instance of, 69

Letters (_see also_ Epistles), by Classical writers and others, in
Roman literature, 56 _et seq._
meant for publication, 56, 61-2, 65, 66, 67, 68;
not so meant, 63
others, by Christians modelled on these lines, 69 _et seq._

_Letters relating the Martyrdom of Polycarp_, genuine, 81 _n._ 1

_Liber Pontificalis_, antiquity of, 15;
value of, to Catacomb explorers, 226-7
_cited_ on Basilica of Constantine the Great at S. Peter’s tomb,
282;
on S. Cecilia’s tomb, 262, 293 _n._ 1, 296;
on Novatus, 264;
on S. Priscilla’s catacomb, burials in, 266;
on S. Pudentiana and her sister, 264, 265 _n._ 1

Liberian or Philocalian catalogue, _cited_ in support of Petrine
tradition, 14, 15;
on burials in S. Priscilla’s cemetery, 266;
on the tomb of S. Felicitas and her sons, 301, 302-3, 304

Liberius, Pope, 301;
burial-place of, 272

Licinius, 29

Lightfoot, Bp., 121 _n._ 1;
on the _Acts_ of the Passion of S. Felicitas, 300;
on the Antonine persecutions, 94 _& n._ 2;
on the authorship of the _2nd Epistle of Clement of Rome_, 104
_n._ 1;
on Caius, 11;
on the date of the _Epistle to Diognetus_, 178 _n._ 1;
on the date of _Octavius_, 186;
on _Epistolary_ form as usual with the Apostles, 74 _n._ 1;
on genuineness of Pliny’s letter, &c., 46 _& n._ 1;
on Hilary’s reference to Vespasian’spersecutions, 40 _& n._ 3;
on Ignatius, 73;
authenticity of his (so-called) Epistles, 172-3;
his letter to the Roman Church, 9;
his yearning for martyrdom, 175;
on _The Shepherd_, of Hermas, 180;
on its date and author, 179 _n._ 1;
on S. Hippolytus, 11, 251-2;
on S. Laurence, 254;
on S. Paul’s _Epistle to the Romans_ and S. Peter’s first coming
to Rome, 19 _n._ 1;
on S. Peter (and S. Mark) in Rome, 10, 18;
on S. Petronilla, 277

Linus, Pope, first Bishop of Rome after S. Peter, 12, 15;
burial-place of, 283, 287;
Jerome on, 14;
“Memoria” chapel of, Papal burial-place in church on site of, 273

Lister, Jane, epitaph of, 309

Literary witness to Martyrs’ histories rehabilitated by De Rossi’s
excavations, 225, 230-1
to Numerousness of Martyrs, 209 _et seq._
to Persecution, A.D. 64-80, 163 _et seq._

Lombards, the, 293, 297

Lorium, country home of Antoninus Pius, 86, 87

Love as bond of Christians, 118-9

Lucilius, Seneca’s letters to, 29

Lucina, Catacomb or Cemetery of, in a garden, 234, 236, 238, 239;
S. Paul’s burial-place, 236;
S. Sebastian’s burial-place, 244
Crypt of, identification of, 245

Lucius Quietus, Roman general, 335

Lucius Verus, Fronto’s correspondence with, 63

“Luminaria,” in the Catacombs, 296 _& n._ 1;
indication from, of crypt below, 229

Lydda, Rabbinic school of, 357, 358 _n._ 1

Lyons, birthplace of Sidonius Apollinaris, 65
Literary support from, of Petrine tradition, 9, 13
Martyrdoms at, 94, 201, 208;
genuine accounts of, 81 _n._ 1
Pliny’s letters read to an audience, 61

Maccabean dynasty, agreements made by, with Rome, 3

Maccabees, story in, like that of S. Felicitas, 258, 298

Mackail, Dr., on letters of Marcus Aurelius, 63 _& n._ 1

Madaurian persecutions, 94

Maderno, Stefano, architect, 259 _n._ 1;
statue of S. Cecilia by, 294;
replicas of, _ib._ _n._ 1

Magnesia, Epistle to, of Ignatius, 173, 174

Mahommedanism, spread of, compared with that of Christianity, 102

Maimonides, famous Rabbinist, 369;
on the fathers of Rabbinism, 339

Manuals of Martyrdom, 199

_Marc-Aurèle_, by Renan, _cited_, 146 _n._ 1

Marcellinus, Pope and martyr, burial-place of, 266;
identified, 231

Marcellus, Pope and martyr, burial-place of, 266, 272

Marchi, Father, archæological work of, 209, 224

Marcia, patronage by, of Christians, 147

Marcion, 189

Marcius Turbo, Roman general, 335

Marcomanni, war with, 95

Marcus, burial-place identified, 231

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus adopted by Antoninus Pius and successor
to him, 83, 145, 245, 292;
attitude of, to Christians, 33, 64, 80, 158
Character of, 84 _et seq._, 189
Correspondence of, with Fronto, 63-4
Death of, 164
“Meditations” by, 85-6, 96-7;
on Antoninus Pius, 85-6;
Christian pages of, 147;
on his religious ideas, 96-7
its one reference to Christians, 96-7
Persecutions by, 80-1, 163 _n._ 2, 164, 188-9, 190, 207, 208
_n._ 1, and reasons for, 81, 91-7, 137, 194;
martyrs in, 184, 258-9, 264, 266, 289, 290, 291, 298 _et seq._,
305
Melito’s discourse on, written to, 187-8
Table of succession of, 83

Marriage, Rigourist teaching on, 153

Mars, 195

Martial, poet, 59 _n._ 1;
attitude of, to the old Roman virtue, 88

Martyrdom, aspiration to, checked by the Church, 154
Attraction of (_see_ Ignatius), 37, 153 _et seq._
Schools of training for, 33, 36, 145
Methods of, writers on, 197, 198 _& n._ 1 _et seq._
Physical training for, 198, 201-3
Spiritual training, 198-201
Results, 203-5
Spirit in which faced, 205 _et prævi_

_Martyres, Ad_, by Tertullian, 199;
on Physical training, 202

_Martyrii, De Laudi_, 199;
on Christian fortitude in torture, 193

Martyrologies, literary sources of, in many instances rehabilitated
by De Rossi’s catacomb excavations, 225, 230-1;
on Confessors buried in Catacomb of Commodilla, 239

_Martyrology of S. Jerome_, value of, to Catacomb explorers, 226

_Martyrs_, Apocalyptic references to, 37, 157, 167-70
Burial and burial-places of (_see_ Catacombs, Cemeteries, _and_
Itineraries), 285-6;
burial near, desired, 312 _& n._ 1, 321-2
Formula for, of reply to judge, 199
Hermas on, 181
Hymns on, by Prudentius and others, 151-2 _& n._ 1
under Nero (_q.v._), 267-8, 285-6
Numbers of, emphasized, 33;
“small” theory refuted by archæology and literature, 82
_& n._ 1, 207 _et seq._, 209 _et seq._
Christian and Pagan witness to, 208
Second-century, rarity of Festivals of, 208
Seed of the Church, 196, 203
Slaves, famous, 136
Tombs of, 300 _et passim_
Traces of, in S. Peter’s Memoria, 284-5
Translation of, 227, 235, 236, 266 _& n._ 1, 267, 272, 273-4, 292

_Martyrum, De Gloriâ_, by S. Gregory of Tours, _cited_ on tragedy at
tomb of SS. Chrysanthus and Daria, 261

_Martyrum, De Locis SS._, _cited_ 210-11, 303;
on numbers of martyrs, 212, 213, 214

Marucchi,--, archæological researches and work of, 12, 42, 234, 239,
263, 301;
identification by, of S. Peter’s baptistery, 12, 257
on Acilius Glabrio, 269
on Catacomb of S. Priscilla as associated with S. Peter, &c., 257,
267, 268, 270, 271, 273;
on its immensity and regularity, 271
on the Domitilla Cemetery, 240
on Excavations, results of, attained and anticipated, 231-2
on Nicomedes’ cemetery, reservoir in, 256
on Papal burial-places, 273
on S. Cecilia’s burial-places and tradition, 293 _n._ 1, 298
on S. Felicitas’s tomb, and those of her sons, 302, 303
on the Thrason Catacomb, 260
on the veneration paid to S. Laurence, 250

Massorah, the, 361 _et seq._;
Temple Torah readings preserved in, 333 _n._ 2

Massoretes, the, duties of, 361-2

Massoretic notes on the sacred Jewish texts, 362-4

Mauritanian martyrdoms, 208

Maximian, Emperor, 148 _& n._ 1

Maximin, Emperor, Persecution under, 163 _n._ 2

Meir, Rabbi, codification of Talmud by, 356;
maxims of, on Women, 367

Melito, Bishop of Sardis, on Hospitality, 128;
on Persecution, 32, 187-8;
silent as to Vespasian, 40 _n._ 3

Memoriæ or Chapel-Tombs of Apostles, at Rome, locale of, 11, 233,
281 _et seq._;
testimony of, to Petrine tradition, 17

Mental guerdons of Christianity, 154-9

Messiah, hopes of, revolts due to, 330, 334
pseudo, revolts caused by, 336 _et seq._, 354-5

Midoth, treatise, 358 _n._ 1

_Midrash_, definition of, 371
Explained, two currents in, 350, 351
Subject-matter of, 376-7

Midrashim, the, 360

Milan, Edict of, effect of, on spread of Christianity, 150 _& n._ 1

Milman, Dean, on the style of the _Octavius_ of Minucius Felix,
186-7

Minucius Felix (_see Octavius_ by), 158

Miracles, Talmudic teaching on, 365

Mishnah (_see also_ Haggadah, Halachah, _and_ Talmud);
basis of, 361;
chief object of study, Rabbinic schools, 358 _n._ 1;
how studied, 359-60, 362-3;
curiosities of, 346-7;
Divine inspiration claimed for, 365;
evolution of, 341, 342-4;
exclusive spirit in, 366-8;
meaning of name, and nature of work, 341 _& n._ 1, 344 _& n._ 1,
356 _& n._ 3, 358 _& n._ 1, 365, 370;
oral at first, 344;
in the two Talmuds, 344-5;
on Akiba’s martyrdom, 355 _& n._ 1;
on the history of the Talmud, 339-40

Mishnah, the non-canonical, 360, 373

Mishnaic Rabbis, work of, on Halachah and Haggadah, 341, 344-5,
347, 351, 352, 358 _& n._ 1

_Mission and Expansion of Christianity_, by Harnack, 106 _n._ 1,
124-5

Mommsen,--, 331 _n._ 1, on Pagan Rome personified in Apocalypse, 169
_n._ 1;
on Pliny’s letter, 46

Monza Catalogue and Labels, story of, evidence of, on numerousness
of martyrs, 214-5, 228;
reference in to S. Felicitas and her sons, 303-4;
use of, to catacomb explorers, 228

Mosaic work, oldest, in Roman church, 263

Mosaism, destruction of, 341

Moses, 348, 349;
and the Law, 339
Rabbinical teaching in, 343 _& n._ 1, and on, 364, 373-4, 378

Mucius Scævola, torture of, 187

Muratorian Canon, on date of _The Shepherd_ of Hermas, 178-9

Music, association with, of S. Cecilia, 294 _n._ 1

Mutual aid between Christian Churches, inculcated, 130-1

Myers, F. W., verse by, on the Atonement, 115 _n._ 1

Naaman, the Syrian, and Idol-worship, 149

Nævius, the augur, 87

Naples, memorial at, of S. Agnes, 256-7

Nehardea, Rabbinic school at, 357, 358 _n._ 1

Nero, Emperor, 39, 40, 41, 42 _n._ 2, 182, 183, 197, 232, 245, 269
Death of, 207, 331
Edict of, against Christians, 32, 54
Fire at Rome attributed to, 26-7, 28, 31, 285
Insanity of, 26
Jews in Rome in reign of, 5
Persecutions by, 10, 28, 30, 46 _n._ 1, 62, 104, 164, 167, 172,
190, 197;
burnings under, 28-30;
numbers involved, 28, 46 _n._ 1;
S. Peter martyred during, 267, 285-6;
Tacitus’s references to, 62

New Testament, the, writers of, and writings, _see also under_
names of Authors, and of Books, _and see_ Epistles
Assemblies mentioned in, 101
Haggadic influences seen in, 378-9
Inspiration of, 70
Publication intended, Deissmann on, 71
References in, to Persecution, 165, 166-70
Teaching of, on Hospitality, 128-9;
and on Slavery, 134-5
Witness of, to spread of Christianity, 107

Nicholas, Pope, 226

Nicodemus and other persons of position among Early Christians,
110-12

Nicolaitan heresy, 23 _n._ 1

Nicomedia, Court of, Christians at, 147-8

Nîmes, birthplace of Antoninus Pius, 83

Nomeseus, martyr, 211

Northcote, Dr., on Early Christian faith as shown in Catacomb
inscriptions, 310

“Notices” on the founding of the Roman Church, as bearing on
tradition of S. Peter, 8, 9 _et seq._

Novatus, Baths of, 264, 265

Numerian, Emperor, persecution under, 260

_OCTAVIUS_, Dialogue by Minucius Felix, 138, 145-6, 186-7;
on Christian love, 119, 129;
on Christians in high place, 111;
on persecution, 186-7

Octodurum, Martyrdom legend of, 148 _n._ 1

Old Testament, Books of, text of, Jewish care of, and commentaries
on, 342 _et seq._, 370, 371-9
Christian reverence for, influence on, of the Talmud, and of
Rabbinism, 327, 370 _& n._ 1
Earliest Hebrew MSS. of, 363
History in, value of, 325
Letter in, the one, 69
Teaching of, on Almsgiving, 121

Onesimus, and S. Paul, 134

Oral teaching in Rabbinic Schools, 357-60

Oratory, Church of, London, replica in of Maderno’s S. Cecilia
effigy, 294 _n._ 1

Origen, modified Rigourism of, 146;
teaching of, 139;
identification by, of Hermas, 178;
veneration of, for _The Shepherd_, by Hermas, 179;
writings by, on Martyrdom, 199

Osric, King of Northumbria, burial-place of, 279

Ostia, 145, 186-7, 235, 236

Ostian Way, Memoria of Apostle on, 11

Ostrian Cemetery, other names of, 255, 257, 271

Otho, Emperor, 39, 331

Overbach,--, views of, on Trajan’s Rescript, 49

Ovid, poetic epistles of, 69 _n._ 1

Ozanam on Slaves in Roman Empire, first and second centuries,
135 _n._ 2

_PÆDAGOGUS_, by Clement of Alexandria, addressed to a cultured
community, 111 _n._ 1;
on Christians in the world, 146

Pagan attitude to Christianity, and its basis (_see also_
Persecutions), 28, 30-4, 35, 36, 51, 77, 137, 142-3, 158-9,
164-5, 194, 196-7
Attitude to death, 134, 313-4
Ideas on Christian misery, 158-9
Neglect to bury the dead, 132
Neglect of the poor, 128
Writings, witnessing to Persecutions (_see_ Pliny’s letter to
Trajan), 36;
and to spread of Christianity, 107

Paganism (_passim_), at core of Roman Empire, De Broglie on, 142-3;
displaced by Christianity, when, and why, 150, 151

Pain, unfelt by Martyrs, testimony to, 200

Palaces, Christians in, 110-11, 147, 149

Palatine Hill, palace on, of the Emperors, 86, 89;
graffito of crucifix on, deduction from, 147 _& n._ 1

Palestine (_see also_ Gemara _and_ Talmud), Rabbinic Schools of,
326, 344, 362-3, 373;
the chief, 353, 356 _& n._ 4, 358 _n._ 1;
mode of teaching at, 357-60
Roman occupations of, and Rabbinism, 340
Traces of the last “War” still seen in, 338-9

Palestinian Talmud, the, 345

Pallanteum, rebuilt by Antoninus, 87

Palm, as Christian Emblem, 310

Pantheon, portico of, robbed for Pope Urban’s baldachino, 280

Papal burial-places, 243, 245, 246, 250, 266 _& n._ 1, 272-4,
283-5, 286-7, 291
Crypt, named after Pope Callistus (_see also_ Papal
burial-places), 234, 236-7, 242, 244 _et seq._, 273, 287,
296, 297

Papias of Hierapolis, _cited_ in support of Petrine tradition, 9,
10, 13, 14

Paschal I, Pope, 227, 273, 276, body of S. Cecilia found by, 292-4;
and translated, 294, 297;
Church of S. Cecilia built by, 292;
translation by, of Martyrs’ remains, 235, 262, 263, 295
Vision of, 293
on Forgotten Martyrs, 215 _n._ 1

_Passions of the Martyrs_, oft-repeated answer given in, 199
_of S, Perpetua_, on Insensibility of Martyrs to Pain, 200

Pastor (not _The Shepherd_, _q.v._), 264

Patristic views of _The Shepherd_ of Hermas, 179

Paul, the Deacon, 49

Paul I, Pope, 227, 273;
translation by, of Martyrs’ ashes, 235;
especially of S. Hippolytus, 254

Paul V, Pope, 257, discoveries made by, in Vatican cemetery, 280-1
_et seq._, 287;
work of, on S. Peter’s at Rome, 279-80

“Pax Romana,” the, 58

Peace of the Church, the, 29-30, 203, 215, 228, 259, 263, 266, 272,
276, 302, 309
Pilgrimages to Rome after, 209, 216, 228, 251

Pentateuch (_see also_ Halachah), as canon of Jewish Scripture,
post-exilian days, 361;
reverence felt for, 342, 343, 361;
Talmudic view of its inspiration, 364-5

People, the, faith of, shown by Catacombs, 315, 319 _n._ 1;
how voiced by poets and Popes, 152 _& n._ 1

Pepin, King, translation by, of S. Petronilla, 279

Pergamos, Church of, message of Apocalypse to, 168, 169-70

_Peri-Stephanôn_, by Prudentius, poems, subjects of, 151-2 _& n._
1, _cited_ on forgotten Martyrs, 287;
on S. Hippolytus, 252-4

Persecutions of Christians, _see also_ Tacitus on
Active or latent, period of, 163 _& n._ 2
Evidence on, 163 _& nn._ 1 & 2, 164 _et seq._
Beginning, 27-9, 103, 104
Continuity, 29 _et seq._, 80, 207;
and increasing intensity, 80, 81-3
End, 29
Reasons for, 28, 30, 31, 32, 39 _et seq._
Reference to, in _The Shepherd_ of Hermas, 180 _et seq._
Silence of writers as to, reasons for, 35 _& n._ 1, 36-7
Under the Antonines, 80, 81, 94
Decius Aurelius, 97
Diocletian, 97;
severity of, 151
Flavian emperors, 39 _et seq._
Hadrian and his successors, 79, 80,
severity of, 81, 82 _& n._ 1, 83;
reasons, 91-7
Nero, 10, 28, 30, 46 _n._ 1, 62, 104, 164, 167, 172, 190, 197,
285-6
of Jews, 346

Petro or Petros, as basis of name Petronilla, 277

Petro, T. Flavius, founder of Flavian family, 277

Pharisees, 329-30;
after the Dispersion, 341

Philemon, S. Paul’s Epistle to, 71, 134

Philip, Emperor, lenient to Christians, 97

Philip of Side, on Athenagoras’s conversion, 188 _& n._ 1

Philip, son of S. Felicitas, tomb of, 259

Philippians, Epistle to, _see_ Epistles

Phœbe of Cenchrea, 110

Physical preparation for Martyrdom (_see also_ Schools of
Martyrdom), 198, 201-3

Pilgrim Guides (_see also_ Itineraries), witness of, to
numerousness of Martyrs, 210

Pilgrims, visits of, to Rome, 209, 216, 226, 228, 251;
favourite tombs of, 244, 260, 275, 294, 296, 297;
traces of, in Catacombs, 248, 251

Pirke Aboth (Sayings of the Fathers), 339, 340, 362, 365 _n._ 1

“Pittacia,” the, references in, to S. Felicitas and her sons, 303,
304

Pius I, Bishop of Rome, or Pope, 264, 265 _n._ 1;
burial-place of, 287;
slave origin of, 136 _n._ 1

Pius IX, Pope, and the rediscovery of the Callistus Catacomb, 246

Placidia, and the Basilica of S. Paul, 238

Plato, works of, 146

Platonia Chamber or Crypt, Cemetery of S. Sebastian, temporary tomb
of SS. Peter and Paul, 237, 243;
tomb of S. Sebastian near, 244

Plautius, 245

Pliny the Elder, 57

Pliny the Younger, family career and character of, 57-9
Letters of, in general, described and discussed, 59-62;
features of, 71;
value of, 57
to Tacitus, 62
to Trajan, and information in, on Christianity, 27, 32, 33,
35 _n._ 1, 36, 45 _et seq._, 50, 53-5, 56-7, 60 _n._ 1,
62, 75-8, 103 _& n._ 2, 106, 107, 110, 177
Publication of, 60 _n._ 1
Summary of, 67
Trajan’s Rescript in reply, 53-4
Literary followers of, 64-8
Style of, 60, Renan on, 46 _& n._ 1, 60
Roman appreciation of, as writer, 63, 65
Rules of, for letter-writers, 67
Villa of, 60
on joys of simple living, 88-9;
on social status of Asiatic Christians, 110

Plotina, Empress, and Hadrian, 75

Plumbatæ, torture of, 295, 300 _n._ 1

Poems, by Early Christian writers, topics of, 151, 152 _& n._ 1
Pagan, referring to Christianity, 158 _n._ 1

Political reasons for Roman attitude to Christianity (_see also_
Paganism), 28, 30, 31-4, 39 _et seq._

Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, 251;
scholar of S. John Evangelist, 73;
letters of, _see_ Epistles;
letters to, of Ignatius, 108, 172;
Martyrdom of, letters on, genuine, 81 _n._ 1;
on Christian charity, 125

Pompey, Consul, 56;
first Roman ruler of Judea, 329;
Jerusalem taken by, 3

Pomponia Græcina, identified with Lucina of the Crypt, 245

Pontianus, catacomb of, 211, 235
Baptistery in, 236

Pontianus, Bishop of Rome, or Pope, martyr, tomb of, 252

Pontius, on Christian Charity at Carthage, 127

Pontus, Christians in (_see also_ Bithynia), 45, 50

Pope,----, his ode on S. Cecilia, 294 _n._ 1

Popes (or Bishops) of Rome (_see under individual_ Names,
_see also_ Papal burial-places), martyred, tombs of, with
other Martyrs, 243

Poppæa, Empress, friendly to Jews, 27

Porsenna, 87

Portraits in the Catacombs, 296, 302

Portus, Bishop of, _see_ S. Hippolytus Port of Rome, 235

Prayers of the Dead, besought by Early Christians, 309-10, 311-2
S. Augustine on, 311, 312 _n._ 1, 321-2
S. Cyprian on, 312

Prætextatus, catacomb of, 242, 246-8, 259, 262, 295;
grave (alleged) of S. Cecilia in, 293 _n._ 1;
tomb of S. Januarius in, discovery of, 301-2;
S. Zeno buried in, 276

Priests as converts, 110

Priscilla (and Aquila), 110, 265-6
Catacomb of, 213;
discovery of, 230

Prisoners, Christian aid to, 130

Prophets, the, 339;
books of, 361;
inspiration of, Talmud on, 365;
Schools of, 343, 349

Prudentius, poems of, 151, 152 _& n._ 1

Publius, Prefect of Rome, and the martyrdom of S. Felicitas, 299

Pudens, burial-place of, 264, 265, 266;
house, &c., of, on the Aventine, legends connecting with S. Peter,
12, 15, 263;
and with S. Paul, 265, 269;
question of his family, 270;
tradition, on him and his daughter, 263-5, 270

Pumbeditha, Rabbinic School at, 326, 354, 357, 358 _n._ 1, 359, 373

“Quatuor Coronati,” Saints, burial-places of, 249;
church of, _ib._,
relics in, of S. Hippolytus, 255

Quintilian, the earliest Ciceronian, 58

_Quo vadis_ legend, locality associated with, 273, 274

“Rab,” Rabbinic School founded by, 357 _n._ 1

“Rabbi” (Judah Ha-Nasi), famous pupil of, 357 _n._ 1;
Talmud codification by, 356-7;
work of, on Halachah, 358 _n._ 1, 372 _n._ 1

Rabbinic Dicta, on Inspiration, 364-5 _& n._ 1
Literature (extra-Talmudic), 360
Schools (_see also_ Babylonian, _and_ Palestinian), 326, 353,
354-5, 362-3, 368, 372, 373;
chief study of, 358 _n._ 1;
foundation of, 326, 340, 341;
influence of, on Christian belief, 327;
and on Christian love of Old Testament, 327;
method of teaching, 357-60;
work of, on the Gemara, 344-5

Rabbinism, famous scholars of (_see_ Akiba, Gamaliel, Hillel, Meir,
“Rab,” Rabbi, Shammai, &c.), nature of, and influence of, on
Christianity, 326-7;
and on the Jews of the Dispersion, 339;
new school of, aims of, 353, 355;
spirit of, adverse to Christianity, 366 _et seq._;
traditional history of, 339-40

Rabbis, authority of, as successors to the Sanhedrim, 357;
supporting Bar-cochab, 78, 336, 354, 355

Rabbis of the Dispersion, and the Law, 341, 342-3;
books evolved by, 343-5

Raffaelle, painting by, of S. Cecilia, 294 _n._ 1

Ramsay, Professor, on the date of the 1st Epistle of S. Peter,
8 _n._ 1, 166 _n._ 1;
on the date of S. Peter’s death, 166 _n._ 1;
on Epistles of Ignatius as showing contemporary conditions of
Christianity, 173, 174;
on Persecution of Christians as a police measure, by Rome, 31, 32;
on Pliny’s letter, 46;
on Roman Emperor as “beast” of Apocalypse, 169 _& n._ 2;
on Roman references in the Apocalypse, 169 _n._ 2

Raschi, famous Rabbinist, 369

Ravenna, 303;
church of S. Vitale at, 136 _n._ 1

Regulus, tortures of, 187

Relic-hunting in the Catacombs, results of, 224

Religious faith of Jews in Rome, first century, 4-6

Renan, E., on the destruction of the Temple, 331 _n._ 1;
on large numbers of Christian martyrs, 82 _n._ 1;
on _Octavius_ by Minucius Felix, 145, 146;
on persecutions between A.D. 134 and 180, 82 _n._ 1;
on Pliny’s letter, 46 _& n._ 1;
and on his literary style, _ib._, 60;
on _The Shepherd_, of Hermas, 180;
on Talmudic influence on Christianity, 370 _n._ 1;
on Trajan as persecutor, 49

Reservoirs or wells, in Catacombs and Chapels (_see also_
Baptisteries), 256, 263, 264, 267, 270, 271-2

Reuchlin,--, advocate of the Talmud, 366

Rhea Sylvia, 87

Rigourist School of Christian teaching, 101, 144-5, 150-2, 153-4

Rimmon-worship, Naaman’s dispensation concerning, 149

“Rock, the spiritual, that followed them,” origin of reference, 379

Roman attitude to Christianity, 39 _et seq._

Roman attitude to Slaves, and to Freedmen, 134, 137;
craving for posthumous remembrance, 59 _n._ 1, 65
Christians, saluted in S. Paul’s Epistle to Romans, 17, 21
Church, the, in early days, classes composing, 182, 269-70
Early importance of, 16, 17, 21
Founders of (_see also_ S. Paul _and_ S. Peter), 7 _et seq._,
16-19, 22, 23, 24, 70
Generosity of, to other Churches, 131
Heresies menacing, first century, 23 _& n._ 1
Inner life of, information on, from the Catacombs, 219 _et seq._
Letter to, of Ignatius, 9
S. Paul’s praise of, 21
Emperors, divine honours paid to, 42 _& n._ 1, 169, 170
Empire, numbers of Early Christians in great centres of, 106
of Slaves in, first and second centuries, 135 _n._ 2
Paganism (_q.v._), interwoven in, 142-3
Literature, dearth of, second to fourth century, 63, 67
Epistolary forms, nature of, after Cicero, 56-7
Letters in, question of influence on N.T. writers, 69-72
Renaissance, in fourth and fifth centuries, 64 _et seq._
Myths depicted on coins of Antoninus Pius, 87, 90
Society, Dill’s book on, _cited_, 59 _n._ 1;
first and second century, Pliny on, 58-60;
fourth century, Symmachus on, 65;
fifth century, Sidonius on, 67
Tribute to Christian fortitude, 193

Rome, _see also_ Popes _under_ Names
Archæological investigators of, _see_ De Rossi, Marchi, Marucchi,
_&c._
Basilicas in, third century, 112
Chief arena of Martyrdom, 175
Christians in, 16;
Assemblies of, 113 _et seq._
Behaviour of, in trial, 180-1
Estimate of, in third century, 105
Life of, 101 _et seq._
Some of high social status, 110-12, 147, 149
Church of, _see_ Roman Church
Churches in, the most ancient, 263
Those holding relics of S. Hippolytus, 255
Dead, Roman and Christian treatment of (_see also_ Catacombs),
131-3
Devotion to, of the Antonines, 89-90
Earliest founder of, 87
Fire of, under Nero, 25-6;
consequences to Jews and Christians, 27-30
Gospel first brought to, tradition on, and literary support of
the same, 7, 8, 9 _et seq._
Hadrian’s works in, 76
Jewish agreements with, under Maccabees, 3
Colonists in, and the Rabbinic School, 353
Sabbath observed in, 3
Jews in, 3-6, 346;
expulsion of, 8, 18, 25;
Roman attitude to beliefs of, 3, 39;
rulers favourable to, 3
Literary support from, of Petrine tradition, 9, 13
Memoriæ of the Apostles in, 11
Pagan, Apocalyptic reference to, Ramsay on, 169 _& n._ 1, 170
Attitude of, to Christianity, 39 _et seq._;
reasons for, 89, 91-7
Religion of, support to, of best emperors, 87 _et seq._
Rule of, over Judæa, 329, 340;
revolts against (_see_ Wars), 329 _et seq._, 342, 345, 353
S. Paul’s stay in, 17, 21-24;
and Martyrdom at, 9
S. Peter’s visits to, probable dates of, and events during, 16,
18, 19 _& n._ 1, 24;
and Martyrdom at, 8;
burial-place in, _see_ Vatican Hill
Slavery in, 134
Temple treasures from Jerusalem at, 333 _& n._ 2

Rome proper, burial-place in, of S. Paul, 236;
Catacombs in, Itineraries on, 211-4

_Rome Souteraine_, by Allard, _cited_ on numerousness of martyrs,
215 _n._ 1

Romulus and Remus, 87

Ruinart,--, on the Martyrdom of the Theban legion, 148 _n._ 1

Rusticus, Roman prefect, 94, 104

Rutilius Namatianus, poem of, on Christian misery, 158 _& n._ 1

Sabbath, the, non-Jewish observance of, Rome, 3

Sabinilla, burial of S. Valentinus by, 276

_Sacramentum_, of Pliny, 52

Sadducees, 329;
last heard of, 341

S. Abdon, burial-place of, 235, 236

S. Achilles, martyr, burial-place and tomb of, 211, 240, 241, 278;
story confirmed by excavations, 230

S. Adauctus, burial-place of, 239;
shrine of, 211

S. Agapetus, deacon and martyr, 301 _& n._ 1, 302;
History of, 247;
tomb of, 243, 247

S. Agatha, 294 _n._ 1

S. Agatopus or Agapetus (_q.v._), martyr named in tomb of S.
Januarius, 301 _& n._ 1, 302

S. Agnes, 136, 294 _n._ 1;
basilica of, Catacombs around, 212-3, 255;
burial-place of, identified, 231;
martyrdom and story of, 256;
other martyrs buried with, 214-5;
urn of, 258;
recently seen, 257

S. Alexander, burial-place of, 303

S. Anastasia, 294 _n._ 1

S. Athanasius, veneration of, for Hermas’s _Shepherd_, 179

S. Augustine, on asking the prayers of the Saints, 311, 312 _n._ 1,
322;
on Burial near the Saints, 322;
on S. Laurence, 254

S. Balbinus, Catacomb of, 239

S. Barnabas, Apostle, 110

S. Basilissa, _see_ (_infra_) S. Hermes and

S. Blandina, slave and martyr, 136;
pain unfelt by, 200

S. Calepodius, catacomb of, 234

S. Callistus, later, Pope, custodian of cemeteries, 245, 291
Catacomb of, 242, 244-6;
Crypt of S. Cecilia in, 290-1, 293 _n._ 1;
discovery of, 246;
Lucina area of, antiquity of, 266;
Papal burial-place or Crypt in (_q.v._), 287, 291;
why chosen, 273

S. Castulus, martyr, catacomb of, 249

S. Cecilia, church of, Rome, 292 _et seq._;
her body in, 294, 297
Crypt or burial-place of, 211, 246 _& n._ 1, 290 _et seq._;
discovery of, 231;
other martyrs buried in, 214, 243;
rediscovery of, 289 _et seq._
Martyr relatives of, 247
Story of, 290 _et seq._
Translation of, 294, 297

S. Chrysanthus and S. Daria, Basilica of, sons of S. Felicitas laid
near, 303;
site of their martyrdom, 260;
tragedy at, 261

S. Chrysostom, on Almsgiving, 122

S. Clement of Rome, Pope, 104, 179 _& n._ 1, 315
Book on, by Bishop Lightfoot, 19 _n._ 1, 121 _n._ 1;
_cited_ on Petrine tradition, 10
Epistles of, _see under_ Epistles
Ordination of, by S. Peter, tradition on, 11
Tradition on his Apostolic teachers, 73
on Almsgiving, 121 _& n._ 1, 124, 126;
on Assemblies, 108;
on care for widows and orphans, 126;
on Christians accused of firing Rome, 27;
on Christ’s Atonement, 115;
on the deaths of S. Peter and of S. Paul, 171;
on early persecutions, 37, 165, 170-2;
on hospitality, 128;
on numbers of Christians, 104 _& n._ 1, at Rome, 106;
on progress of Christianity, 107;
on S. Peter’s martyrdom, 9

S. Constantia, church of, origin of, 263

S. Cornelius, other martyrs buried with, 214-5

S. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, and martyr, 149, 193, 315, 319
_n._ 1;
and his congregation, charity of, 123, 127
Death of, 146
Flight of, 147
Letter of, _ad Thibaritanos_, a martyrs’ manual, 199
Teaching of, 139
Writers on, _cited, see_ Benson, _and_ Pontius
on Almsgiving, 121-2;
on Carthaginian generosity to other Churches, 131;
on the Dead as concerned for the Living, 312;
on Death, 155;
on Hospitality, 128;
on insensibility of Martyrs to pain, 200;
on Martyrs’ training, 198;
on Persecutions (third century), 37

S. Cyriaca, burial-place of, 212, 250

S. Daria, once a Vestal, site of her martyrdom, 260, 303

S. Denis, Abbey of, ashes of S. Hippolytus at, 255

S. Domitilla, Basilica of, 257

S. Emerentiana, slave and martyr, 136;
burial-place of, 255, 257;
identified, 231
Catacomb of, 255
Urn of, 258;
recently seen, 257

S. Epimachus, catacomb of, 249

S. Felicissimus, martyr, 301, 302;
history of, 247;
tomb of, 243, 247

S. Felicitas, slave and martyr, 136, 206, 272, 294 _n._ 1
Catacomb of, her tomb in a basilica over, 213, 259;
discovered, 260, 302
Martyr sons of, and their tombs, 213, 248;
discovered by De Rossi, 231 _& n._ 1
Story of, 258;
confirmed by archæology, 259-60, 298 _et seq._
Translation of, 259, 302
on Insensibility to pain, 200

S. Felix (and S. Adauctus), burial-place of, 239

S. Felix, cemetery of, 211, 235-6

S. Felix, son of S. Felicitas, tomb of, 259, 266, 272, 274, 302-3

S. Felix, other martyrs buried with, 214-5

S. Felix of Nola, martyr, church of, at Nola, 321;
poems on, 152 _n._ 1

S. Flavian, Vision of, _cited_, on Martyrs’ insensibility to pain,
200

S. Gall, “sylloge” in library of, 230

S. Genesius, martyr, once an actor, tomb of, 251

S. Gordianus, catacomb of, 249

S. Gregory Nazianzen, on unity of martyrs, 285

S. Gregory of Tours, on the group-martyrdom at tomb of SS.
Chrysanthus and Daria, 261

S. Helena, Empress, cross of, laid on S. Peter’s sarcophagus, 282;
tomb of, 249

S. Hermes, translation of, 275
and S. Basilissa, catacomb of, 274-5

S. Hippolytus (of Portus), 11, 151;
catacomb and basilica of, 250-5, 262;
discovery of, by De Rossi, 251, 254
Churches dedicated to, or connected with, 254-5
Lightfoot _cited_ on, 251-2
Pupil of Irenæus, 251
Relics of, 255
Statue of, 252
Tomb of, 251;
Prudentius on, 252-4
Translation of, 254

S. Hyacinthus, martyr, tomb of, 275

S. Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and martyr, 315;
Epistle of, _see_ Epistles;
Martyrdom desired by, 37, 110, 154, 204-5;
date of, 73
_cited_ in support of Petrine tradition, 9, 13;
on Assemblies, 108;
on Christ’s Atonement, 115;
on his yearning for Martyrdom, 204-5;
on influential Christians at Rome, 110;
on persecutions, 37, 165, 172-6;
on progress of Christianity, 107;
on Roman generosity, 131

S. James, Epistle of, _see under_ Epistles

S. Januarius, 298 _n._ 1, 304;
martyrdom of, 300 _n._ 1;
burial-place and tomb of, 243, 248 _& n._ 1, 301-2;
discovery of, 231;
veneration of, 259

S. Jerome, Catalogue of Roman Bishops by, 14, 15
on S. Agnes, 256;
on S. Peter’s date of arrival in Rome, 14;
on _The Shepherd_, of Hermas, 179

S. John, Evangelist, 62, 251
Apocalypse of, 37, 156-7, 165, 167-70
Death of, 103, 114, 118, 165
Epistles of, _see under_ Epistles
Martyrdom of, 11
Polycarp’s anecdotes of, 73
Prominence of, in Asia Minor, 9

S. Justus, martyr, tomb of, 250

S. Laurence, 254;
basilica and tomb of, 250, 257;
martyrs buried under, 212
Churches dedicated to, 250, 254

S. Lucia, 294 _n._ 1

S. Marcellinus, _see_ S. Peter and, _infra_

S. Marcus, catacomb of, 239

S. Mark, Gospel of, source and place of origin, 10, 14
Relations of, with S. Peter, 9, 10, 14, 22

S. Martialis, son of S. Felicitas, tomb of, 259, 303

S. Martin of Tours, 136

S. Martinianus, _see_ (_infra_) S. Processus and

S. Matthew, Gospel of, 10, as Martyrs’ Manual, 200 _& n._ 1, 201

S. Maurice and the Theban Legion, legend of martyrdom of, 148 _n._ 1

S. Maximus, Roman officer and martyr, 290;
basilica of, and history of, 247;
catacomb of, 259;
tomb of, 242, 293 _n._ 1, 295

S. Nereus, martyr, burial-place of, 211, 240, 241, 278;
story confirmed by excavations, 230

S. Nicomedes, catacomb of, special features of, 255-6

S. Oswald and S. Wulfstan, 321

S. Pamphilus, martyr, catacomb of, 274

S. Pancratius or Pancras, catacomb of, 234, 235
Churches of, Rome, &c., 235

S. Parnel, Petronell, or Petronilla (_q.v._), British churches
dedicated to, 278-9

S. Paul, 239, 269, 273;
association with, of Pudens, 265, _and see_ 270
Basilica of, 11, 17, 18, 238
Christology of, 23-4
Cultural status of, 110
Epistles of, _see under_ Epistles
Haggadic influences in writings of, 379
Hermas named by, the Hermas of _The Shepherd_?, 178
at Rome as prisoner, 21-2;
secondary place accorded by tradition and literature, 9, 11,
13-14, 17;
share in founding Roman Church, 17, 22, 23, 24, 70, 104;
trial of, 25;
and martyrdom, 9, 10, 11, 151, 152, 170, 171;
burial-places of, 211, 236, 237, 242, 243, 283;
sarcophagus of, slabs of, inscription on, and other features,
237-8;
sepulchre of, 242, 243
Teaching of, keynote of, where found, 23-4;
locale of, 107
Tomb of freedman friend of, among royal graves, 241-2
Translation of, 237
on Almsgiving to Christian Churches, 120 _n._ 1, 130;
on Assemblies, 107;
on Athletic training, 198;
on Charity, 122, 130;
on Death, 154;
on Enduring hardness, 202-3;
on Hospitality, 129;
on the Roman Church, 17, 21;
on Slavery, 134-5;
on Spread of Christianity, 107

S. Paulinus of Nola, 158;
letter of, to Sulpicius Severus, on his slave, 136-7;
poems of, 152 _n._ 1;
question of, to S. Augustine, 312 _n._ 1, 321-2

S. Perpetua and her companions, 294 _n._ 1;
martyrdoms of, 200, 208;
genuine accounts of, 81 _n._ 1;
pain unfelt by, 200

S. Peter, Apostle and Martyr, First Bishop of Rome (_see also_
S. Petronilla), 226, 269
Associations of, with Catacomb of S. Priscilla, 257, 263, 267,
271-4
with S. Mark, 9, 10, 14, 22
with Pudens, 12, 15, 263, 265, _and see_ 269-70
Baptistery of, site of, 12, 257, 267, 273
Book on by Barnes, _cited_, 281 _n._ 1 _et seq._
Catacomb of, and of S. Marcellinus, 249
Founder of Church in Bithynia, 51
Founder of Church at Rome, tradition, archæological, and literary
support to the belief, 7 _et seq._, 16, 19, 22, 70, 104
in Rome, 18, 24;
date of arrival discussed, 8, 11, 13 _et seq._, 16;
martyrdom of, 8, 10, 16, 18, 19, 151, 153, 170, 171, 233, 234;
date and site of, 166 _n._ 1, 267;
burial-places, and tomb of, 49, 273;
Bishops of Rome buried around, 16, 23, 233 _& n._ 1, 279-88;
sarcophagus of, adorned by Constantine, 237, 282-3;
traditional notices of, legendary with historical basis and
other, 15, 16;
translation of, 237
_Quo vadis_ legend on, 239, 273, 274
Teaching of, catholicity of, 367
on hospitality, 129;
on locale of Asiatic converts, 107;
on persecution, 165, 166-7;
on slavery, 135;
on spread of the faith, 107

S. Peter and S. Marcellinus, catacomb of, 249

S. Peter Chrysologus, laudation by, of S. Felicitas, 305

S. Peter’s (Basilica), Rome, 8, 233, 238;
martyrs buried beneath, 210, 285;
origin of, and former representatives of, 233, 238
Reason of its position, 11;
site of, associations of, 28;
veneration shown to, 17, 18

S. Petronilla (_see also_ S. Parnel), daughter of S. Peter, 240,
241;
hypotheses on, discussed, 277-8
Basilica of, 241, 278
Burial-place of, 211, 240-1, 277
Translation of, 279

S. Philip, burial-place of, 266, 272, 274, 302-3

S. Philippus (S. Philip), other martyrs buried with, 214-5

S. Prassedis (_see also_ S. Pudentiana), burial-place of, 263,
264-5, 266, 268
Catacomb founded by, 270
Church of, 262;
Zeno chapel in, mosaics of, 276;
relics in, 262-3;
well in, 263

S. Priscilla, mother of Pudens, Catacomb of, 8, 258, 261 _et seq._,
266;
antiquity, size, and importance of, 236, 240, 257, 261;
associations of, with S. Peter, 12, 257, 263, 267, 271-3;
baptistery in, 236;
Basilica of S. Sylvester over, 257, 273;
called “ad Nymphas,” and why, 272;
chief glory of, 257;
De Rossi on, 262;
evidence of discoveries in, on tradition of S. Peter as founder
of Roman Church, 8, 15, 16, 42, 267, 268, 271;
founders of, 270;
galleries and other features of, 267 _et seq._;
inscriptions in, 267, 268, 271;
notable interments in, 266, 302
Church of, 262
Original tomb of, 268

S. Processus and S. Martinianus, catacomb of, 234;
story of, 234

S. Protus, martyr, tomb of, 275

S. Pudentiana (_see also supra_, S. Prassedis), burial-place of,
263, 264, 266, 268;
sarcophagus of, 263
Church of, 262;
antiquity and interest of, 263 _et seq._
Part founder of S. Priscilla’s catacomb, 270

S. Quirinus, Crypt of, 247;
history of, _ib._

S. Riquier, “syllogæ” in library of, 230

S. Sebastian (ad Catacombas), catacomb of, 237, 242, 243-4;
memories of SS. Peter and Paul connected with, 273;
story of, 244;
translation of, 244

S. Sennen, burial-place of, 235, 236

S. Silanus, burial-places of, 259, 302;
body once stolen, 304;
translation of, 302

S. Silvester in Capite, Church, body of S. Hippolytus translated
to, 254

S. Simferosa, tomb of, 250

S. Soteris, virgin, martyr, catacomb of, 239, 242, 243, 246

S. Stephen, protomartyr, 110;
and S. Laurence, parallel positions of, 234

S. Suzanna, church of, 302;
final resting-place of S. Felicitas, 259 _& n._ 1

S. Sylvester, Pope, Basilica erected by, 266 _& n._ 1;
notoriety of, 272;
Popes buried in, 272-4;
saintly remains in, 213, 266 _& n._ 1, 272, 302-3;
site of, 257, 266 _& n._ 1, 270, 272, 273
Burial-place of, 272

S. Symphorosa, burial-place of, 212

S. Tertullinus, catacomb of, 249

S. Thekla, catacomb of, 236, 239

S. Thomas Aquinas, 319 _n._ 1

S. Tiburtius, martyr, Basilica of, 247;
relation of, to S. Cecilia, 290;
tomb of, 293 _n._ 1, 295

S. Urban, martyr, tomb of, 242-3

S. Urbanus, Bishop (not of Rome), and S. Cecilia, 290, 296

S. Valentinus, martyr, 262;
catacomb of, 214, 275-6;
basilica in, 276

S. Valerianus, husband of S. Cecilia, martyr, 290, 292, 294 _n._ 1;
tomb of, 242, 247, 293 _n._ 1, 295

S. Vitale, a slave-martyr, Church of, Ravenna, 136 _n._ 1

S. Vitalis, son of S. Felicitas, tomb of, 259, 303

S. Zeno, Basilica of, 247;
burial-place of, 262, 276;
Chapel of, 276;
treasures in, 262-3

Saintly persons, power of, over wild creatures, 176 _& n._ 1

Saints, Communion of, Early Christian view on, 307, 309-10
Dead, invocation of, and prayers of, besought, Early Christian
attitude as to, 309-10, 311, 312 _& n._ 1, 321-2
Desire for burial near, S. Augustine on, 312 _n._ 1, 321-2

Salii, College of, M. Aurelius, a member, 95

Salzburg Itinerary _cited_, 211, 212, 214, 242-3, 302, 303;
date of, 227

Samuel, prophet, and the Schools of the Prophets, 349

Sanhedrim, the Great, authority of, successors in, after Dispersion,
357, 360

Sanhedrim treatise, in Talmud, 343 _n._ 1

Sarcophagi, Christian, Lateran Museum, and S. Peter’s escape from
Prison, 19 _n._ 1

Sardinia, exiles and martyrs in, 252

Sardis, 187

Saturninus, catacomb of, 258, 260

Schools of Martyrdom, 145;
methods of, 197, 198 _& n._ 1 _et seq._;
writers on, 198 _et seq._
of the Prophets, 349
of Teaching, Early Christian
Practical, and Gentle, 101, 145-50
Rigourist, 101, 144-5, 150-2

Scillitan martyrdoms, 94, 208;
_Acts_ of martyrs genuine, 81 _n._ 1

_Scorpiace_, by Tertullian, 121 _n._ 1, a martyrs’ manual, 199;
S. Paul cited in, on Martyrdom, 202, 203 _& n._ 1

Scribes, the, and their duties, 341, 343 _& n._ 3, 350, 351, 361

Second Century, congregations of Christians in, locales of, 36

Seligenstadt, SS. Peter and Marcellinus’ bodies at, 249

Selinus, death at, of Trajan, 87

Senate, the, decadence of, 64-5

Seneca, letters by, _see under_ Epistles
Possible reference by, to Nero’s burning of Christians, 29

Sentius Augurinus, a lengthy recital by, 61

Sepphoris, Rabbinic school at, 358 _n._ 1

Serenus Granianus, Rescript to, of Hadrian, on Christians, 77

Sergius Paulus, 110

Severus,--, Emperor, persecution under, reason for, 194

Severus, Alexander, Emperor, 234, 252;
and the Jews, 333 _n._ 1;
leniency of, to Christians, 97;
and supposed Christianity of, 147
Septimius (historian), on Nero’s anti-Christian Edict, 32
Sextus Julius (General), operations of, in Judea, 337
Sulpicius, letter to, of Paulinus of Nola, on his slave, 136-7
on destruction of the Temple, 331 _& n._ 1, 332;
on Titus’s speech against Jewish and Christian religions,
39-40

Sfondrati, Cardinal, finder of the bodies of S. Cecilia, 294 _& n._
1, 297;
and of her husband, &c., 295

Shammai, a Rabbi, 366

Shema invocation, 355 _n._ 1

Shemoth Rabba, treatise, _cited_, 365

_Shepherd (Pastor), The_, of Hermas, 136 _n._ 1;
discussed, 178-9 _& n._ 1, 180;
reasons of its popularity, 183 _n._ 1;
theology of, 138, 179, 182-3;
on care of widows, &c., 126;
on Christ’s Atonement, 116;
on Christian charity, 124 _& n._ 1, 125;
on hospitality, 128;
on the martyrs and the recusants, 36, 37;
on numbers of Christians, 104;
on persecutions, 180-4;
on progress of Christianity, 107;
on rich Christians, 111

Sicarii, the, 330

Sick, the, care of, by Early Church, 126-7

Side, 188 _& n._ 1

Sidonius, Apollinaris, family, career, and writings of, 64, 65-7, 68

Simon the Just, 339

Simon Magus in Rome, 11

Sinai, 365

Siricius, Pope, Basilicas built and adorned by, &c., 235, 241, 263,
278;
burial-place of, 272

Sixtus I, Pope and martyr, 247;
burial-place of, 243, 287

Sixtus II, Pope, deacons of, martyred, 302;
and S. Laurence, 250, 254

Sixtus III, Basilica built by, to S. Laurence, 250;
work of, at S. Cecilia’s crypt, 292

Sixtus V, Pope, Church of S. Suzanna built for, 259 _n._ 1

Slavery, England’s crusade against, Lecky on, 135 _n._ 1

Slaves, Christian, freed by advice of Pope Pius I, 264;
position and condition of, 134 _et seq._

Slaves, numbers of, Roman Empire, first two centuries, Ozanam on,
135 _n._ 2

Smyrna, 173

Social life and pleasures, difficulties in, of Early Christians, 141
Status of Early Christians, literary testimony to its range,
110-12

Solomon, King, 352

Soter, Bishop or Pope of Rome, 10, 131;
on numbers of Christians at Rome, 104 _& n._ 2, 106, 107

Spartianus, historian, 75

Stanley, Dean, on a child’s Epitaph in the Abbey, 309;
on early Christianity, 318 _n._ 2, 319 _& n._ 1;
on the witness of the Catacombs to the life of the Early Church,
219-20

Statius, 59 _n._ 1

Stephen, Bishop or Pope of Rome, 131

Suetonius, history by, 60, 62, 63, 269;
on Christians accused of firing Rome, 27;
on Domitian’s persecutions, 41;
on Jewish expulsion from Rome, and its cause, 18;
on Neronic persecution, 62;
on Vespasian’s attitude to Christians, 40

Sura, Rabbinic School at, 326, 327, 344, 346, 358 _n._ 1, 359, 373;
founder of, 357 _& n._ 1

“Syllogæ” of Early Christian Inscriptions, where found, 230

_Sylloge Palestina_, the, 215

Symmachus, Memmius, and his father’s Letters, 65

Symmachus, Pope, 60 _n._ 1;
Council held by, 262

Symmachus, Q. Aurelius, career of, and writings (Letters) of, 64-5,
66

Syria, Vespasian’s legions in, 331

Tacitus, History of, 60, 61, 62
Lost Book of, on Titus’s destruction of the Temple, 39, 331
_& n._ 1, 332
Period of, 63
Pliny’s letter to, 92
on Christianity, progress of, 107;
on Christians accused of firing Rome, 27;
on Christians of high station, 110;
on conversion of Pomponia Græcina, 245;
on numbers of Christians, 103, 107
on Jewish fecundity, 5 _n._ 1;
on the persecutions, 36, 46 _n._ 1, 62, 103, 177, 208;
on Roman simplicity, 88

Talmud, the, _see also_ Mishnah _and_ Gemara
Akiba’s work on, 354-6
and the Jew (Book V.), 325 _et seq._
Authority of, 368-9
Codification of, workers on, 356-7
Divine inspiration claimed for, 365
History of, traditional, 339-40
Influence of, on Christianity, 326, 327, 348, 370 _& n._ 1
on the Jews of the Dispersion, 339, 340, 346-7, 353, 368, 372-3
Jewish devotion to, 326, 327, 347, 350, 368-9
Materials, origin and founders of, 348 _et seq._, 358 _n._ 1, 360
Meaning of term, 358 _n._ 1
Object of, 345
Popularity of, cause of, 371
Power of, 346-7
Recensions of, 344, 345, 359, 373
Story of, 365-6
Teaching of, differences in, from that of Christ, 366-8
Method of, 357-60
Spirituality of, 345, 352
on Inspiration of Pentateuch and of the Prophets, 364-5
on Miracles, 365
on Bar-cochab, 336-7;
and on Rabbi Akiba, 355;
on the last war of the Jews, 98, 338 _& n._ 1;
and on destruction of the Temple, 332

Tannaim, the, 344, 358 _n._ 1

Targumim, the, 360;
Haggadic pieces in, 373;
excerpts from, 373-5

Tarquinius Priscus, 87

Taylor, Dr., on Rabbinic dicta, 365 _n._ 1

Teaching and doctrine, Early Christian Assemblies, 113-4;
groundwork of, 115-9;
as met with in the Catacombs, 220, 309 _et seq._, 312 _& n._ 1,
315, 316 _et seq._

Telesphorus, Pope, burial-place of, 287

Temple, the, of Jerusalem, destruction of, 22, 331-4, 340 _et seq._,
355, 362, 368;
the end of Mosaism, 341
Stones of Wailing all that is left of, 338
Treasures from, in Rome, 333 _& n._ 2, 351
Women’s Court in, 380
of Peace, Rome, 333 _n._ 2

Tenth Legion, at Jerusalem, 332

Tertullian, 151, 204, 315
Rigourism of, 146, 151, 153-4, 179, 182
Silent as to Vespasian, 40 _n._ 3
Teaching of, 138
Writings of:--
_ad Uxor_, on Hospitality, 128
_Apology of_, resemblances between, and _Octavius_ of Minucius
Felix, 186
Martyrs’ Manuals, 199
_Scorpiace_, 121 _n._ 1;
S. Paul _cited_ in, 202, 203 _& n._ 1
Treatise on Idolatry, 144 _n._ 1;
on training for Martyrdom, 203
cited in support of Petrine tradition, 10-11, 13, 14;
on aid to prisoners, 130;
on almsgiving, 120;
on burying the poor, 132, 133;
on Christ with the Kid, 319, 320;
on Christian love, 119;
on highly-placed Christians, 111, 147, 149;
on idol-worship, 144 _n._ 1;
on insensibility of martyrs to pain, 200;
on numbers of Christians in the second century, 104, 105;
on penalty of being a Christian, 197 _& n._ 1;
and on enduring hardness, 153-4;
on persecutions, 32, 36, 37, 190-1;
on physical training for martyrdom, 198, 202-3;
on Pliny’s correspondence with Trajan, 45, 46;
and on inconsistencies in Trajan’s Rescript, 55

_Testaments of the XII Patriarchs_, on Almsgiving, 121

Theban Legion, martyrdom of, legend of, 148 _n._ 1

Theodelinda, and the Monza Catalogue (_q.v._), 214-5, 228, 304

Theodosius, Emperor, 253;
and the Basilica of S. Paul, 238;
Latin writers of his period, 64

Theophitus, Bishop of Antioch, on assemblies, 108-9;
on persecution, 189-90

_Thibaritanos, Ad_, letter by S. Cyprian, 198 _n._ 2, 199

Thirty-nine Articles, the, 319 _n._ 1

Thrason, Catacombs of, 258, 260

Tiber, the, Catacombs beside, Itineraries on, 210-14;
S. Peter’s baptisms in, 11, 14

Tiberias, Rabbinic School at, 326, 327;
method, study, and work at, 344, 346, 357, 358 _n._ 1

Tibur, Hadrian’s Villa near, 82

Tiburtius, martyr, tomb of, 242

Tigellinus, evil counsel of, to Nero, 27

Tillemont,--, 289;
on the _Acts_ of S. Felicitas, 300;
on the martyrdom of the Theban Legion, 148 _n._ 1

Titus, Bishop of Crete, Epistle of S. Paul to, on slavery, 135

Titus, Emperor, 85, 325;
persecution under, 172, 173, 174, _and see_ 207
Siege by, of Jerusalem and triumph after, 331-4, 351, 352
Views of, on Jewish and Christian religions, 39

Toleration, advocated by some Early Christians, De Broglie on, 142-3

Torah, the, 330, 341, 351, 352, 370;
additions, directions, explanations made to (_see also under_
Names), 343 _& nn._ 1 _&_ 2 _et seq._
Haggadic notices on, from Palestinian Targum, 373-5
Halachic developments of, 376-7
History of, 339
Inspiration claimed for, 343, 364
Mishnah and Gemara built up on, 361
Post-exilic reverence for, 342 _et seq._
Schools devoted to study of (_see also_ Rabbinic Schools), 326
Temple copy of, in Rome, 333 _& n._ 2

Torre Pignatara, tomb of S. Helena at, 249

Trade, difficulties in, of Early Christians, 141

Tradition, rehabilitated by Archæology, 105, 225-6, 230-1, 239-40,
241, 289, 293, 298, 304
on S. Peter as founder of Roman Christianity, 7, 8;
literary and archaeological support to, 8, 9 _et seq._

Trajan, Emperor, 110, 164, 171, 172, 182;
attitude to, of Christian historians, 48-9
Characteristics of, 49-50, 55, 85
Death of, and successor, 75
Pliny’s letter to, 27, 32, 35 _n._ 1, 43, 45 _et seq._, 56, 103
_& n._ 2, 177
Pope Gregory the Great’s prayer for, 49
Principles of, as to Christians, 78, 97
Rescript of, in reply to Pliny, 45 _et seq._, 56, 57, 177;
effect of, 180;
provisions of, 49-50;
publication of, 60 _n._ 1;
Tertullian’s criticisms on, 55;
views of scholars _cited_ on, 49
Social life of his time, 89
Zealot revolt under, 334

Translation of remains of Martyrs and Saints, 235, 236, 262, 263,
266 _& n._ 1, 267, 272, 273-4, 292, 298

Trastevere Quarter, Catacombs in, Itineraries on, 210-11

Tridentine Catechism, the, 319 _n._ 1

Trinity, Blessed, references to, in Catacombs, 316

Triumvirate, proscription of, 56

“Tropæum,” the, probable identification of, 282

Ubaldi, Canon of S. Peter’s, on discoveries during erection of
Bernini’s baldachino, 281 _& n._ 1 _et seq._

Uhlhorn,--, views of, on Trajan’s Rescript, 49

Urban VIII, Pope, and the discovery of S. Peter’s sarcophagus, 233
_n._ 1, 280 _et seq._;
epigram on, 280

Urbanus, Bishop (not of Rome), and S. Cecilia, 290

Urbanus, Bishop of Rome, 290

_Uxor, Ad_, by Tertullian, 128

Valentinian II, Emperor, and the Basilica of S. Paul, 238

Valentinus, the Gnostic, 112 _n._ 1

Valerian, Emperor, favour shown by, to Christians, 147;
persecution under, 243, 247, 256, 275

Vatican Basilica, the, 293
Hill, Cemetery on, 243, 272-3;
beginning of, 280, 285, 286;
“Itinerary” on, 210;
rediscovery of, 280
Papal tombs and Crypt of, 234, 236-7, 242, 244, 245 _et seq._;
Popes buried in, 16, 233, 273, 283, 284, 286-7
S. Peter’s tomb in, 16, 232, 233, 237
Gardens on, martyrdoms in, 28, 29, 30, 32;
site of S. Peter’s death, 267

Vatican Hill, “Memoriæ” of Apostles on, 11, 233

Vergil, poems by, 87, 88, 91;
teaching of, 88, 95

Verus, son of Ælius Verus, adopted by Antoninus Pius, 83

Vespasian, Emperor, 33;
attitude of, to Christianity, 39-40 _& nn._, 207;
difficulties with the Jews, 92
Persecution under, 172, 173, 174
Roman characteristics of, 85
Siege by, of Jerusalem, 330-1
Temple of Peace built by, 333 _n._ 2
Triumph of, 333

Vestibule of Domitilla Cemetery, 240

Via Appia, catacombs of, 211-12, 234, 237, 242 _et seq._, 301
Ardeatina, catacombs of, 211, 239-42;
excavations in, value of, to history, 239-40
Aurelia or Aurelia Vetus, catacombs along, 210-11, 233-5
Flaminia, catacomb of, 214, 275-6
Labicana, catacombs of, 212, 249
Latina, catacombs of, 212, 248-9
Nomentana, catacombs of, 212-3, 255-8
Ostiensis, catacombs on, 211, 236-9, 243
Portuensis, catacombs on, 211, 235-6
Salaria, catacombs of, rediscovery of, 223 _& n._ 1
Cemetery of S. Priscilla on, 12
Salaria Nova, catacombs of, 213, 258 _et seq._, 302, 303
Salaria Vetus, catacombs of, 213, 274-5
Tiburtina, catacombs of, 212, 250-5
Vaticana, catacombs of, 210

Victor, Pope, burial-place of, 287

Vienne, martyrdoms at, 201, 208;
persecution at, by M. Aurelius, 94

Vigilius, Pope, burial-place of, 272

Viminal Hill, church on, 262

Vision of S. Flavian, on Insensibility of Martyrs to Pain, 200

_Vision, The, of Perpetua_, 199

Vitellius, Emperor, 39, 331

“War of Extermination,” the, 338

Wars of the Jews, the three last, 77, 78-9, 80, 325, 329 _et seq._,
338, 354

Westcott, Bishop, on date of letter to “Diognetus,” 178 _n._ 1

Westminster Abbey, epitaph of Jane Lister in, 309

Westminster Confession, 319 _n._ 1

Whepstead, church of S. Parnel at, 278

Widows and orphans, care of Early Church for, 124, 126

William of Malmesbury, Itinerary of, on Roman Catacombs, 210, 211,
213
Authority of, 210, 213, 227
Date of, 227
on S. Cecilia’s tomb, 293;
on S. Felicitas and her sons and their tombs, 303

Wiseman, Cardinal, 263

Women, Christ’s teaching on, and the Talmudic contrasted, 367
_& n._ 1;
Court of, in the Temple, 380

Worcester, two Saints of, 321

Wordsworth, W., poem of, on S. Cecilia, 294 _n._ 1

Worship (_see also_ Assemblies, Idol-worship, Incense), in Christian
Assemblies, Justin Martyr on, 113-4

Wulphere, King of the Mercians, 279

Xiphilin or Xiphilinus, on Domitian, 41;
on Hadrian, 75

Zealots, Rabbinic masters unsympathetic to, 342, 353, 354;
revolts of, and results, 330-1, 332, 334-5

Zephyrinus, Pope, martyr, 11;
tomb of, 243, 245, 273, 291

_Printed by_

MORRISON & GIBB LIMITED

_Edinburgh_

FOOTNOTES:

[1] These are quoted on pp. 13-20 of Book I.

[2] A singular and interesting passage of Allard here deserves to be
quoted verbatim: “Dans Rome où le celibat est devenu une plaie sociale,
où la population diminue, où la stérilité regne au foyer domestique,
où l’avortement l’infanticide sont fréquents et à peine reprimés, les
Juifs seuls ont beaucoup d’enfants--Tacite a défini d’un mot ce trait
de leur race; ‘generandi amor,’ dit-il en énumerant les principaux
charactères du peuple Juif. Tous les témoignages anciens parlent de
leur grand nombre; ‘augmenter était une de leurs préoccupations,’
_‘augendæ multitudini consulitur_’ dit encore Tacite.” See Tacitus,
_Hist._ v. 5; Allard, i. p. 12.

[3] Professor Ramsay in his book, _The Church in the Roman Empire_,
prefers a later date for the composition of the First Epistle of
St. Peter than that usually given, A.D. 64-5. He believes it was
impregnated with Roman thought and was certainly written from Rome,
but not before A.D. 80. This would give a long period of Roman work
to the apostle; still--able as are Professor Ramsay’s arguments--the
later date and all that it involves are absolutely at variance with the
universal tradition.

[4] See the detailed account of this catacomb, Book IV. 261 and
following pages.

[5] On these memories which belong to the house of Pudens and his
family see pp. 262-270.

[6] _Histoire ancienne de l’Église_, vol. i. p. 61 (4th edition, 1908).

[7] It will be noticed that an interesting hypothesis dwelt on by
Allard (_Histoire des Persécutions_, vol. i.) and by other writers has
not been quoted among the foregoing testimonies. It is curious and
deserving of notice, but it is at best only an ingenious supposition.

These scholars suggest that when S. Peter, after his deliverance
through the interference of an angel guide, escaped from the prison of
Herod Antipas and went to another place (Acts xii. 17), that the “other
place” so mysteriously and strangely alluded to by the writer of the
“Acts” signified Rome.

A Roman tradition handed down to us through the medium of early
Christian art, curiously seems to connect the angelic deliverance of
the Apostle S. Peter with _Rome_. On some twenty of the early Christian
sarcophagi preserved in the Lateran Museum, the arrest and imprisonment
of S. Peter by the soldiers of Herod Antipas form the subject of the
sculpture. Why, pertinently ask these writers, was this special scene
in the life of S. Peter selected as the subject graved on so many of
these ancient coffins of the Roman Christian dead? They reply--The
connexion which traditionally existed between this imprisonment and the
angelic deliverance with the first coming of the apostle to Rome.

* * * * *

Bishop Lightfoot somewhat strangely remarks (_Clement of Rome_, vol.
ii. p. 491): “S. Paul could not have written as he writes to the Romans
(i. 11, xv. 20-24) if they had received even a short visit from an
apostle, more especially if that apostle were S. Peter.”

It is difficult to see how he makes this deduction from S. Paul’s
words in the passages in question. In the first passage (Rom. i. 11),
S. Paul, after addressing the Roman Christians, and thanking God that
their faith is spoken of throughout the whole world, adds that he longs
to see these Christians, that he may impart to them some spiritual gift
to the end that they may be established. Then he explains or, as it
were, recalls what he has said, that he might not seem to think them
insufficiently instructed or established in the faith, and therefore
in the words which follow closely, “that I may be comforted together
with you by the mutual faith both of you and me,” turns the end of his
coming to them to their mutual rejoicing in one another’s faith, when
he and they shall come to know one another.

In the second passage (Rom. xv. 20-24), S. Paul plainly states that his
work had been to preach the gospel “not where Christ was named, lest he
should build upon another man’s foundation”--that is, not where Christ
was preached by another before me.

Then he adds, that he considered the preaching of Christ where he had
not been named the most needful work; he therefore declined going to
Rome, where was a Church already planted; but now, having no more
Churches to plant in the regions where he was sojourning, he signifies
his resolution of visiting the Roman Church.

Any deduction that could be drawn from these two passages in S. Paul’s
Epistle to the Romans, would seem to be exactly the contrary to that
suggested by Lightfoot.

[8] See above, pp. 7-12, where the question of the foundation of the
Church in Rome is fully discussed.

[9] Such as the heresies of the Nicolaitans and Cerinthians, and
certain of the false Docetic teachings.

[10] _The Church in the Roman Empire_, xi. 6.

[11] This comment cannot be pressed too strongly.

[12] It is this which makes the vivid picture which the younger Pliny,
in his Letter to Trajan, paints of Christian life and influence in a
great province so valuable.

[13] See Ramsay, _The Church in the Roman Empire_, xii. 2.

[14] See Hilary (Poitiers), _Contra Arianos_, 3.

[15] Bishop Lightfoot discusses at some length the great probability
of the accuracy of this definite statement of S. Hilary of Poitiers,
and decides that the absence of any mention of Vespasian among the
persecutors in Melito and Tertullian by no means invalidates Hilary’s
mention; no systematic record was kept of the persecutions; the
knowledge possessed by each individual writer was accidental and
fragmentary. Lightfoot, _Ignatius and Polycarp_, vol. i. pp. 15, 16.

[16] “Domitian loved to be identified with Jupiter, and to be
idolized as the Divine Providence in human form; and it is recorded
that Caligula, Domitian, and Diocletian were the three Emperors who
delighted to be styled _dominus et deus_.”

[17] He struck (says the Roman poet), without exciting popular
indignation, at the illustrious citizen:

“Tempora sævitiæ, claras quibus abstulit Urbi Illustresque animas
impune, et vindice nullo.”

But when his rage touched the people--he fell:

“Sed periit, postquam cerdonibus esse timendus cœperat” ... (Juvenal,
iv. 151-4).

The word _cerdones_ included the poorest and humblest artisans. The
word is commonly translated “cobblers”--French _savetiers_; it is
usually applied to the slave class, or to those engaged in the poorest
industries.

Allard (_Histoire des Persécutions_, i. 11, chap. iv.) considers
that the disgust and pity of the populace when they saw the horrible
cruelties practised in the celebrated games of Nero in A.D. 64, were
partly owing to the indignation of the people when they perceived that
so many of their own class were among the tormented Christians in that
horrible massacre.

Aubé, too, in his _Histoire des Persécutions_, calls special attention
to these lines of Juvenal. He connects the murder of Domitian
closely with the indignation aroused among the people by this bitter
persecution, and suggests that the plot which resulted in the
assassination of the tyrant originated in a Christian centre. This is,
however, in the highest degree improbable.

[18] The full official title of Pliny the Younger in this governorship
was “Legatus proprætore provinciæ Ponti et Bithyniæ consulari
potestate.” That eminent statesman was entrusted with this province
mainly on account of its needing special attention at that time.

[19] Tertullian, _Apologeticum_, 2; Eusebius, _H. E._ III.[xxxii. 33.]

[20] Lightfoot well observes (_Apostolic Fathers_, part ii. vol. i., S.
Ignatius, pp. 54-6) that these two famous letters cannot be separated
from the collection of Pliny’s Letters in which they appear. Renan in
_Les Évangiles_ writes: “On ne croira jamais qu’un faussaire Chrétien
eut pu si admirablement imiter la langue précieuse et raffinée de
Pline.”

Lightfoot further asks, what Christian writer, if bent on forgery,
would have confessed that crowds of his fellow-believers had denied
their faith ... that the persecution was already refilling the heathen
temples which before were nearly empty, and that there was good hope,
if the same policy of persecution was pursued, of a general apostasy
from Christianity ensuing? Several, too, of the statements concerning
the practices of Christians betray only a very imperfect knowledge of
the practices referred to.

The passage which, however, has excited the greatest suspicion
and animosity is that which relates to the great _numbers_ of the
Christians; but it must be remembered that Tacitus had already spoken
of “a vast multitude” as suffering at Rome in the persecution of the
Emperor Nero.

[21] “Sed nihil aliud inveni, quam superstitionem pravam et immodicam.”
Pliny, _Ep._ x. 96.

[22] There is a striking passage, based on Pliny’s reflexions, in
Professor Dill’s _Roman Society from Nero to Marcus Aurelius_, on this
longing to be remembered after death, so common to the Roman (pagan)
mind.

“The secret of immortality, the one chance of escaping oblivion, is
to have your thought embalmed in choice and distinguished literary
form, which coming ages will not willingly let die (Plin. _Ep._ ii.
10. 4, iii. 7. 14).... This longing to be remembered was the most
ardent passion of the Roman mind in all ages and in all ranks ... of
that immense literary ambition which Pliny represented, and which he
considered it his duty to foster, only a small part has reached its
goal.... The great mass of these eager littérateurs have altogether
vanished, or remain to us as mere shadowy names in Martial, or Statius,
or Pliny.” Book ii. chap. i.

[23] It seems most probable that the first nine Books of Pliny’s
Letters were put out in “book form” for public use at different
periods--and subsequently collected in one volume. The “official”
correspondence between Pliny and Trajan was apparently “published”
somewhat later. But it is evident that in the days of Symmachus (end of
fourth century) the whole had been placed together, and thus made up
the ten Books we now possess.

[24] Dr. Mackail, _Latin Literature_, iii. v.

[25] The purely Christian writings, mainly theological, are not
included in this brief summary--able and brilliant as some of these
undoubtedly were; other causes, apart from their literary merits, have
largely contributed to their preservation.

[26] We might also cite here the well-known “poetic” epistles of Ovid
and Horace.

[27] The Epistles of Paul to the Romans and to the Galatians are not
quoted, but they are conspicuous examples of great doctrinal teaching
embodied in the letter form. In a lesser degree the same remark is
applicable to the two Letters to the Thessalonians and the First
Epistle to the Corinthians.

[28] The words which occur in “the address” of the Letters of Ignatius
to the Christian congregation in the city of Tralles are remarkable.
“The holy Church which is in Tralles of Asia I salute ... after the
manner of the apostle (ἐν ἀποστολικῷ χαρακτῆρι).” This Bishop Lightfoot
explains as a reference of Ignatius to the _Epistolary_ form of his
communication, that being a _usual form_ adopted by the apostles.

[29] Hermas, whose writings are usually classed with the works of the
“Apostolic Fathers,” does not fall into this category.

(_a_) There is some doubt as to whether Hermas can be rightly
considered an “Apostolic Father.”

(_b_) His writings are not cast in the Epistolary form, but are purely
theological treatises or pamphlets.

They are partially examined below (see pp. 178-84) with reference to
their date, authorship, and contents generally.

[30] Seventeen of these cities so named are commemorated on extant
coins and medals; and this number is largely increased by some writers.
These cities of Hadrian bearing his name were situated in various
districts of the Roman world, notably in Asia Minor, North Africa,
Spain, Syria, Pannonia.

[31] De Champagny, _Les Antonins_, iii. 1, tersely and well sums up his
character: “Il a tous les dons, et toutes les faiblesses, toutes les
grandeurs, et toutes les puérilitées, toutes les ambitions.”

[32] Cf. Jerome, _Ep._ 58, _Ad Paulin._, 3; Euseb. _De vitâ Constant._
iii. 26; Sozomen, i. 1; St. Paulin, _Ep._ 31 (ii.) _ad Severum_; Rufin.
_H. E._ i. 8; Sulp. Severus, ii. 25, 45; Ambrose, _Psalm_ 43; and in
modern historians, cf. De Vogüé’s _Églises de la terre sainte_, iii.;
De Champagny, _Les Antonins_, livre iii. c. iii.

[33] A certain number of them, however, are by all responsible critics
received as absolutely genuine, such as: The Letters relating the
Martyrdom of Polycarp; the recital of the sufferings and death of the
martyrs of Lyons; the Acts of the Scillitan Martyrs; and a few years
later the passion of S. Perpetua and of her companions in suffering.

[34] Extracts from them are given on pp. 177-191.

[35] No scholar is more definite here than Renan, who certainly cannot
be regarded as one who would be likely to dwell with emphasis on
testimony which makes for the ardent faith of the Christians of the
first days. And yet this great scholar brushes aside all the theories
which maintain that the Christian martyrs of this period were few and
insignificant in number; no modern writer is more positive on the awful
character of the persecutions between A.D. 135 and A.D. 180.

[36] _Æneid_, Book viii.

[37] See pp. 189-90 and 200.

[38] Bishop Lightfoot has been referred to in this brief summary of the
position of Christians during these two great reigns. This careful and
exact scholar is most definite in his conclusions here, and his views
exactly correspond with the views taken in this chapter.

[39] This especially refers to the ancient song of the Arval
Brotherhood, of which college Marcus was also a member.

[40] Tacitus, _Annals_, xv. 44.

[41] Further details of Pliny’s report to the Emperor Trajan upon the
numbers of Christians in his province will be found above, Book I.
pp. 49-62.

[42] Pliny, _Epist. ad Trajan_, 96.

[43] Clement of Rome, _Epist. ad Cor._ vi.

[44] The quotation referred to is from the so-called _2nd Epistle_ of
Clement of Rome (section 2), which Harnack attributes to Soter, bishop
of Rome. Lightfoot, however, places the Epistle even earlier (_circa_
A.D. 140), and considers it the work of an anonymous writer.

[45] Irenæus, _adv. Hær._, book iii. 2.

[46] Tertullian, _Apologeticus_, 1.

[47] _Ibid._ 42.

[48] Quoted in Eusebius, _H. E._, book vi. chap. 43.

[49] See below, p. 120.

[50] Professor Harnack, _Mission and Expansion of Christianity_, book
iv. chap. iii. sec. 14.

[51] _Didaché_, iv. 2.

[52] Clement of Rome, _Ep. ad Cor._ 34.

[53] Ignatius, _ad Eph._ 13.

[54] _Ad Polyc._ 4.

[55] Barnabas, _Ep._ 4.

[56] See for detailed account of Justin Martyr’s description, p. 113.

[57] _Theophilus to Autolycus_, xiv.

[58] Harnack well observes that among Clement of Alexandria’s writings,
the _Pædagogus_ evidently assumes that the Church for which its
teaching was designed embraced a large number of cultured people.

The same conclusion must be arrived at in respect of many of Irenæus’
writings. Irenæus wrote in the last quarter of the second century.

[59] The more eminent of the Gnostic teachers who in the first instance
separated themselves from the Christian congregations, as far as we can
judge from the comparatively rare fragments which we possess of their
writings, evidently had in view highly cultured readers and listeners.
We allude especially to Valentinus and his famous pupil Heracleon.
These Gnostic writers taught and wrote in the second half of the second
century. The period of activity of the second of these, Heracleon, is
generally given as _circa_ A.D. 170-80. Valentinus was somewhat earlier.

[60] This is strikingly put by F. W. Myers in his poem “S. Paul”:

“This hath he done and shall we not adore Him? This shall He do and can
we still despair? Come let us quickly fling ourselves before Him, Cast
at His feet the burden of our care.”

[61] The more notable of the _Atonement_ prophecy passages in Isaiah
were:

“Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.... He was
wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities:
the chastening of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are
healed.... He shall see of the travail of His soul, and be satisfied:
by His knowledge shall my righteous Servant justify many; for He shall
bear their iniquities” (Isa. liii.).

[62] See above, pp. 113, 114.

[63] If the experiment of “communism” in the early Christian Church
was ever tried, it was in the congregation of Jerusalem, and there
it is clear that the results were simply disastrous; very soon the
Church of Jerusalem was reduced to the direst straits. There are
very many allusions to this state of things in S. Paul’s Epistles,
where collections for the “poor saints in Jerusalem” are constantly
mentioned; yet even in that Church, where apparently some attempt
at a community of goods was evidently made, entire renunciation was
evidently, as we see in the case of Ananias and Sapphira, never
obligatory, but was ever purely voluntary.

[64] The writer here evidently means “atones for a multitude of our own
sins”; so Tertullian, _Scorpiace_, 6 (see Bishop Lightfoot, _Clement of
Rome_, part i. vol. ii. p. 232).

[65] See note (p. 104) on authorship and date of _2nd Epistle_ of
Clement of Rome.

[66] See Archbishop Benson, _Cyprian_, vi. 1.

[67] The Emperor Julian’s well-known Letter to Arsacius is a good
example. It is clear that charity did not restrict itself to the
“Household of Faith.” Cyprian and his congregation’s action in the
Great Plague of Carthage is a good example of this. See below, p. 127.

[68] The last clause is a very important one. It tells us that to the
collections made in the assembly for the poor and needy, even the
poorest artisan and slave contributed, and positively fasted for two or
three days that they might save the necessary few coins to help those
poorer and more sorrowful than themselves.

On this beautiful act of Christian charity, see, too, such passages as
Hermas _Shepherd_, Simil. iii.

[69] Archbishop Benson happily paraphrases Cyprian’s words thus:
_Noblesse oblige_. _S. Cyprian_, vi. 1, 2.

[70] Lecky, _European Morals_, chap. ii., “The Pagan Empire.”

[71] Slavery was not authoritatively condemned until the year of
grace 1807. Lecky characterizes the action of Christian England here
in the following eloquent words: “The unwearied, unostentatious, and
inglorious crusade of England against slavery may probably be regarded
as among the three or four perfectly virtuous acts recorded in the
history of nations” (_History of Morals_, chap. i.). And even after
1807 it lived on an acknowledged and recognized institute of several
countries. The terrible war which led to the slave abolition in the
United States is still unforgotten even by this generation.

[72] Ozanam estimates the numbers of slaves in the first and second
centuries of our era as amounting to half the population of the Empire.
The estimate is no doubt exaggerated, but the numbers of the slave
population in that period were undoubtedly very great.

[73] Lecky, _History of European Morals_, vol. ii. chap. iv.

[74] Hermas, the author of the famous _Shepherd_, belonged to the slave
class. The Roman Bishop Pius, A.D. 142-157, was the brother of Hermas.
The celebrated Bishop of Rome, Callistus, A.D. 218-222, had been a
slave.

“The first and grandest edifice of Byzantine architecture in Italy--the
Church of S. Vitale at Ravenna--was dedicated by Justinian to the
memory of a martyred slave.”--Lecky, _History of European Morals_, vol.
ii. chap. iv.

[75] S. Paulinus of Nola to Sulpicius Severus, _Ep._ xxiii.

[76] De Broglie, _Revue des deux mondes_, 1st Nov. 1852, reproduced in
his _L’Église et l’Empire Romain_, vol. i., Avertissement, ii-iii.

[77] See, for instance, Tert. _De Idolat._ viii., where the various
trades connected with idols and temples are enumerated.

[78] On these “Schools of Martyrdom,” see below, p. 198 foll.

[79] See Renan, _Marc-Aurèle_, chap. xxii.

[80] Some put this graffito a little later, perhaps in the days of
Alexander Severus, A.D. 222-35.

[81] The well-known recital of the martyrdom of S. Maurice and of the
Theban Legion, whether it be accepted as absolutely genuine or not,
is an admirable instance of the ever-present dangers and difficulties
of a Christian soldier of the Empire. The scene of the terrible and
wholesale martyrdom was Agaunum (S. Maurice), some nine miles distant
from Octodurus (Martigny) in the Canton of Valais, and the date
was _circa_ A.D. 292-6. Maximian was then reigning as colleague of
Diocletian. The authenticity of the story is maintained by Ruinart, who
includes it in his _Acta Sincera_; by Tillemont, and in our days by
Allard, who, however, cuts down the Legion to a cohort. Harnack, on the
other hand, and others doubt its authenticity.

[82] The edicts favourable to Christianity were quietly received, even
approved, in many places warmly welcomed; and vast and ever increasing
numbers of the population, hitherto pagans, joined the Christian
communities.

The enormous and seemingly sudden increase in the number of Christians
in the Roman Empire in the latter years of the third and in the fourth
centuries, is a problem which even now is something of a mystery to
some historians.

[83] See Lecky, _Hist. of Morals_, chap. iii.

[84] Prudentius does not stand alone as voicing the opinions of the
people. A contemporary of his--Paulinus of Nola--although far behind
Prudentius in genius, was a poet of considerable power. This Paulinus,
a person of high dignity and of great wealth, when still comparatively
young, withdrew from the world and devoted himself to religion; he
has left behind him a collection of poems, which he wrote annually on
the occasion of the Festival of S. Felix, a martyr in whose honour
he erected a basilica. His poems, of which some 5000 lines have been
preserved, contain many vivid pictures illustrative of the popular
aspect of Christianity in the latter years of the fourth century. He
loves to dwell on the intense devotion of the people to the memory of
the martyr whom he loved, S. Felix of Nola, and tells us of the crowds
of pilgrims visiting his shrine.

Damasus, bishop of Rome, A.D. 366-84, whose many and elaborate works
of restoration of the Roman catacombs are dwelt on in the section of
this work treating of the great City of the Dead, beneath the suburbs
of Rome, bears a similar testimony to the widespread devotion of the
people to the memory of the martyrs of the days of persecution. His
elaborate works in the catacombs were all designed for the convenience
of the vast crowds of pilgrims, in the second half of the fourth
century, from many lands to the shrines where the remains of the more
famous martyrs had been deposited.

[85] Tertullian, _On Fasting_, 12.

[86] Tertullian, _To his Wife_, 5.

[87] Tertullian, _On Female Dress_, xi. 13.

[88] Examples of these are given below; see p. 313 of this work.

[89] Some of the more remarkable of these are quoted in Book IV. pt.
iii. (pp. 309-312).

[90] On “the Mortality,” _i.e._ the plague of Alexandria, 20-24.

[91] This Rutilius was a Gallic gentleman of high position who had
filled important offices at Rome, and had become a Senator. His
undisguised opinion of the Christian sect appears in a graceful poem
descriptive of a sea-trip from Rome (Ostia probably) to South Gaul.
The work in question was composed _circa_ A.D. 416.

[92] The testimony of the Roman catacombs here is also very weighty.
See Book III. part iii., where the numbers of martyrs and confessors
buried in the catacombs are especially dwelt on.

[93] In this Third Book, where the question of the persecutions to
which the early Christian Church was subjected is discussed, the
period especially alluded to stretches from _circa_ A.D. 64 to A.D.
180, including the reigns of the Flavian Emperors, of Hadrian and the
Antonines.

But the conditions under which the Christians in the Roman Empire
lived during the century and a quarter which followed the period above
referred to, in very many respects differed but little from those that
prevailed in the earlier years--only in the later period there were
more years of comparative immunity from active persecution, while, on
the ether hand, when the comparatively “still” years came to an end,
the cruelties inflicted upon the Christians were more marked, and the
severity of the punishments meted out by the dominant pagan party
in the State were greater and more far-reaching than in the earlier
days--notably in the reigns of Maximin, Decius and Diocletian.

[94] This early and usually accepted date, _circa_ 65-7, seems the
more probably correct. It is the traditional date, and generally
fits in with the life and work of S. Peter as given in the ancient
authorities. Prof. Ramsay, however, _The Church in the Empire_, puts it
some fourteen or fifteen years later, and concludes that the Apostle’s
martyrdom took place after A.D. 80. If, however, this later date be
adopted, the references to the continual persecution would be even
_more_ striking than if the earlier and traditional date be accepted.

[95] The reference here is to pagan Rome, as “the woman drunken with
blood”; so Mommsen quoted by Ramsay, who dwells on the fact that the
death of the saints springs directly from their acknowledgment of their
religion, and _not_ for conviction for specific crimes.

[96] “The mind of the writer is practically restricted to the Roman
world.... He thinks like a Roman that ‘genus humanum’ is the Roman
world. The nations which did not worship the Roman Emperor were never
present to his mind” (Ramsay, _The Church in the Empire_).

[97] So called from the position it holds between the _longer_
recension of the “ten Letters,” three of which are put aside as later
compilations, and the _shorter_ recension of three Letters which Canon
Cureton found in the Syrian MS. and published, believing that these
“three” were the only genuine Epistles of the martyr-bishop.

[98] Prof. Ramsay, _The Church in the Roman Empire_, chap. xiii.

[99] See Part I. section 1, chap. iii. in the author’s work, _The
Golden Age of the Church_, entitled, “The Monks and the Animal World,”
where this interesting question has been discussed at some length, and
various examples are given.

[100] The history, contents, and authenticity of this most weighty
reference has been already discussed in all its bearings (see above,
pp. 45-62).

[101] The well-known reference of Tacitus to the persecution of Nero
has been referred to (see p. 103).

[102] The date _circa_ A.D. 117 is suggested by Bishop Westcott, and
Bishop Lightfoot generally agrees in placing the writing about this
time. Some would even place its composition in the very early years of
the second century. The last two chapters, xi.-xii., are fragmentary,
and apparently were written a little--but very little--later.

[103] So Harnack; Duchesne, in his _Histoire ancienne de l’Église_,
vol. i. p. 225 (published 1908), generally adopts Harnack’s conclusions
respecting the early date. Lightfoot (vol. i. p. 360, _Clement of
Rome_) also leans to the conclusion that the Clement of the _Shepherd_
is the illustrious Bishop of Rome. This would postulate the earlier
date for parts of the work.

[104] What Hermas wrote specially of Rome, no doubt in a very large
degree was the state of things in the provinces of the Empire. This is
clear from the great and _general_ popularity enjoyed by the _Shepherd_
in the first two centuries. The picture of Christian life in Rome was
recognized as an accurate picture of their own life, by the citizens of
Corinth and Alexandria, by the dwellers in Ephesus and Antioch.

[105] A more detailed description of the famous _Dialogue_ of Minucius
Felix will be found on pp. 145-6.

[106] Side was a maritime town of Pamphylia. Philip wrote in the early
part of the fifth century.

[107] Lecky, _History of European Morals_, chap, iii., “The
Persecutions,” pp. 497-8.

[108] “It is not lawful to be you,” but it is impossible to render in
English the full force of this epigrammatic saying of Tertullian.

[109] De Boissier, the Academician, specially calls attention to it
as a somewhat novel piece of very early ecclesiastical history, and
he refers his readers to a comparatively little known study on this
subject by M. Le Blant, a well-known scholar in early Christian lore;
of this “Study” of Le Blant, De Boissier speaks with the highest praise.

[110] S. Cyprian, Epist. lxvi. _ad Thibaritanos_.

[111] A very ancient and probably an authoritative reading. When in
the text the language of didactic calmness passes suddenly into the
language of emotion: “How strait is the gate,” etc.--S. Matt. vii. 13,
14.

[112] Tertullian, _Ad Martyres_, 3.

[113] Quoted in the _Scorpiace_ of Tertullian, and much more from S.
Paul to the same point.

[114] Although the usual date given for this last attack on
Christianity is a few months after the death of the Emperor Marcus.
There is no doubt that they belong to the policy of persecution
carried out by Marcus, and that the reaction in favour of Christianity
noticeable in the reign of Commodus, his successor, had not had time to
make itself felt.

[115] Compare the quotations taken from these writings given above.

[116] A short account of the principal of these Itineraries is given on
pp. 227-8.

[117] See pp. 227-8.

[118] Allard translates these lines: “Si vous voulez savoir, ici
reposent amoncelés les ossements d’un grand nombre des saints; ces
vénérables tombeaux gardent les corps des élus dont le royaume des
cieux a tiré à lui les âmes sublimes.” “Des polyandres, ou tombes
consacrées à des centaines, peut-être à des milliers de corps,
s’ouvraient en plusieurs parties des catacombes. Ces tombes étaient
toujours anonymes, remplies de martyrs--‘quorum nomina scit Omnipotens’
selon l’expression du Pope Pascal.” ... “M. De Rossi croit reconnaître
dans une fosse profonde qui s’ouvre sous la niche profonde à gauche
de l’autel dans la chapelle Papale ... le polyandre célèbre où
reposaient, selon d’anciens documents, une multitude innombrable de
martyrs enterrés ‘ad sanctam Cæciliam.’” (See Allard, _Rome Souteraine_
(Northcote & Brownlow), _Cimetière de Calliste_, 216-18; and see too
note on p. 218.)

[119] Dean Stanley of Westminster.

[120] It was in the year of grace 1578 that some workmen digging out
sand in a vineyard about a mile from Rome on the Via Salaria came upon
the gallery of a subterranean cemetery, with dim paintings and many
ancient inscriptions upon the walls.

This striking discovery excited much curiosity at the time, and the
world of Rome, recalling to mind the long-forgotten story of the
Catacombs, became suddenly conscious that beneath its suburbs lay a
vast unexplored City of the Dead.

[121] Refer here to pp. 289-297, “Crypt of S. Cecilia.”

[122] Several additional discoveries of historic crypts have been made
since this computation was made.

[123] Other tombs of the famous martyr-sons of Felicitas have since
been identified, and much knowledge of this incident in early Christian
history has been brought to light.

[124] The tomb of S. Peter and its surroundings will be described
at length in Appendix II., which follows the section treating of
the “Catacombs,” where is related the thrilling story of what was
discovered when the excavations required for the support of the great
bronze canopy of Bernini over the tomb of S. Peter were made in A.D.
1626, in the pontificate of Urban VIII. (Appendix II., S. Peter, pp.
279-88.)

[125] Marucchi, _Itinéraire des Catacombes_, A.D. 1903.

[126] The story of the tomb of S. Cecilia and her crypt is told in
detail in the section immediately succeeding this general sketch of the
catacombs, pp. 289-97.

[127] Further details respecting S. Zeno will be found below, p. 276.

[128] Further details respecting the identification of this once famous
shrine will be found below on pp. 301-2.

[129] The Church of S. Suzanna has a striking history. It was rebuilt
by Maderno for Sixtus V, on the site of an ancient church or oratory
erected by Pope Caius, A.D. 283, in the house of his brother, who
suffered martyrdom with his daughter, Suzanna, because she refused to
break her vow of perpetual virginity by a marriage with the adopted son
of the Emperor Diocletian. The bodies of these two martyrs still rest
beneath the high altar.

[130] In two of the MSS. of the second edition or Recension of the
_Liber Pontificalis_ under the account of Pope Pius I (A.D. 142-57),
we find the following note, which contains much of the substance of
the above extract from the “Acts” of SS. Pudentianæ et Praxedis above
quoted: “Hic (Pius) ex rogatu beate Praxedis dedicavit ecclesiam
thermas Novati, in vico Patricii, in honore sororis sue sanctæ
Potentianæ (Pudentianæ), ubi et multa dona obtulit; ubi sepius
sacrificium Domino offerens ministrabat. Immo et fontem baptismi
construi fecit, manus suas benedixit et consecravit, et multos
venientes ad fidem baptizavit in nomine Trinitatis.”

[131] See on p. 272, where details are given of the translation of
these confessors and of certain of the bishops of Rome originally
interred in the Cemetery of S. Priscilla, into the basilica of S.
Sylvester, erected over the Priscilla Catacomb by Pope Sylvester, and
named after both. The basilica in question was discovered by De Rossi
in A.D. 1889, in the course of his investigations at S. Priscilla.

[132] The important and interesting details which follow here have been
largely taken from the chapter which treats of Ubaldi’s _Memoir_ by Mr.
Barnes in his admirable and massive work entitled _S. Peter at Rome_
(1st edit. 1900). The writer of this book can hardly find terms to
express his deep admiration for the learning and information contained
in Mr. Barnes’ work on the subject. It is by far the most exhaustive
and scholarly work on the subject in our language.

[133] The text of the _Liber Pontificalis_ mentions the Cemetery of
Prætextatus as the site of the lost tomb. It was there where her
husband Valerian and his brother and the officer Maximus had been
buried. Duchesne, the learned editor of the _Liber Pontificalis_,
suggests that the body of S. Cecilia had been removed from its original
resting-place in the Crypt of S. Callistus, and had been secretly
placed for safety’s sake in the Cemetery of Prætextatus. De Rossi,
however, and later Marucchi, believe that the Cemetery of Prætextatus,
through an error in the _Liber Pontificalis_, had been written for
“Cemetery of Callistus.”

[134] The writer of this book simply tells the story as it has been
handed down and often repeated. From the clear testimony of the
responsible and eminent witnesses above referred to--such men as
Baronius, Bosio, and Maderno--there seems little doubt but that they
had looked upon the hallowed remains resting as Maderno in his marble
portrait has depicted her. De Rossi and others seem to represent the
state of the body as though it had been miraculously preserved; the
truth probably is that the body of Cecilia had been carefully and
skilfully embalmed owing to the loving care of her friends, and laid in
the peculiar position in which she breathed her last. The high rank and
great wealth of her family, and the usual gentle and humane practice of
the Roman Government in the case of those who had been judicially put
to death, would bear out this explanation. No expense would have been
deemed too great by the powerful family of Cecilia to do honour to her
precious remains.

Of the enduring “popularity”--to use a commonplace expression--of S.
Cecilia, the fact of Cecilia being one of the few chosen female saints
daily commemorated in the canon of the Mass, may be fairly adduced.
She is classed with Felicitas, Perpetua, Agatha, Lucia, Anastasia, and
Agnes.

It is often asked why she is looked on as the patroness of music.
Nothing but pure tradition can be alleged here, but the tradition is a
very ancient one. Wordsworth writes of her as

“rapt Cecilia, seraph-haunted queen of harmony.”

Compare too references in Dryden, “Alexander’s Feast,” and Pope,
“Ode on S. Cecilia.” Raffaelle paints her as wrapped in ecstasy and
surrounded by instruments of music.

The tradition is that when Valerian, her husband, returned from
baptism, he found her singing hymns of thanksgiving for his conversion.
Angels, it is said, descended from heaven to listen to her sweet voice.

No allusion, however, to her musical power is made in the Antiphone
sung at her Festival. A verse of the appointed anthem runs thus:

“While the instruments of music were playing, Cecilia sang unto
the Lord and said, ‘Let my heart be undefiled, that I may never be
confounded.’”

In one of the chapels of the great Church of the Oratory in London
there is a beautiful replica of the dead Cecilia of Maderno.

There is another replica of Maderno’s figure now placed in the niche
of the recently-discovered crypt of S. Cecilia, where the sarcophagus
which contains the body of the saint originally was placed.

[135] A “luminare” (plural “luminaria”) was a shaft communicating with
the surface of the ground which admitted light and air. Many of these
were constructed by Pope Damasus in the fourth century for the sake of
pilgrims visiting the historic crypts.

[136] In support of this conclusion, above ground, over this area of
the great “Callistus” Cemetery, important Columbaria have been found
belonging to the “gens Cæcilia.” Thus long before S. Cecilia’s time the
spot had been evidently the burying-place of the illustrious house to
which she belonged.

[137] The eldest of the “seven” was the well-known S. Januarius.

[138] The manner of death of this illustrious family of Christian
martyrs was as follows, as far as we can gather from the concise
notices in the “Acts”:

Januarius, the eldest, was beaten to death by whips loaded with lead.

The second and third brothers apparently met with the same doom.

The fourth was thrown down from a height, and so died.

The three remaining brothers and their mother Felicitas were dealt with
more mercifully and were decapitated.

[139] Agapitus is so spelt in the rough graffite here referred to.

[140] S. Augustine in the first quarter of the fifth century, _circa_
A.D. 421, in reply to a question addressed to him by S. Paulinus of
Nola, discusses the question whether or not is it advantageous to be
buried close to the grave of a saint? The little work of Augustine,
however, broadens out into points connected with the doctrine of
“Invocation of Saints.” A résumé of some of S. Augustine’s thoughts and
arguments will be found in a short Appendix to this chapter.

[141] The initial letters of the Redeemer’s names and principal titles
(in Greek) made up the word ἰχθύς or fish. Thus:

=Ι=ΗϹΟΥϹ = Jesus.
=Χ=ΡΙϹΤΟϹ = Christ.
=Θ=ΕΟΥ = of God.
=Υ=ΙΟϹ = Son.
=Ϲ=ΩΤΗΡ = Saviour.

[142] See especially Heb. xiii. 20; 1 Pet. ii. 25-v. 4; S. Luke, xv. 4,
7, and above all S. John x. 11, 16.

[143] Dean Stanley of Westminster, _Christian Institutions_, chaps.
xiii., xiv.

[144] Dean Stanley (_Christian Institutions_) calls attention to the
curious fact that the popular religion of the first two centuries,
as shown in the catacomb witnesses, ran, in some particulars, in
different channels from the contemporary writers whose reliquiæ have
been preserved, and also from the paintings and writers of a later
period; for instance, the “Good Shepherd” is very little alluded to
even by the writers of the second and third and fourth centuries;
_e.g._ Irenæus and Justin, Athanasius and Cyprian. If we come down much
later, scarcely any notices of the “Shepherd” occur in the _Summa_ of
Thomas Aquinas; none in the Tridentine Catechism; none in the Anglican
Thirty-nine Articles; none in the Westminster Confession.

[145] Mommsen, Renan, and Ramsay without hesitation ascribe the
statement quoted here as taken by Sulpicius Severus (fourth century)
from the lost portion of the _Histories of Tacitus_.

[146] Talmud (Bab.), treatise “Gittin,” 56A.

[147] The arch was completed by Domitian after the death of Titus.

[148] The golden relics were deposited in the Temple of Peace, which
Vespasian built opposite the Palatine; it was dedicated A.D. 75. The
temple in question was destroyed completely by fire in the reign of
Commodus. The temple copy of the Torah was taken to the imperial
palace. The Emperor Severus, who built a synagogue for the Roman Jews,
handed over this precious MS. to the Jewish community in Rome. The MS.
has disappeared, but a list of some of the readings of this venerable
codex has been preserved in the Massorah, and is still available for
use.

[149] The authorities for the details of this terrible and protracted
war are Dion Cassius and the notices in the Talmud, especially in the
treatise “Gittin.”

[150] But these numbers, as we have stated, although derived from
contemporary authorities, are evidently very much exaggerated.

[151] What the Mishnah was will be explained below (p. 358), where a
general description of the Talmud is given.

[152] These singular assertions will be found in the Mishnah, in the
Talmudic treatises of the Sanhedrim and the Baba-Bathra.

[153] Halachah signifies literally custom, practice, rule. The term
is further explained and illustrated in the following chapter on
the “Contents of the Talmud.” Haggadah, which generally signifies
Tradition, is also explained and illustrated (see Appendix).

[154] These Scribes, their position and means of livelihood, are
discussed more fully below on p. 350.

[155] The Mishnah and the Gemara are explained in detail below on p.
358.

[156] Dr. Emanuel Deutsch.

[157] The period here referred to extended from the return from the
Captivity--the days of Ezra--roughly until the Christian era.

[158] At the close of this Fifth Book is a short general description
of “Haggadah.” See, too, in the Appendix for a further description of
Haggadah and Halachah.

[159] Of Akiba, the Mishnah tells us, as he was in his last agonies,
while his flesh was being torn with combs of iron, he kept repeating
the words of the “Shema” invocation, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God
is One.” He lingered over the word _One_, and expired as he uttered the
word “One.” The ministering angels then said before the Holy One, “Such
is Torah (the Law), and such is its reward.” Bath Qol (the heavenly
voice) went forth and said. “Happy art thou, Rabbi Akiba, that thou art
invited to the life of the world to come....”

Such was the end of Akiba, the most exalted, most romantic, and most
heroic character perhaps in that vast gallery of the learned of his
time. The most remarkable period of his career may be dated about A.D.
110-35.

[160] The preliminary work of Hillel in this direction of arranging and
codifying seems not to have been carried on.

[161] “Haggadah,” as the better-known word, is substituted for the more
accurate plural form “Haggadoth.”

[162] For a full definition of these two famous terms _Mishnah_
and _Gemara_, see below, p. 358, where the terms in question are
explained at some length.

[163] The Palestinian Gemara was closed nearly a century and a half
before the Babylonian Gemara was completed.

[164] The Rabbinic school of Sura was founded by Rab, one of the most
important pupils of R. Judah Ha-Nasi (Rabbi).

[165] _Mishnah._--A noun formed from the verb “shanah,” to repeat. In
post-Biblical Hebrew the verb “shanah” acquired the special meaning of
“to teach” and “to learn” that which was not transmitted in writing,
but only _orally_. Evidently the idea of _frequent recitation_
underlies the word.

Mishnah signifies “Instruction”--the teaching and learning the
tradition. It is the Law which is transmitted _orally_, in contrast to
the term Mikra, which signifies the Law which is written and read.

The Halachah, finally redacted by Judah Ha-Nasi the Holy (Rabbi),
_circa_ A.D. 200-19, were designated the Mishnah, and were adopted
by the Rabbis of the Gemara as the text upon which they worked. This
Mishnah of R. Judah the Holy was adopted simultaneously by the Rabbis
and Doctors of the Law in the academies of Palestine and Babylonia.

Although the Mishnah may be said to consist chiefly of Halachah,
it contains several entire treatises of an Haggadic nature--_e.g._
“Aboth,” “Middoth,” etc.--and numerous Haggadic pieces are scattered
here and there among the Halachah. In both the Talmudim (the
Palestinian and Babylonian) there are thousands of Haggadic notices
interspersed among the Halachah.

The Rabbis of the Mishnah were termed Tannaim; the earlier Rabbis of
the Gemara were termed Amoraim.

The Rabbinical headquarters of Palestine and Babylonia alike regarded
the study of the Mishnah as their chief task. In Palestine the
principal academies were Jamnia (Jabne), Lydda, and subsequently
Tiberias. In Babylonia the principal seats of the academies were
Sepphoris, Nehardea, Pumbeditha, and especially Sura.

_Gemara._--The word signifies “that which has been learned,” the
learning transmitted to scholars by tradition; and in a more restricted
sense it came to denote “the traditional exposition of the Mishnah.”

_Talmud_ primarily means “teaching,” though it denotes also “learning”;
practically it is a mere amplification of the Mishnah, the Talmud being
made up of the Mishnah and Gemara.

Like the Mishnah, the Talmud was not the work of one author, or of
several authors, but was the result of the collective labours of many
successive generations, whose task finally resulted in the great and
complex book known as the Talmud.

The Palestinian Talmud received its present form in the academy of
Tiberias; the Babylonian Talmud, largely in the academy of Sura.

[166] R. Akiba (early second century) in the Mishnah treatise “Pirke
Aboth” used to say, “Massorah is a fence to the Torah.” This has
been generally understood as a reference to the Massorah of which we
are speaking here. But many scholars now consider that R. Akiba was
referring in this saying to “tradition” generally, and they understand
the word Massorah as correlative to “Kabbala” (tradition in general),
such as is embodied in the Mishnah.

[167] “It is evident that some of the ‘dicta’ of the Rabbis, such as,
for instance, the above-quoted passages, are not intended to be taken
literally, but are the paradoxes of idealists, which leave us in some
doubt as to how much they supposed to have been revealed explicitly to
Moses.”--_Pirke Aboth_ (Sayings of the Fathers), note by Dr. Taylor,
Master of S. John’s, Cambridge, p. 122.

Dr. Taylor, however, adds that “such statements have to be taken into
account in estimating the ancient Rabbis’ views of revelation.”

[168] “For when they shall rise from the dead [men and women are both
alluded to] ... they are as the angels which are in heaven” (S. Mark
xii. 25). The prominent position of women in the early Church is
asserted in the “Gospels” and “Acts”; they never are alluded to as
occupying an inferior place. See below, p. 380, for a further note on
the position of women.

[169] Renan recognizes the service rendered by the Talmudical Rabbis to
Christianity, but while acknowledging this, curiously limits it to the
preservation of the Hebrew text of the Old Testament Scriptures, which
he thinks would probably have been lost but for the labours of the
Rabbis of the Talmud--he characterizes this as “un service du 1^{er}
ordre.” To him the Hebrew Old Testament is an incomparable monument of
history, archæology, and philology. The deeper signification of these
sacred records, which in the hearts of earnest Christians constitutes
their exceeding preciousness, finds little place, alas, in the
cheerless conception of the brilliant French scholar.

[170] While it is generally acknowledged that the decisions arrived at
in connection with the Law of Moses termed “Halachah” were transmitted
_orally_, certainly until the time of R. Judah the Holy, known as Rabbi
(end of second century), the “Haggadic” decisions here alluded to were
committed to writing at a much earlier date.

[171] See on page 367 for further details on the position held by women
in Israel.

Transcriber’s Notes:

1. Obvious printers’, spelling and punctuation errors have been
silently corrected.

2. Where appropriate, original spelling has been retained.

3. Superscripts are represented using the caret character, e.g. D^r.
and X^{xx}.

4. Both the spelling of Sulpitius (p.32) and Sulpicius (p. 73) are
correct.

5. In a few instances the page numbers in the index were incorrect.
these have been silently corrected.

6. Italics are shown as _xxx_, bold print is shown as =xxx=.

*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Early Christians in Rome" ***

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