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^^ PRINCETON, N. J. ^<tn

Purchased by the
Mrs. Robert Lenox Kennedy Church History Fund.

BR 165 .S62 "1911 i

Spence-Jones, H. D. M. 1836^

1917
The early Christians in Rome

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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 Cceur-de-Lion

Christianity and Paganism

The Golden Age of the Church

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THE

EARLY CHRISTIANS

IN ROME .0^1^,

* JUN16 1911

BY THE VERY REV.

^fi/CAL SEVi\>^

H. D. M. SPENCE-JONES

M.A., D.D.

DEAN OF GLOUCESTER
PROFESSOR OF ANCIENT HISTORY IN THE KOYAL ACADEMY

WITH A FRONTISPIECE IN COLOUR AND
TWELVE OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS

NEW YORK

JOHN LANE COMPANY

MCMXI

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,^ 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 Christ-
ology, 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).

^ These are quoted on pp. 13-20 of Book I.

viii THE EARLY CHRISTIANS IN ROME

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 confisca-
tion of their goods, rigorous imprisonment, torture, and even
death.

PREFACE ix

After dwelling on the question of the numbers of Chris-
tians 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 diffi-
culties 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 (i) " Rigour-
ists," 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 per-
suaded 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

X THE EARLY CHRISTIANS IN ROME

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 ^vritings 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

PREFACE xi

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 (i) 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

xii THE EARLY CHRISTIANS IN ROME

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, ampli-
fied. 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 col-
lection 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.

PREFACE xiii

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 Juhus Caesar — Mention
of Jews by the great poets of the Augustine age — Character-
istic 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
I

(&) 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

xvi THE EARLY CHRISTIANS IN ROME

POSITION OF CHRISTIANS AFTER A.D. 64

PAGE

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 Chris-
tian 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 Im-
perial Rescript — Genuineness of this piece in Pliny's
Letters . . . . . . '45

THE LETTERS OF PLINY

Nerva — Character of Trajan — Story of correspondence here
referred to — PUny's Letters — Reply of Trajan, which con-
tained the famous Rescript — TertuUian's criticism of Re-
script— Pliny's Letters — They were no ordinary letters, but
were intended for pubUc reading — Phny's character — The
vogue of writing letters as Uterary pieces for pubUc reading —
PUny'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 Uterature — 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
Apolhnaris a few years later) — These letters were evidently
written as pieces of literature intended for public circulation . 63

TABLE OF CONTENTS xvii

III

THE NEW TESTAMENT EPISTLES, AND LETTERS OF APOSTOLIC
FATHERS

PAGE

Adoption of favourite letter-form as literary pieces — in Epistles

of the New Testament, and in letters of Apostolic Fathers . 69 ^V

PART IV
I

(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 CapitoUna on site of Jerusalem — The great Jewish
war — Its two results — (a) Complete change in the spirit of
the Jews — (6) 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 pro-
nounced— Undoubted authorities for this graver position of
Christians throughout the Empire — Table showing succes-
sion 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 Ufe to which Rome
owed her greatness — His devotion to ancient Roman tradi-
tions, and to the old Roman rehgion — 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 hostiUty to the Christian sect
— The Christians stood resolutely aloof from the ancient
reUgion which these two great sovereigns beUeved was indis-
solubly bound up with the greatness of Rome — With such
views of the sources of Roman power and prosperity, only
a stem poUcy 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
h

xviii THE EARLY CHRISTIANS IN ROME

PAGE

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 9 1

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, Irenaeus, and others — The testimony of the Roman
catacombs described in detail in Fourth Book is also re-
ferred to . . . . . . .102

THE ASSEMBLIES OF CHRISTIANS

These " assembUes " constituted a powerful factor in the
acceptance and organization of the rehgion 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 sup-
plied by leading Christian teachers — Quotations from these
axe 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

TABLE OF CONTENTS xix

PAGE

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 dog-
matic 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 — (£)) Special recipients of these alms are particu-
larized ; 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
assembhes, 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 " assembhes " — PauHnus 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 " assembhes " had on the policy and work
of the Church in subsequent ages . . . ' ^37

DIFFICULTIES IN ORDINARY LIFE AMONG THE EARLY CHRISTIANS

Difhculties in common Ufe for the Christian who endeavoured to
carry out the precepts and teaching given in the " assem-
bhes " are sketched — In family Hfe — 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 Broghe {I'Eglise et
V Empire) , . . . . . .140

XX THE EARLY CHRISTIANS IN ROME

PAGE

VII

THE ASCETIC AND THE MORE PRACTICAL SCHOOLS OF TEACHING

Two schools of teaching, showing how these difi&culties were to
be met, evidently existed in the early Church — (A) The
school of Rigourists — TertulUan 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 hfe— From tliis stern school came the
majority of the martyrs — (B) The gentler and move practical
5c^oo/— 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 Ufe and conduct of followers of
this school — This impression was voiced by fourth century
writers such as Prudentius and PauUnus 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 cata-
combs 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 revela-
tion of S. John in early Christian hfe— (£) Was
Christian hfe in the early centuries after all a dreary
existence, as the pagans considered it ? . 153

TABLE OF CONTENTS xxi

BOOK III
THE INNER LIFE OF THE CHURCH

PART I
A.D. 64-A.D. 180
INTRODUCTORY

PAGE

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 — i 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
thedeathof Marcus Antoninus (a.d. 180); including — "Letters
of PUny and Trajan " — " Letter to Diognetus " — " The
Shepherd of Hermas " — " ist Apology of Justin Martyr " —
" Minucius Felix " — " Writings of MeUto of Sardis " —
" Writings of Athenagoras " — " Writings of Theophilus of
Antioch " — " Writings of TertulUan " — the last-named a
very few years later, but bearing on same period . • ^77

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

xxii THE EARLY CHRISTIANS IN ROME

OF THE SPECIAL TRAINING FOR MARTYRDOM

PAGE

The Church conscious of the powerful effect of a pubUc martyr-
dom 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 — (6) 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 TertulUan'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 ....

TABLE OF CONTENTS xxiii

SPECIAL REFERENCE IN THE " MONZA " PAPYRUS, ETC.

PAGE

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 martjrrs . 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 earhest 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 PontificaUs, 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 syllogae . • . . .226

xxiv THE EARLY CHRISTIANS IN ROME

PAGE

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

(i) The Vatican cemetery and the groups of catacombs on the

right bank of the Tiber ..... 232

(2) On the Via Ostiensis — BasiUca 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
Catacumhas) — Group of S. Callistus — The Papal crypt —
S. Soteris — Catacomb of Prsetextatus 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. Hip-
polytus — S. Laurence — S. Agnes' cemetery on the Via
Nomentana ....... 248

VII

(5) Cemeteries on the Via Salaria Nova — S. FeUcitas ; the great
cemetery of S. Priscilla, and the ancient Roman churches
connected with it — Legends — Remains of basiUca 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. Pam-

phylus — S. Hermes — S. Valentinus, etc. . . . 274

TABLE OF CONTENTS xxv

APPENDIX I.— S. PETRONILLA

PAGE

Suggested derivation of Petronilla— De Rossi and other scholars
still hold to the ancient Pe trine tradition — Reasons for
maintaining it — Early mediaeval testimony here — Traces of
the early cult of this Saint • . . . . 277

APPENDIX II.— TOMB OF S. PETER

Probable situation of the tomb in present basiUca 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 Baldachino 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. Ceciha's hfe — The crypt is described —
Her basihca 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 basihca opened in a.d, 1599 by Clement viii. — Appear-
ance of the body— Maderno copied it in marble — How De
Rossi discovered and identified in the original catacomb
the crypt of S. Ceciha ..... 292

III

THE TOMB OF S. FELICITAS, AND OF HER SONS

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

xxvi THE EARLY CHRISTIANS IN ROME

PART III

TEACHING OF THE INSCRIPTIONS AND CARVINGS
ON THE TOMBS

EPITAPHS IN THE CATACOMBS — THEIR SIMPLICITY

PAGB

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 simpUcity 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 hfe — 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

TABLE OF CONTENTS xxvii

BOOK V
THE JEW AND THE TALMUD

INTRODUCTORY

PAGE

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 rem-
nant " of the people after the exterminating wars of Titus
and Hadrian, a.d. 70 and 134-5, is httle 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

xxviii THE EARLY CHRISTIANS IN ROME

III

RABBINISM (b)

PAGE

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 httle 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 Baby-
lonia 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 con-
dition of the Massorah . . . . . .361

TABLE OF CONTENTS

XXIX

CONCLUDING MEMORANDA

PAGE

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 im-
portance— Its enduring popularity . . . • 37i

Examples of " Haggadah " quoted from the Palestinian Targum

on Deuteronomy . . . . . • 273

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 Chrisliatt 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 Favour-
ite Picture in the Catacombs) . . . .219

Entrance to the Cemetery of S. Domitilla (Crypt of the

Flavians, First Century) ..... 240

From Roma Sotterranea Crisiiana. 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
Photo, S. J. Beckett

281

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xxxi

FACING PAGE

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 Encvclopcedia. By permission of FtTNK &
Wagnalls Co.

The " Wailtng-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 Encyclopedia, 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 dimen-
sions. 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 stiU further recruited in B.C. 51,
when a lieutenant of Crassus brought some thousands of
Jewish prisoners to Rome. During the civil wars, Julius
Caesar showed marked favour to the chosen people. After his
murder they were prominent among those who mourned
him.

Augustus continued the policy of Julius Caesar, and showed
them much favour ; their influence in Roman society during
the earlier years of the Empire seems to have been consider-
able. 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

4 THE JEWISH COLONY IN ROME

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
livehhood, 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 " ("II prie et il etudie
ses livres saintes, dans Rome qui n'a pas de theologie 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 sub-
urbs,— 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 pre-
sently.

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

THE JEWISH COLONY IN ROME 5

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.^

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 representa-
tive 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 char-
acterized 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 com-
passionate 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

1 A singular and interesting passage of Allard here deserves to be quoted
verbatim : " Dans Rome ou le celibat est devenue une plaie sociale, ou la
population diminue, ou la sterilite regne au foyer domestique, oii I'avorte-
ment I'infanticide sont frequents et a peine reprimes, les Juifs seules ont
beaucoup d'enfants— Tacite a defini d'un mot ce trait de leur race ; ' generandi
amor,' dit-il en enumerant les principaux charact^res du peuple Juif. Tons
les temoignages anciens parlent de leur grand nombre ; 'augmenter etait une
de leurs preoccupations, ' augendcB muUitudini consulitur ' dit encore Tacite."
See Tacitus, Hist. v. 5 ; Allard, i. p. 12.

6 THE JEWISH COLONY IN ROME

which Hved 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 FOUNDx\TION OF THE CHURCH IN ROME— "A"

INTO this mass of Jewish strangers dwelHng 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 opposi-
tion 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 begin-
nings 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 \

8 FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH IN ROME— "A"

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.^ 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 evi-
dence 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, power-
fully supports the deduction derived from the notices quoted
from very early Christian literature.

^ 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.

THE QUOTATIONS 9

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 endur-
ing 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 dis-
ciple of the Lord, Papias tells us about Mark : he was a friend
and interpreter of S. Peter, and wrote down what he heard

10 FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH IN ROME— "A"

his master teach, and there (in Rome) composed his " record."
This notice seems to have been connected by Papias with
I Pet. V. 13, where Mark is alluded to in connexion with the
fellow-elect in Babylon (Rome).

" It seems," concludes Bishop Lightfoot, referring to
Irenseus (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 in-
struction 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."

IrencBUS, 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. i.

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 Caesars, 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.

THE QUOTATIONS ii

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 Prce-
scriptione Hcer. 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 aU 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 Prcsscriptione, 36.

Caius (or Gaius) the Roman presbyter, circa a.d. 200-20,
who lived in the days of Pope Zephyrinus, and was a con-
temporary of Hippolytus, if not (as Lightfoot suspects)
identical with him (Hippolytus of Portus), gives us the follow-
ing detail : " I can show you the trophies (the Memoriae 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 Memoriae) 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. 11. 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. 11. 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 provi-
dence 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

12 FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH IN ROME—" A "

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 PrisciUa. These
and further traditional notices are dwelt on with greater detail
presently when the general evidence is summed up.^

^See the detailed account of this catacomb, Book IV. 261 and following
pages.

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) (Irenaeus) 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 singu-
larly 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

14 FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH IN ROME—" A "

date of S. Peter's coming, supposing we assume the later date
for S. Peter's coming and preaching.

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

Papias and IrencBus 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 ap-
proximately 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. 11. 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. 11. xv.),
adding that the " Church in Babylon " referred to by S. Peter
(i 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 praedicans 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 cata-
logue 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.

SUMMARY OF EARLY LITERARY NOTICES 15

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, prob-
able that it was the basis, as far as it went, of the list drawn
up by Irenaeus circa a.d. 180-90. This is the earliest
catalogue of the Roman Bishops which we possess. Irenseus,
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 dura-
tion 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.^ Of far

^ On these memories which belong to the house of Pudens and his family,
see pp. 262-270.

i6 FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH IN ROME— " A "

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 subse-
quently arose between Rome and the East this position was
never questioned. Duchesne, in his last great work/ ever
careful and scholarly, does not hesitate to term the " Church
of Rome " (he is dwelhng 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 ques-
tion 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

1 Histoire ancienne de I'/tijlise, vol. i. p. 6i (4th edition, 1908).

GENERAL SUMMARY OF EVIDENCE 17

Rome " if he never appeared in Rome before a.d. 64 ? Long
before this date the Church of the metropoHs 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 im-
portant 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
2

i8 FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH IN ROME—" A "

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 con-
clusion 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 turbu-
lent Jewish colony, — disturbances no doubt owing to bitter
and relentless opposition to the fast spreading of the Chris-
tian faith in their midst. As Suetonius (Claudius, 25) tersely
but clearly tells us : " Judasos, 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 weU 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

GENERAL SUMMARY OF EVIDENCE 19

Epistle which bears his name, and eventually -^suffered
martyrdom.

This conclusion, of such deep importance in early ecclesi-
astical 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.^

^ It will be noticed that an interesting hypothesis dwelt on by Allard
(Histoire des Persecutions, 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 deUverance 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 dehverance 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 Ufe 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 estabUshed in the
faith, and therefore in the words which follow closely, " that I may be com-
forted together \vith 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.

20 FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH IN ROME— "A"

Then he adds, that he considered the preaching of Christ where he had
not been named the most needful work ; he therefore dechned 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.

PART II

THE FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH IN ROME—" B "

THE Roman Church in the year of grace 6i was evi-
dently 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 re-
proach 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

22 FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH IN ROME—" B "

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 aU 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
aU confidence, no man forbidding him" (Acts xxviii. 30-31).

It was during these two years of the imprisoiunent 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.^
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 acknow-
ledged 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 won-
drous Gospel story as told by S. Peter and repeated possibly
verbatim by his disciple S. Mark. A deeper and fuller in-
struction 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 pre-

^ See above, pp. 7-12, where the question of the foundation of the Church
in Rome is fully discussed.

S. PAUL'S WORK AS A FOUNDER OF THE CHURCH

-a

existence ? 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 Christ ology 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 ^ which so soon made
their appearance in the city which was at once the metropohs
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 princi-
palities, 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

1 Such as the heresies of the Nicolaitans and Cerinthians, and certain of
the false Docetic teachini,'s.

24 FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH IN ROME—" B "

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 oc-
casion 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 build-
ings 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

26 THE CHURCH IN ROME AFTER a.d. 64

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 circu-
lated ; 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

THE FIRE OF ROME, a.d. 64^ 27

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
TigeUinus 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. Poppsea 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 sus-
picions which had been awakened, from the Jews to the Chris-
tians. 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

28 THE CHURCH IN ROME AFTER a.d. 64

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 inflam-
mable 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 FIRE OF ROME, a.d. 64 29

the sight of the hving 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 HiU 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 distress-
ing 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 aU
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 Clirist. The

30 THE CHURCH IN ROME AFTER a.d. 64

ordinary number of the ten persecutions is after all an arbitrary
computation. The whole principle and constitution of Chris-
tianity 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 muUitudo) intensely in earnest, opposed to the State
religion, preferring in numberless instances torture, confisca-
tion, 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 offer-

POSITION OF CHRISTIANS AFTER a.d. 64 31

ings 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 con-
stitution of Christianity were considered as hostile to the
established order, and if persisted in were to be deemed treason-
able ; 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,^ who considers it doubtful

1 The Church in the Roman Empire, xi. 6.

32 THE CHURCH IN ROME AFTER a.d. 64

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 direc-
tions 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 pro-
mulgated 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 TertuUian (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 cer-
tainly 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. After-
wards 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 con-
clusion is of far greater moment. It is briefly this :

The first step taken by the imperial government in per-
secution 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 diificult
task to prove. Subsequent to Nero's reign, a further develop-

POSITION OF CHRISTIANS AFTER a.d. 64 33

ment 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 con-
fessed 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 martyi's 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 excep-
tional cases ; ^ 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 faU 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 sus-
ceptible, it is true, of a gentler interpretation than the harsh
terms in which they were couched at first seemed to warrant,
^ This comment cannot be pressed too strongly.

34 THE CHURCH IN ROME AFTER a.d. 64

but these interpretations constantly varied according to
the poHcy 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.

Ill

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 ; ^ they would never think the punish-
ments 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 cele-
brating 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

^ It is this which makes the \-ivid picture which the younger Pliny, in his
Letter to Trajan, paints of Christian hfe and influence in a great province so
valuable,

36 THE CHURCH IN ROME AFTER a.d. 64

from rank and position, banishment, imprisonment, torture,
death, were ever threatening him. A hard, stern combat,
indeed, was the daily hfe 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 exag-
gerating, 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 German}^ 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

THE VEILED SHADOW OF PERSECUTION Z7

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 anticipa-
tions 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 TertuUian, 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 con-
stantly present with them.

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

" Le candidat au Christianisme, etait, par le fait meme,
candidat au Martyre," graphically writes the briUiant 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 at-
traction 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 smil-
ing 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 ? Wliy
should not I form one of this noble band of elect and blessed
souls ? "

Then again another attraction to Christianity was ever

38 THE CHURCH IN ROME AFTER a.d. 64

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 differ-
ence 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

THE VEILED SHADOW OF PERSECUTION 39

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 righteous-
ness.

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 Chris-
tians, 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

40 THE CHURCH IN ROME AFTER a.d. 64

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 weU 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 punish-
ments 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 Judaea, 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 bio-
grapher, that Vespasian wept while he confirmed its operation." ^

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. ^ 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.^

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 men-

^ See Ramsay, The Church in the Roman Empire, xii. 2.

2 See Hilary (Poitiers), Contra Arianos, 3.

3 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 Mehto
and Tertullian by no means invalidates Plilary'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.

THE POLICY OF DOMITIAN 41

tioned 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 promul-
gated 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 rela-
tives. We learn from the pagan writer Dion Cassius (in the
epitome of his w^ork by the monk Xiphilin) and also from
Suetonius, that he put to death various persons of high position,
notably Acihus Glabrio w^ho had been consul in a.d. 91.

42 THE CHURCH IN ROME AFTER a.d. 64

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 tradi-
tions. 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 ^ 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 sus-
pected 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 un-
known and obscure ones, and traces the unpopularity which
eventually led to his assassination to this persecution of the
poor nameless citizen.^

^ " 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 dehghted to be styled dominus
et deus."

"He struck (says the Roman poet), without exciting popular indignation,
at the illustrious citizen :

" Tempora saevitiae, claras quibus abstuht Urbi
Illustresque animas impune, et vindice nuUo."

But when his rage touched the people — he fell :

" Sed periit, postquam cerdonibus esse timendus
coeperat " . . . (Juvenal, iv. 15 1-4).

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.

AUard (Histoire des Persecutions, i. Ii, 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 o^^dng to the indignation

THE POLICY OF DOMITIAN 43

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 passionof the populace, the bigotryof 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 Em-
peror Trajan.

of the people when they perceived that so many of their own class were among
the tormented Christians in that horrible massacre.

Aubc, too, in his Histoire des Persdcidions, calls special attention to these
lines of Juvenal. He connects the murder of Domitian closely with the indig-
nation aroused among the people by this bitter persecution, and suggests
that the plot which resulted in the assassination of the t^Tant originated in a
Christian centre. This is, however, in the highest degree improbable.

PART III

CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN PLINY AND
TRAJAN

PLINY'S LETTER TO TRAJAN AND THE EMPEROR'S
"RESCRIPT"— GENUINENESS OF CORRESPOND-
ENCE

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 ^ of
Bithynia andPontus,the district lying inthenorthof 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. hi ; and the reply of Trajan, which con-
tained 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, trans-
lating the quotations of Tertullian from a Greek version of the
celebrated Christian Father.-

^ The full official title of Pliny the Younger in this goveraorship was
" Legatus propraetore provinciae Ponti et Bith^-nise consulari potestate."
That eminent statesman was entrusted \\-ith this province mainly on account
of its needing special attention at that time.

" Tertullian, Apologeticum, 2 ; Eusebius, H. E. ui. xxxii. $^.

46 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH AFTER a.d. 64

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 con-
tained in the correspondence bearing upon the existence and
influence and great numbers of the Christian sect at the be-
ginning 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 Light-
foot, 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.^

1 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 Evangiles
writes: " On ne croira jamais qu'un faussaire Chretien eut pu si admirable-
ment imiter la langue precieuse et raffinee de Pline."

Lightfoot further asks, what Christian WTiter, if bent on forgery, would
have confessed that crowds of liis fellow-behevers had denied their faith . . .
that the persecution was already refilling the heathen temples which before

CORRESPONDENCE-PLINY AND TRAJAN 47

were nearly empty, and that there was good hope if the ..m^ r.r.r
secution was pursued, of a general aLtasv fr'n^ rt T^ ^ °^ P""-
Several, too, of^he statements'cTce n^T^fpra^^^^^ ^"f'"^ '

only a very ^perfect knowledge of the practirrel^S^ed to '^^"^

a^^jt-rxt:^

THE CHARACTER OF TRAJAN

WHEN Domitian was assassinated, and Nerva was pro-
claimed 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 personahty is admirably and tersely
summed up by Allard {Histoire des Persecutions, i. 145), who
writes of him : " On eut cru voir le senat romain lui-meme
prenant une ame guerriere et montant sur le trone."

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

CORRESPONDENCE-PLINY AND TRAJAN 49

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 perse-
cutor, 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-rehef 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, Aube, Friedlander, Uhlhorn, etc., while
Renan {Les Evangiles) perhaps more accurately writes :
" Trajan fut le premier persecuteur systematique de Christi-
anisme " ; and again, " a 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 be-
lievers. It evidently presupposed the existence of a law, and
that a very stern and very harsh mode of procedure. From
4

50 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH AFTER a.d. 64

it Trajan neither subtracted anything nor added anything ;
still, as has been very justly said, the humane and up-
right 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 im-
perial " 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 iii, 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 con-
demned 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 suffer-
ings of a few score Christian outlaws, however frequently re-
peated, would attract very little attention in Pliny's world.

CORRESPONDENCE— PLINY AND TRAJAN 51

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 \vrote
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 desolaia 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 . . . vidimarum qiiarum adhnc
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 subse-

52 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH AFTER a.d. 64

quently 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

CORRESPONDENCE— PLINY AND TRAJAN 53

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.^ 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

1 " Sed nihil aliud inveni, quam superstitionem pravam et immodicam."
Pliny, Ep. x. 96.

54 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH AFTER a.d. 64

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 pnhlici) and enemies to the funda-
mental principles of law and order, and the mere acknowledg-
ment 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 unmistak-
ably 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

CORRESPONDENCE— PLINY AND TRAJAN 55

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 con-
demnation 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 somwehat 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.

56 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH AFTER a.d. 64

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 Caesar 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 carefuUy 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

CORRESPONDENCE— PLINY AND TRAJAN 57

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 sug-
gestive 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. Annaeus
Seneca wrote the Epistolce Morales, probably " publishing "
the first three books himself circa a.d. 57. Among these
precious reliquiae 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 brilhant
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, charit-
able,— 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 compara-
tively early age as a forensic orator. He became Praetor at
the age of thirty-one. During the reign of Domitian, however,
he took no share in public hfe. 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 subse-
quently obtained the government of the great provinces of

58 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH AFTER a.d. 64

Bithynia and Pontus, and during his tenure of office there
must be dated the correspondence between Trajan and Phny
which has come down to us as the tenth Book of the " Letters
of Phny."

This Phny has been described as the kindhest 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 matcliless 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 estabhshed by

CORRESPONDENCE— PLINY AND TRAJAN 59

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.i

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 compara-
tively " still " period, when one of the greatest of the Roman
sovereigns was at the helm of public affairs ; so in his picture

1 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 re-
membered 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 Uterary form,
which coming ages will not ^villingly let die (PUn. Ep. ii. lo. 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 Uttera-
teurs have altogether vanished, or remain to us as mere shadowy names in
Martial, or Statius, or PUny." Book ii. chap. i.

6o THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH AFTER a.d. 64

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 Phny
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 elite 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 ^ 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 precieuse et rafiinee 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 aeque ac naturse 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 descrip-

' It seems most probable that the first nine Books of PUnj^'s Letters were
put out in " book form " for pubHc 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.

OTHER LETTERS OF PLINY 6i

tions of the reading of new works, poems, histories, corre-
spondence, 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.
PHny 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 pubhc. 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 pre-
pared— 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,

62 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH AFTER a.d. 64

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 inchide 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
Phny'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 wnritings 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 trans-
mitted 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.^ In one particular these

1 Dr. Mackail, Latin Literature, iii. v.
63

64 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH AFTER a.d. 64

correspondents evidently agreed— they both dishked, 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.^

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 " corre-
spondence," 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 cen-
tury, 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

' 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 Uterary merits, have largely contributed to
their preservation.

VOGUE OF EPISTOLARY FORM OF LITERATURE 65

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 hterary 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 " corre-
spondence, 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 other-
wise, 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 ApoUinaris, 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

66 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH AFTER a.d. 64

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 communica-
tions 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

IMPORTANCE OF PLINY'S LETTER TO TRAJAN 67

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 hfe 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 im-
portance of Pliny's picture of Christianity in the first years of
the second century ; for it was

ist. A picture painted by a great Roman (pagan) states-
man ; 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 litera-
ture 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.

68 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH AFTER a.d. 64

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.

Ill

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 aU 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,^ 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 writ-
ings 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 soHtary 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

1 We might also cite here the well-kno\\Ti " poetic " epistles of Ovid and
Horace.

70 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH AFTER a.d. 64

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 " {etude), or in a " letter " form.

Nothing like an analysis of the New Testament Epistles,
some of which wiU 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,^
A.D. 61-3 (viz. the Epistles to the Colossians, Philippians, and
Ephesians), as embodying some of the more weighty and im-
portant 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

' 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 appUcable to the two
Letters to the Thessalonians and the First Epistle to the Corinthians.

THE NEW TESTAMENT EPISTLES 71

popularity of the " letter " form of literature was the intro-
duction 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 unhesi-
tatingly 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 i Peter,
James, Jude, and i 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.

72 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH AFTER a.d. 64

John in his First Epistle gives no address at aU, 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 caUed (including i 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
tlie 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 abso-
lutely 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.

EPISTLES OF APOSTOLIC FATHERS 73

The Apostolic Fathers

And when the Cathohc 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 Christi-
anity 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 (i) 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 Light-
foot 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. iio. 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 Irenceus, tells us that Polycarp was a scholar of the
beloved disciple ; and that he (Irenasus) 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- jorm," viz., the one
somewhat lengthy Epistle of Clement, the seven authentic
Epistles of Ignatius, the one brief Epistle of Polycarp, the

74 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH AFTER a.d. 64

one (of considerable length) Epistle of Barnabas. These
Epistles are genuine "Letters," and "represent the natural
outpouring of personal feeling arising out of personal re-
lations " ; but they contain doctrinal statements of the deepest
importance, notably emphatic or positive statements bearing
on the Godhead of Jesus Christ.^

These Epistles ^ 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.

^ The words which occur in " the address " of the Letters of Ignatius to
the Clxristian 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 (^1/ dTro(rTo\iK<} x<*/''"^'^W')-" 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.

* Hennas, 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."

(6) 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.

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 Juha Sabina. The circum-
stances 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

76 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, a.d. 117-138

gifted with various and varied talents, he dehghted 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 hehn 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,^ 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 mag-
nificent sovereign. His life was made up of the strangest

' 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.

HADRIAN'S POLICY TOWARDS CHRISTIANITY ^^

contradictions. At times he played the part ahnost of an
ascetic, abstaining from wine in his repasts, and even sub-
mitting to the work and fatigues of an ordinary legionary
soldier. At times his life was disfigured by the grossest
excesses and debauchery.^ 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 p^gan 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 earher portion of his reign. It
virtually endorses what Trajan had written to Phny 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 char-
acterize 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
.^ilia Capitolina on the site of Jerusalem was proceeded with

^ De Champagny, Les Antonins, iii. i, tersely and well sums up his character:
" II a tous les dons, et toutes les faiblesses. toulcs les grandeurs, et toutes les
pueriUtees, toutes les ambitioas."

78 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, a.d. 117-138

after the Jewish war ; but the testimony of Christian writers 1
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 Phoenician
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 concep-
tion which Roman statesmen had formed of Christianity under-
went 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

' Cf. Jerome, Ep. 58, Ad Paulin, 3 ; Euseb. Devita Constant, iii. 26; Sozo-
mcn, i. I ; St. Paulin, Ep. 31 (ii.) ad Severum ; Rufin. H. JE. i. 8 ; Sulp. Severus,
ii. 25, 45 ; Ambrose, Psalm 43 ; and in modern historians, cf. De Vogiie's
Lglises de la terre sainte, iii. ; De Champagny, Les Antonins, livre iii. c. iii.

HADRIAN'S POLICY TOWARDS CHRISTIANITY 79

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

8o THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, a.d. 117-138

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 re-
duced 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 re-
luctantly 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 Chris-
tians 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. ^ They contain
details which are clearly not historical, and critical investiga-
tion 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, ^ the authenticity of which no critic friendly

1 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 Scilhtan Martyrs ; and a few years later the passion of S. Per-
petua and of her companions in suffering.

2 Extracts from them are given on pp. 1 77-191.

6 ''

82 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, a.d. 117-138

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 Martyr-
dom," 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, how-
ever, 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, 1 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, sup-
plied 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 b}^ 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.

' No scholar is more definite liere 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.

HADRIAN'S POLICY TOWARDS CHRISTIANITY 83

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 Baiae, 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 >^lius Varus — 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 Nimes, 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 ^lius 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.

Ill

ANTONINUS PIUS, a.d. 138-A.D. 161
MARCUS ANTONINUS, a.d. i6i-a.d. 180

AFTER the death of Hadrian, in a.d. 138, for forty-two
3'ears 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 con-
temporaries, " 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, somewhal dry and uninteresting, wanting in
details and in picturesque illustration. It is true that no
great war — no striking conquest — no terrible intestine dis-

CHARACTER OF ANTONINUS PIUS 85

turbances — disfigured these happier reigns, or suppHed 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 reputa-
tion for justice and wisdom, for clemency and sobriety, his
stern morahty, the high example he ever set in his private
and public hfe — 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 aU 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 admira-
tion 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 beauti-
ful 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 especi-
ally 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 " Medita-
tions."

86 ANTONINUS PIUS AND MARCUS ANTONINUS

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-hfe 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 ; remem-
ber 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 con-
stant 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-deny-
ing. . . . 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. WTien 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 satis-
faction, 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 responsibihties of his great position. The Fronto

THE IDEAL OF ANTONINUS PIUS 87

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 unostenta-
tious 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 hving.
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, — ^Eneas
carrying his father ; the white sow sacrificed to Juno by the
fugitive iEneas 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 Naevius and
his razor before King Tarquinius Prisons ; Horatius who
defended the bridge against the hosts of Porsenna. It was
not the instinct of a curious and scholarly archaeologist, but
a deep and far-reaching purpose, which prompted Antoninus
Pius to search out and rebuild the little unkno^^^l Arcadian
village of Pallanteum, the ancient home of Evander, the host
of ^neas, — Evander, the founder of the earliest Rome, whose
beautiful story is told in the noble epic of Vergil.^ The Em-
peror would popularize, would bring before his people the

^ ZEtieid, Book viii.

88 ANTONINUS PIUS AND MARCUS ANTONINUS

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 .^Eneid 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 primi-
tive 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, v/ho, 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

THE IDEAL OF ANTONINUS PIUS 89

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
Hfe 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 aU that was
great and glorious in the Roman Empire came from the simple
and even austere hfe 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.

90 ANTONINUS PIUS AND MARCUS ANTONINUS

These were the deities which the great pagan Emperor beheved
" 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 freedmcn
— converts drawn, too, from the noblest families of the Empire.

92 ANTONINUS PIUS AND MARCUS ANTONINUS

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 akeady
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 imme-
morial, 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 liopes ; 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

PERSECUTING POLICY OF THE ANTONINES 93

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 poHcy 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 repre-
sented as a period of peace for the Church, and httle 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 un-
likely 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 do^vn to posterity a
yet higher reputation for virtue and Avisdom, tells us in his
own glowing and striking words that he owed everything to
the noble example and teaching of his adopted father Anton-
inus 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

94 ANTONINUS PIUS AND MARCUS ANTONINUS

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 through-
out 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) martyr-
doms 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 — em-
bedded in their histories, apologies, and doctrinal expositions.
Some of these are quoted ^ verbatim. The testimony we
possess here of this continuous and very general perse-
cution during these reigns when carefully massed together
is simply overwhelming.^

^ See pp. 189-90 and 200.

^ Bishop Lightfoot has been referred to in this brief summary of the
position of Christians duriiig 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.

EARLY TRAINING OF MARCUS ANTONINUS 95

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.^

Before his departure for the dangerous war with the Mar-
comanni, 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 clear-
ness. It was no mere State reasons which prompted Marcus to
uphold the ancient cult of Rome. He evidently beHeved with
a fervent behef in these old gods of Rome. For mstance, 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

iThis especially refers to the ancient song of the Arval Brotherhood, of
which college Marcus was also a member.

96 MARCUS ANTONINUS

and secret memoranda he recorded his inmost thoughts and
hopes,— that httle volume which amid the wreckage of con-
temporary hterary 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 RepubHc
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 experi-
ence 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 Christi-
anity 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 behef, 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

" MEDITATIONS " OF MARCUS ANTONINUS 97

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" (11. 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 gentle-
ness 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 S3niipathy 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 Chris-
tian 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 diffi-
culties which were constantly encountered by one who pro-
fessed the religion of Jesus.

6. The methods by which these difficulties were to be
grappled with are described. Two schools of teaching evi-
dently 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 pro-
vinces 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 f reed-
man, 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

NUMBERS OF CHRISTIANS IN EARLY DAYS 103

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 con-
vincingly, 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 " (mggws multitudo)}

Still more in detail the younger Pliny, the Governor of
Bithynia, writing to the Emperor Trajan circa a.d. i 12-13
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.^ 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 ^ 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 :

^ Tacitus, Annals, xv. 44.

2 Fiirther details of Pliny's report to the Emperor Trajan upon the numbers
of Christians in his pro\-ince will be found above. Book I. pp. 49-62.
^ Pliny, Epist. ad Trajan, 96.

104 LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN IN THE EARLY DAYS

Clement, bishop of Rome circa a.d. 95, writing to the
Church at Corinth, speaks of " the great multitude of Chris-
tians " who suffered in the persecution of Nero, a.d. 64.^

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, ^
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 MartjTdom of Justin, circa a.d. 165,
an undoubtedly genuine piece, Rusticus the Roman prefect
asks Justin where the Christians assembled. In reply, Justin
said, " W^iere each one chooses and can ; for do you imagine
that we all meet in the very same place ? "

Irenasus in a very striking passage,^ 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 7nost 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 rhetori-
cal 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.

' Clement of Rome, Epist. ad Cor. vi.

^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 earher (circa a.d. 140), and con-
siders it the work of an anonymous writer.

' Ircnaus, adv. Hccr., book iii. 2.

NUMBERS OF CHRISTIANS IN EARLY DAYS 105

In the works of TertulKan we come across such state-
ments 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." ^

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." ^

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,^ gives some official statistics of
the Roman Church in his days.-* 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 Httle sketch of the vast numbers of dis-
ciples who at a very early date had joined the Christian com-
munity, the changeless testimony of the Roman catacombs
must be cited. Much will be found WTitten 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

^ Tertulhan, ApologeticHs, i. ^ Ibid. 42-

« Quoted in Eusebius, H. E.. book vi. chap. 43. * See below, p. 120.

io6 LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN IN THE EARLY DAYS

growth, its adherents from distinguished families, its spread
all over Rome." ^

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, Irena^us, 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.

' Professor Harnack, Mission and Expansion of Christianity, book iv.
chap. iii. sec. 14.

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, Irenseus, 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
assembhes 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.

io8 LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN IN THE EARLY 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 Didache (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." ^
" 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." -

So S. Ignatius {circa a.d. 107—10) in his Epistle to the
Ephesian Church ^ 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." ^

Barnabas {circa a.d. 120-30) : " Keep not apart by your-
selves, as if you were already justified ; but meet together, and
confer upon the common weal. ^

Justin Martyr— in his first Apology, written in the middle
of the second century — describes these meetings of the brethren
with some detail.^

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 powder which

' Didache', iv. 2. » Clement of Rome, Ep. ad Cor. 34.

» Ignatius, ad Eph. 13. * Ad Polyc. 4.

• Barnabas, Ep. 4.

' See for cletaile<l account of Justin Martyr's description, p. 113.

THE ASSEMBLIES OF CHRISTIANS 109

these meetings of the brethren exercised over the hfe of
Christians is described as follows :

" As in the Sea there are Islands . . . with havens and
harbours m which the storm-tossed may find refuge, so God
has given to the world, which is driven and tempest-tossed by
sms, 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." 1

^ Theophilus to Autolycus, xiv.

Ill

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, smaU 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. I 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.

OF WHOM WERE THESE ASSEMBLIES COMPOSED? iii

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

In the famous dialogue of Mmucius Felix, circa a.d. i6o,
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 \vrote
a special treatise entitled. What rich man can he 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 .^

Tertullian again and again refers to the piesence 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

1 Harnack well observes that among Clement of Alexandria's writings,
the PcBdagogus evidently assumes that the Church for winch its teaching
was designed embraced a large number of cultured people.

The same conclusion must be arrived at in respect of many of Irenaeus'
writings. Irenaeus wrote in the last quarter of the second century.

112 LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN IN THE EARLY DAYS

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 deaUng 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 famihes 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. ^

' The more eminent of the Gnostic teachers who in the first instance separ-
ated themselves from the Christian congregations, as far as we can judge from
the comparatively rare fragments wliich 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 wTiters 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 earUer.

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, in-
structs, 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 wiUing, 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

114 LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN IN THE EARLY DAYS

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 aU 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 reliquiae of the earliest days
enough to show us what was the groundwork of this primitive
teachmg.

WHAT WAS DONE IN PRIMITIVE ASSEMBLIES 115

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 earhest 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 happi-
ness.^

Very briefly we will quote a very few of these important
dogmatic sayings pressed home to the beUevers 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. II.

" Jesus Christ our Lord hath given His blood for us, by the
will of God . . . His life for our lives." — £/>. 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 Trail. 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. adSmyrn. i, 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. adSmyrn. 6.

" Await Him ... the Eternal, the Invisible, who became
visible for our sakes ; the Impalpable, the Impassible, who

' 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."

ii6 LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN IN THE EARLY DAYS

suffered for our sake, who endured in all ways for our sake." —
Ep. ad Poly carp, 3.

Epistle to Diognetus, — early in second century, — an
anonymous wTiting :

" 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 righteous-
ness 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 re-
mission 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.

WHAT WAS DONE IN PRIMITIVE ASSEMBLIES 117

" Thou shall love Him that created thee, thou shalt glorify
Him that redeemed thee from death."— £/>. 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 washed 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 wall deliver from death
those who have believed." — Dial, with Trypho, cxi.

In well-nigh all these reliquiae 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.^ 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.

1 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 chasten-
ing 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.).

ii8 LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN IN THE EARLY DAYS

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 follow-
ing the passing of S. John the beloved apostle, and they tell
us exactly what was the doctrine pressed home to the Brother-
hood 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 assembhes and meetings, such as the resurrec-
tion 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 brother-
hood, 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 fiUed
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 hght ; and to these early Chris-
tian 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

WHAT WAS DONE IN PRIMITIVE ASSEMBLIES 119

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 Uved, by the
Christian Brotherhood. It was a life quite different to anj'-
thing 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 con-
ditions 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
rehgion 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 C^ecilms
(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 vye
have seen, in detail of the destination of the alms collected.^

1 See above, pp. 113. ii4-

120 LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN IN THE EARLY DAYS

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 contribut-
ing 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 ^ 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 cata-
logue 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 behevers a higher place, a far more important

' 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 Sappliira, never obligatory,
but was ever purely voluntary.

(WHAT WAS DONE IN PRIMITIVE ASSEMBLIES 121

position, than it filled in the dogmatic teaching of mediaeval
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, accord-
ing 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 Didache (Teaching of the Apostles),
written in the last years of the first century, we read :

" If thou possessest (anything) by thy hands, thou shaft
give a ransom for thy sins." — Didache, iv.

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

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,' ^ 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."— 2m^ Epistle of Clement (part of an
ancient homily put out circa a.d. 130 to 150). ^

1 The writer here evidently means " atones for a multitude of our ovra
sins " ; so TertulUan, Scorpiace, 6 (see Bishop Lightfoot, Clement of Rome.
part i. vol. ii. p. 232).

2 See note (p^ 1 04) on authorship and date of 2nd Epistle of Clement of Rome.

122 LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN IN THE EARLY DAYS

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 abolish-
ing subsequent frailties.^

Lactantius — Inst. vi. 12 — circa end of fourth century :
" Mercy has a great reward {magna est misericordicB 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 (i Cor. xiii.), where
under the general term of love or charity he expressly in-
cludes 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 con-
gregations of Christians with a force and insistency quite
unknown in mediaeval 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 demon-
strated, as nothing else could, the real and intense love of
Christians one for the other. It was verily a brotherhood, and

* See Archbishop Benson, Cyprian, vi. i.

WHAT WAS DONE IN PRIMITIVE ASSEMBLIES 123

constantly, even in the most exalted quarters/ 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 ist 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 Didache (Teaching of the Apostles) we come
across such directions as —

" To every one that asketh thee give, and ask not back j
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 unwTitten traditional saying
spoken by our Lord Himself. — Didache, i.

" Thou shaft not hesitate to give, nor in giving shalt thou
murmur." — Didache, iv.

" Thou shalt not turn away from the needy, but thou shalt
share all things with thy brother ; and thou shalt not say that

1 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 congre,^ation's action in the Great Plague of Carthage is a
good example of this. See below, p. 1 27.

124 LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN IN THE EARLY DAYS

they are thine own : for if ye are fellow partakers in that
which is immortal, how much more in things which are mortal."
— Didache, 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 daj^s, that they may supply the needy with their
necessary food." ^ — Apol. xv.

Hernias — 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 your-
selves 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 inter-
esting and suggestive Note, in which he says : " For all the

' 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 charitj-, see, too, such passages as Hermas
Shepherd, Simil. iii.

WHAT WAS DONE IN PRIMITIVE ASSEMBLIES 125

vigour of his counsel, however, it never occurs to Hennas
that the distinction between the rich and the poor should
cease within the Church. This is plain from the next Simili-
tude or Parable (ii.). The saying of Jesus, too, S. John
xii. 8, ' The poor ye have always with you,' shows that the
abohtion of the distinction between rich and poor was never
contemplated in the Church."

Hennas — 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 descrip-
tion 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 weIl-kno\vn 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 per-
fectly novel saying of the Founder of the religion. It was,
in fact, a new language which was used :

" Thou shall love thy neighbour as thyself." The instruc-
tions given in the early assemblies defined the term " neigh-
bour," and explained how the love enjoined was to be especi-
ally shown.

126 LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN IN THE EARLY DAYS

Now in all the early Christian wTitings 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 reUgion and
undefilcd before God and the Father is this, to visit the father-
less and widow in their affliction," etc. (i. 27).

Hennas— 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 quota-
tions : " He— the Master of the Universe — saith, . . . Give
judgment for the orphan, and execute righteousness for the
widows." — / 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 there-
fore that Divine Law prescribes this to all," etc. . . . And
again : " For God, to whom everlasting mercy belongs, com-
mands 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. martyr-
dom) " . . . " 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
telHng 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 exaggera-
tion 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 akns
of the brethren, public and private, were also urged as an

WHAT WAS DONE IN PRIMITIVE ASSEMBLIES 127

inescapable duty. This stood in the forefront of all their
exhortations, and the injunction v.-as ever generously responded
to. To quote references here, where they are so very numer-
ous, 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." ^ The Christians
of Carthage, as their reply, at once raised amongst them-
selves 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

1 Archbishop Benson happily paraphrases Cyprian's words thus : Noblesse
oblige. S. Cyprian, vi. i, 2.

128 LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN IN THE EARLY DAYS

markedly referred to by the Emperor Julian—" Not only
their own poor, but ours do they care for," wrote the great
Emperor ; " oiir 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 Didache — 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." —
I Apol. Ixvii.

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 feehng 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. " Dis-

WHAT WAS DONE IN PRIMITIVE ASSEMBLIES 129

tributing to the necessity of saints, given to hospitality."
Rom. xii. 13. " Use hospitahty one to another, without
grudging," i 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 " hospitahty " 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 mediasval
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. Caecilius in Miniicius 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 brother-
hood that the apostles and their successors insisted so
earnestly upon the new and beautiful duty of " hospitality."

130 LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN IN THE EARLY DAYS

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 Brotherhoood, asked so earnestly
at the various weekly assembUes, 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 gather-
ings ; of these, rehef 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. {., 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 generosit}'' 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

WHAT WAS DONE IN PRIMITIVE ASSEMBLIES 131

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 Alex-
andria, writing to Stephen, bishop of Rome, alludes to the
generous help given to the poor Churches of S>Tia 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 wTites
as follows : " The last and greatest office of piety is the burying

132 LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN IN THE EARLY DAYS

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 \\Titer 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 :
" Wlien 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 individ-
ual members of the community, which was often very lavish
in the early centuries. TertuUian, 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 subse-
quent 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

WHAT WAS DONE IN PRIMITIVE ASSEMBLIES 133

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 illustra-
tions of what the writings of Aristides, Tertullian, and Lac-
tantius tell us of the solemn duty to the dead which was insisted
upon with such touching eloquence to the primitive congrega-
tions 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." ^

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 suc-
ceeded 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 I 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

1 Lecky, European Morals, chap, ii., " The Pagan Empire."
134

THE SLAVE IN EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE 135

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 ; i Pet. ii. 18.^

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 Didache 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 shaU 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' 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." ^

In the assemblies of the Christians of the first days on
which we have been dwelhng, the social difference between

1 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 hved on an acknowledged and
recognized institute of several countries. The terrible war which led to the
slave aboUtion in the United States is still unforgotten even by this generation.

2 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 m that
period were undoubtedly very great.

3 Lecky, History of European Morals, vol. ii. chap. iv.

136 LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN IN THE EARLY DAYS

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 to-
gether to the mercy -seat of the Eternal. While not unfre-
quently a slave was promoted to be the teacher ; the highest
offices in the congregation ^ 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 con-
gegations of the faithful, and the highest honour and vener-
ation 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 miar-
vellous change passed over the ordinary conception of the
slave.

An extract from a letter of Pauhnus 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, recog-
nizing 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 ! Un-
worthy 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 watch-

' 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.

THE SLAVE IN EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE 137

ful 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." 1

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 enfranchise-
ment of any number of Christian slaves. Freedmen, especi-
ally in the imperial household, were very numerous in the
days of the Antonines. But the teaching that these slaves —
ivhile 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 sub-
jects 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 real-
ized, and that they appeal powerfully to the emotions of the

1 S. Paulinus of Nola to Sulpicius Severus, Ep. x.xiii.

138 LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN IN THE EARLY DAYS

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 im-
perfectly 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 count-
less 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
Caesarea, 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 Didache, 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 Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, and
Tertullian, and repeated in the first half of the third century

THE SLAVE IN EARLY CHRLSTIAN LIFE 139

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 im-
mortality, 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 reaHzation 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 :

I. In the family, in domestic life. Consider the position of
a Christian slave — of a son or daughter — of a wife — in a pagan

DIFFICULTIES IN LIFE OF EARLY CHRISTIANS 141

famHy. What scenes of strain and estrangement if one member
was a Christian and the household generaUy 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 every-
day 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 pubhc 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 Caesar, when the slightest disrespect or
failure in homage to this sovereign master, who claimed the
rank of Deity, would be construed into treason and dis-
loyalty ?

5. Education. — Could a Christian still continue to be a

142 LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN IN THE EARLY DAYS

teacher of the young, seeing that in all the manuals of educa-
tion a knowledge of the old gods still worshipped in Rome—
their myths, their prowess, their various attributes — w^as
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 Hfe 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 dis-
played 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

DIFFICULTIES IN LIFE OF EARLY CHRISTIANS 143

nothing, adopted everything, quietly correcting, gently chang-
ing 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." 1

iDe Broglie, Revue des deux mondes, ist Nov. 1852, reproduced in his
L'Eglise et I'Empire Roniain, vol. i., Avertissement, ii-iii.

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,^ with the games
loved of the people, with anything which appeared antagon-
istic to an}^ 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 obedi-
ence 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.

^ See, for instance, Tert. De Idolat. viii., where the various trades connected
with idols and temples are enumerated.

144

THE TWO SCHOOLS OF TEACHING 145

We may picture to cursives 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 Chris-
tians were trained to endure all and suffer for the Name's sake.^

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 un-
compromising 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 gener-
ally 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 argu-
ments adduced by the pagan Ca^cilius 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 foUows and which con-
1 On these " Schools of Martyrdom," see below, p. 198 foil.
10

146 LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN IN THE EARLY DAYS

vinced Caecilius 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 Apoc-
alypse, 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, " repre-
sented in those early years the preacher of Notre Dame (in
Paris) in our own time, addressing men of the world." ^

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 vaca-
tion, of leaving the Forum the scene of their life-work. Chris-
tians, like other men, busy themselves with the same occupa-
tions ; 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 Pcsdagogus, 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

^ See Renan, Marc-Anrele, chap. xxii.

THE GENTLER SCHOOL OF TEACHING 147

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 acommodating 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 Caesar's household
(Phil, iv, 22).

The well-known "graffito" on the Palatine, of the cari-
cature of a crucifix, is an indication that there were Christians
among the imperial pages in the reign of Marcus,^ a.d. 161-80.

Irenaeus (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 Chris-
tians 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 Chris-

1 Some put this graffito a little later, perhaps in the days of Alexander
Severus, a.d. 222-35.

148 LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN IN THE EARLY DAYS

tians ; 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 unfre-
quently 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 con-
cession 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 inextric-
ably 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.^

The civil service contained undoubtedly many Christians
in the early centuries of the era ; see Aristides {Apol. xv,), who,
WTiting of Christians, says : " Where they are judges they judge
righteously." Tertullian refers to the presence of Christians

^ The well-knowTi 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 main-
tained 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. Hamack,
on the other hand, and others doubt its authenticity.

THE GENTLER SCHOOL OF TEACHING 149

in all ranks, and states how " they could be found in the
palace, in the Senate, and in the Forum " {Ad. Nat. i. i and
Apol. i.). Cyprian, Ep. Ixxx. i, and other early authorities
could be quoted here. Eus. H. E. viii. i, 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 per-
meated 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 cer-
tain countenance to official pagan ceremonies. Naaman, the
eminent servant of the King of Sjnria, 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

150 LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN IN THE EARLY DAYS

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 ames d'elite "
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 notice-
able 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 weU-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 Chris-
tianity that widespread and general acceptance among the
people so noticeable within fifty years of the Milan proclama-
tion of Constantine. 1 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 pre-
sented 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." ^

^ The edicts favourable to Christianity were quietly received, even approved,
in many places warmly w^elcomed ; and vast and ever increasing numbers of
the population, hitherto pagans, joined the Cliristian 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 sometliing of a mystery to some historians.

* Sec Lecky, Hist, of Morals, chap. iii.

THE RIGOURISTS' SCHOOL OF TEACHING 151

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 exag-
gerated 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 re-
flects on the power which such lives have exercised over their
fellow-men. The debt which Christianity ow^es 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 song-man 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-Stephanon " — the Book of the (Martyrs') Crowns.

152 LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN IN THE EARLY DAYS

It is the halo of glory surrounding these martyrs or con-
fessors 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.^

' Prudentius does not stand alone as voicing the opinions of the people.
A contemporary of his — PauUnus 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. Fehx, a martyr in whose honour he erected a basiUca. 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. FeUx 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.

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
fuU of danger ; while for some, i.e., for the disciples of the
school of " Rigourists," so hard — so austere — so full of name-
less 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 martyr-
dom ; 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." ^

" 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 ^ (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

1 Tertullian, On Fasting, 12. ^ -pertullian, To his Wife, 5,

153

154 LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN IN THE EARLY DAYS

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." ^

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 resj>ect 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.^

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

^TertuUian, On Female Dress, xi. 13.

- Examples of these are given below ; see p. 313 of this work.

THE GUERDON OFFERED TO THE CHRISTIAN 155

centuries when speaking of the dread enemy ,1 bear curious
witness to the new relation of the behever to the ancient foe
of man ; they spoke of death as " a passage into hfe " — 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 feehngs of Christians in the matter of death the
friend : ^ " 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 assem-
blies we have been picturing — the fact of the new Brother-
hood—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 hfe of the world of

1 Some of the more remarkable of these are quoted in Book. IV. pt. iii.
(pp. 309-312).

2 On "the MortaUty," i.e. the plague of Alexandria, 20-24.

156 LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN IN THE EARLY DAYS

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 aU the
Christian behefs, 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 posi-
tion 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

THE GUERDON OFFERED TO THE CHRISTIAN 157

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 hke sunHt 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

158 LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN IN THE EARLY DAYS

treasure, — words which sweetened their hard and too fre-
quently 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 Hfe
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 con-
temptuous 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 Caecilius 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 wretch-
edness of the Christian life more clearly expressed than
in the picturesque and graphic poem of Rutilius Namatianus,^
a contemporary of Paulinus of Nola in the first years of the
fifth century.

It is a comparatively late pagan criticism of Christian-
ity, 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.

' 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.

THE GUERDON OFFERED TO THE CHRISTIAN 159

" Is there any sense," writes Rutilius, " in living a
wretched Ufe 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 aU 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 viTitings
of undoubted authenticity which have come down to us.^

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,^ the

^ The testimony of the Roman catacombs here is also ver}' weighty. See
Book III. part iii., where the numbers of martyrs and confessors buried in the
catacombs are especially dwelt on.

- In this Third Book, where the question of the persecutions to which

163

i64 THE INNER LIFE OF THE CHURCH

period when the rehgion of Jesus was gradually but rapidly
taking root in the world of Rome. With one notable excep-
tion 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. i8o.

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 wiU include writings dating from
the days of Trajan to the accession of Commodus, a.d. 180 :
the approximate dates of each wTiting 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

the early Christian Church was subjected is discussed, the period especi-
ally 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 pre-
vailed in the earlier years — only in the later period there were more years of
comparative immunity from active persecution, while, on the other 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,
Dccius and Diocletian.

INTRODUCTORY 165

A.D. 135) for the first time clearly saw what a great and power-
ful 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 Hfe 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 — MTite 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 dowTi 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 ist 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 experi-
ences will be the lot of the congregation he was addressing.

First Epistle of S. Peter, circa a.d. 65-7

The second writing, whicli 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 1 was put out
circa 65-7. It was written manifestly in a time of persecution ;
the keynote of the Epistle is consolation and encouragement

' This early and usually accepted date, circa 65-7, seems the more prob-
ably 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 earUer and traditional date be accepted.

166

FIRST GROUP OF QUOTATIONS 167

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 on-
slaught, but a systematic and legahzed attack on the rehgion
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 perish eth, 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 weU 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. go

The Apocalypse of S. John is now generally dated circa
A.D. 90 ; the keynote of this strange and in many parts beau-
tiful 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, with-
out being keenly sensible that the Church therein portra3'ed

i68 THE INNER LIFE OF THE CHURCH

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. 9-1 1).

" These are they that came out of great tribulation . . .
therefore are they before the throne of God " (vii. 14-17).

" And the}' 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 liave 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 boldest fast My name, and hast not denied My
Faith " (ii. 13).

FIRST GROUP OF QUOTATIONS 169

" And I saw the woman ^ 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 boldest 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 ^ 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 equiva-
lent 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

iThe 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.

2 " The mind of the writer is practically restricted to the Roman world.
... He tliinks 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).

170 THE INNER LIFE OF THE CHURCH

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 ist Epistle. From the days of Irenaeus
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, some-
what 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 congrega-
tion. " By reason of the sudden and repeated calamities

FIRST GROUP OF QUOTATIONS 171

which are befahing us, we consider, brethren, we have been
somewhat tardy in giving heed to the matters of dispute that
have arisen among you, dearly beloved " (/ Ep. i).

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 as 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 "

(^ Ef. 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 wTite 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.)

172 THE INNER LIFE OF THE CHURCH

of his condition and of the condition of his co-rehgionists at
Rome : " We are in the same hsts (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 mart3n*dom 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 perse-
cution 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 there-
fore 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 magni-
ficent 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 life-long labours of the eminent scholar-
bishop of Durham (Dr. Lightfoot), the controversy has virtually
been closed. Serious European scholars, with rare exceptions,

FIRST GROUP OF QUOTATIONS 173

now accept the seven Epistles (the middle recension,^ as
Lightfoot calls it) of the Ignatian correspondence, as absolutely
genuine.

Ramsay well and briefly sums up the purport of the allu-
sions 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, Mag-
nesia 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.vm. 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.)."

1 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 S>Tian
MS. and pubhshed, believing that these " three " were the only genuine
Epistles of the martyr-bishop.

174 THE INNER LIFE OF THE CHURCH

" 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 dis-
ciples. . . . 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," ^

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 wTiter. 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

* Prof. Ramsay, The Church in the Roman Empire, chap. xiii.

FIRST GROUP OF QUOTATIONS 175

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, some-
times 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 iind them
ready, nay, I wiU 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 wiU 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, \^ ith the dense crowds of
spectators all around shouting applause or execration, is
quite natural. It is b}^ 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, mys-

176 THE INNER LIFE OF THE CHURCH

terious 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. ^ 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, com-
pleted 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.

1 See Part I. section i.chap. iii. in the author's work, The Golden Age of
the Church, entitled, " The Monks and the Animal World," where this interest-
ing question has been discussed at some length, and vaiious examples are
given.

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 per-
secution 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 ^ 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^ 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

^ The history, contents, and authenticity of this most weighty reference has
been already discussed in all its bearings (see above, pp. 45-62).

^ The well-known reference of Tacitus to the persecution of Nero has been
referred to (see p. 103).

178 THE INNER LIFE OF THE CHURCH

no knowledge. But the short writing in question is interesting
and even eloquent, and its date can be ascertained wdth fair
certainty from expressions contained in the letter. Christi-
anity, when the writing was put out, was a new thing in the
world — this is several times noticed in the letter.^

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 Shep-
herd (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 approxi-

^ 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 earl}^ years of the second century.
The last two chapters, xi.-xii., are fragmentary, and apparently were written
a little — but very little — later.

SECOND GROUP OF QUOTATIONS 179

mate 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 earher 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.^

But whether we adopt for the composition of the writing
the year 140, or thereabouts, or with Duchesne and Harnack
the earUer 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 \dth these sacred writings.

Gradually though we find its authority diminishing,
sterner spirits, like Tertullian, misliking its gentle and com-
passionate 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
stultitiae 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 Scrip-

^ So Harnack ; Duchesne, in his Histoire ancienne de I'^glise, 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 earher date for psirts of the work.

i8o THE INNER LIFE OF THE CHURCH

tures 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'liglise Chretienne) 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 congre-
gations. 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 dis-
figured 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.

SECOND GROUP OF QUOTATIONS

i»i

Perpetually were the Christians haled before the magis-
trate. 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 con-
tinuous, 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 martjnrs. AU, 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 behevers 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 I'liglise Romaine." The writer
spares none in his severe yet kindly criticism ; the priests and

i82 THE INNER LIFE OF THE CHURCH

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 wdth the
falling away of many in the dread hour of persecution — is
his assurance that these sins are capable of pardon here,
even if conmiitted 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 TertuUian
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 tim.e when the echoes of the voices of the
disciples who had been with Jesus were still ringing in
men's ears.

SECOND GROUP OF QUOTATIONS 183

As a dogmatic teacher the writer of the Shepherd is of
little or no value ; Hernias 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.^

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. i).

" 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).

1 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 Ufe, by the citizens of Corinth and Alexandria, by the
dwellers in Ephesus and Antioch.

i84 THE INNER LIFE OF THE CHURCH

" They without hesitation repented, and practise aU virtue

and righteousness, and some of them even suffered, being
wilhngly 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. lo).

" AU 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. 2d>).

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 Trvpho. 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 fearless-
ness 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
Mgrtyr'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

SECOND GROUP OF QUOTATIONS 1S5

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 i 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 wdth 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, beheving 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. ex.).

i86 THE INNER LIFE OF THE CHURCH

" 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. i6o

Jerome tells us that Minucius Felix was, before his con-
version to Christianity, an advocate at Rome. The dialogue,
which forms the substance of the "WTiting — a work of some
considerable length, is a supposed argument between a cul-
tured pagan C^eciUus and the Christian Octavius — the writer
Minucius Felix acting as arbiter between the disputants.
The scene of the dialogue was the sea-shore of Ostia, it
closes with the conversion of the pagan Ca2cilius, who is con-
vinced by the arguments brought forward by the Christian
Octavius. 1

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

* A more detailed description of the famous Dialogue of Minucius Felix
will be found on pp. 145-6.

SECOND GROUP OF QUOTATIONS 187

Christian, reminds us of the golden days of Latin prose so
much as the Odavius of Minucius Fehx " [Hist, of Christi-
anity, book iv. chap. iii.).

The following striking passages bearing on the subject of
the ceaseless persecution to which the Christians were sub-
jected 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. Mucins Scaevola, 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 httle 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, ad-
dressed to the Emperor Marcus, the following passage occurs :

i88 THF, INNER LIFE OF THE CHURCH

" 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 in-
formers 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 punish-
ment, 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 Athena-
goras that remain are his Apology, or Embassy, as he styles it,
addressed to the Emperor Marcus Aurelius and his son Corn-
modus, and a treatise on The Resurrection.

Philip of Side ^ 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) hate-
ful 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 caUed Christians you have had no care,

' Side was a maritime town of Pamphylia. Philip wrote in the early
part of the fifth century.

SECOND GROUP OF QUOTATIONS 189

though we commit no wrong. . . . You allow us to be har-
assed— 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 caUed 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 m 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.

190 THE INNER LIFE OF THE CHURCH

" 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, c7/?ca a.d. 195-211

To complete the chain of testimony supplied by con-
temporary 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 "
(Tcrtulhan, Apol. 7).

" Without ceasing for our Emperors we offer prayer . . .
we ask for whatever, as man or Caesar, 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, \vrap us in

SECOND GROUP OF QUOTATIONS 191

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 devo-
tion 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 " (TertuUian, 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 disregard-
ing 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 accept-
ance 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)
13

194 THE INNER LIFE OF THE CHURCH

without flinching, when one word would have freed them
from their sufferings. No opinion we may form of the pro-
ceedings of priests in a later age should impair the reverence
with which we bend before the martyr's tomb." ^

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, Anton-
inus Pius, and Marcus Antoninus, Severus, Decius, and Dio-
cletian, 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 judge's 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

' Lecky, History of European Morals, chap, iii., " The Persecutions," pp. 497-8.

THE TRAINING FOR MARTYRDOM 195

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 dis-
grace, 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
pubhcly 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 Chiist 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 recanta-
tion 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,

196 THE INNER LIFE OF THE CHURCH

as far as men could see, tiie issue lor 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 worlds 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 ; some-
thing 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

THE TRAINING FOR MARTYRDOM 197

centuries and a half, the period roughly from Nero to Constan-
tine, — 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." ^

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

1 " It is not lawful to be you," but it is impossible to render in English the
full force of this epigrammatic saying of TertuUian.

198 THE INNER LIFE OF THE CHURCH

hitherto generally escaped notice ; only quite lately has it
attracted some attention.^

It was no haphazard temporary piece of work, this " train-
ing 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 ^vTitings
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 amphi-
theatre. 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 saecularem, exercentur homines et parantur . . .
Armari et praeparari nos beatus Apostolus docet." "^ (" 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

^ De Boissier, the Academician, specially calls attention to it as a some-
what 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.

* S. Cyprian, Epist. Ixvi, ad Thibaritanos.

THE TRAINING FOR MARTYRDOM 199

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 prepara-
tion 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 dis-
appeared ; 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 anon5mious work quoted at the beginning
of this chapter, De Laude Martyrii. These are fair speci-
mens 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 hke. " 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.

200 THE INNER LIFE OF THE CHURCH

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 mart3T:dom 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 com-
mitted 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 ^ 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

^ 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.

THE TRAINING FOR MARTYRDOM 201

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 martjTdom " 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 exhorta-
tions 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.

202 THE INNER LIFE OF THE CHURCH

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 uncon-
quered 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 hard-
ship." ^

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 out-
ward man perisheth yet the inward man is renewed
day by day. . . . For our light affliction, which is but
for a monent, worketh for us a far more exceeding
and eternal weight of glory, while we look not at the

' Tertullian, Ad Martyr es, 3.

THE TRAINING FOR MARTYRDOM 203

things which are seen, but at the things which are not
seen." ^

In his treatise on " Idolatry " TertulHan 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 Ter-
tullian 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 recanta-
tion, 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

1 Quoted in the Scorpiace of TertuUian, and much more from S. Paul to
the same point.

204 THE INNER LIFE OF THE CHURCH

heroes was surely based on something which was true and
real.

Some eighty or at most ninety years before TertuUian
Hved and ^\Tote, Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, on his way to
Rome, where he was doomed to be exposed to the wild beasts
in the great amphitheatre, ^\Tote his famous letter to the
Roman Church.

The date of the letter is about a.d. 107-10. The little
WTiting was highly esteemed in the early Church. It may
be fairly styled a vade mecum of martyrs in the age of per-
secution. It accurately embodies the thoughts and aspira-
tions 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
Martjo-dom " 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 wTiter 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

THE^TRAINING FOR MARTYRDOM 205

with me. ... Now am I beginning to be a disciple. . . .
Come fire and cross and grapplings with wild beasts, wrench-
ing of bones, hacking of limbs, cnishings 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 per-
secuted 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 pro-
nounced, 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 " per-
secution in the sad records, undoubtedly genuine, of the

2o8 THE INNER LIFE OF THE CHURCH

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.^

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 ^ 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

'■ 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.

■■* Compare the quotations taken from these writings given above.

THE GREAT NUMBER OF MARTYRS 209

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 pains-
taking 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 Con-
stantine 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 com-
paratively speaking modern times) in certain of the greater
monastic libraries.^

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 " It-
ineraries " 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

1 A short account of the principal of these Itineraries is given on pp. 227-8.
14

210 THE INNER LIFE OF THE CHURCH

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 (Cata-
combs) 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 sanct-
orum 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 Vec Ma.)

After speaking of the shrines of certain celebrated
confessors buried in a cemetery hard by this road, we

THE GREAT NUMBER OF MARTYRS

211

read how " these he buried with many (other martyrs) "
(cum multis sepulti jacent).— D^ Locis SS. Marty rum

Of this " Itinerary/' the fuU title of which is " De Locis
SS. Martyrum quae sunt foris civitatem Roma "—the
MS. was found in the Salzburg Library.

The Via Portuensis. {The road leading to Portus, the ancient
port of Rome, constructed hy 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 ceme-
teries of Pontianus and S. ¥e\ix.~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 ahis).

The Via Ardeatina. {A road on the right or west of the

Via Appia.) ,-.-4

The " Guide " speaks of various shrines and proceeds

to say : " Not far off lie S. Petronilla and Nereus and

Achilles and m.any other m^viyrs."— Itinerary of William

of Malmesbury.

The Via Appia. {The " Queen of Roads " leads through

Alhano on to Capua.)

(i) 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.

(i) In another " Itinerary " describing the cemeteries

212 THE INNER LIFE OF THE CHURCH

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 ancic7it 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 Cata-
combs.— De Locis SS. Martyrum.

Another " Itinerary," after specifying some famous
names, mentions that here were " other martyrs un-
numbered."— 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. S3^mphorosa are
buried " many martyrs." — De Locis SS. Martyrum.

The Via Nomentana {leads out of the old Porta Collina to

the town of N omentum {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

THE GREAT NUMBER OF MARTYRS 213

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.

xA.nother " 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 in-
numerabiles). — 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, \\Tites, 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.

214 THE INNER LIFE OF THE CHURCH

The Via Flaminia, [This ajicicnt road leads out of the modern

Porta del Popolo, is a direct continuation of the

modern Cor so. 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.^ 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 :

" Not. de olea scorum (sanctorum) martyrum qui Romae 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. Fehx and Philippus and S. Cornelius, occur the
following expressions : —

'See pp. 227-8.

THE GREAT NUMBER OF MARTYRS 215

" Et aliarum multarum Martyrum " — " et multa millia
scorum"— (sanctorum) "etaliiSci (Sancti),idestCCLXIL" . . .
"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.

Ill

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 in-
scription originally placed in the Papal Crypt of the " Callis-
tus " Cemetery, which speaks especially of "a number of
martyrs buried together " near that sacred spot. The epitaph
commences as follows :

"Hie congesta jacet quseris si turba piorum
Corpora sanctorum retinent vcneranda sepulchra
Sublimes animas rapuit sibi Regia coeli."^

1 Allard translates these lines : " Si vous voulez savoir, ici reposent
amonceles les ossements d'un grand nombre des saints ; ces venerables
tombeaux gardent les corps des elus dont le royaume des cieux a tire k lui

2i6 THE INNER LIFE OF THE CHURCH

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 Cata-
combs of Rome, and w^hose graves were reverently and per-
sistently 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 state-
ments 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.

les ames sublimes." " Des polyandres, ou tombes consacrees a des centaines,
peut-etre k des milliers de corps, s'ouvraient en plusieurs parties des catacombes.
Ces tombes etaient toujours anonymes, remplics de martyrs — ' quorum
nomina scit Omnipotens ' selon I'expression du Pope Pascal." . . . " M. De
Rossi croit reconnaitre dans une fosse profonde qui s'ouvre sous la niche
profonde a gauche de I'autel dans la chapelle Papale . . . le polyandre
cel^bre ou reposaicnt, selon d'anciens documents, une multitude innombrable
de martyrs enterres ' ad sanctam Cseciliam.' " (See Allard, Rome Soiiteraine
(Northcote & Brovvnlow), Cimeti^re de Calliste, 216-18 ; and see too note on
p. 218.)

BOOK IV
THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

Introductory

AN absolutely reliable source of information respecting the
secret of the inner hfe 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 repre-
sentation 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

220 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

Catacombs," ^ — 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 orgraven upon the innumerable tombs in the Catacombs
that we gather what was the real belief of these early congrega-
tions— 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. vSome 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 Cata-
combs 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.

' Dean Stanley of Westminster.

INTRODUCTORY 221

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: (i) a brief descrip-
tion 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 ^ the work of excavation and research in the streets
of the City of the Dead which hes beneath the suburbs of
Rome has been slowly and somewhat fitfully carried on,
exciting generally but httle 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

^ 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 vastunexplored City of
the Dead.

933

224 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

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 dis-
coveries were made of any real importance to early Christian
history or archaeology. 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 im-
pressed 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 Chris-
tian congregations in Rome during the first two and a half

THE TESTIMONY OF THE CATACOMBS 225

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 wonder-
ful 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 mart^-rdoms
of the age of persecution, we know, were destroyed by the
imperial government in the days of Diocletian. The martyr-
ologies 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,^ 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 car-
dinal fact of the existence, of the hfe-work and suffering,

^ Refer here to pp. 289-297, " Crypt of S. CeciUa,"
15

226 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

and noble testimony to the faith sealed with their life-blood,
of these true servants of the adored Master, is positively
estabhshed 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 Cata-
comb 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) Liher 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 bio-
graphical 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 Lihcy Pontificalis

THE EARLY PILGRIM ITINERARIES 227

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 hand-books composed
for the use of devout pilgrims from Britain, Gaul, Spain.
Germany, and Switzerland, — men and women who were de-
sirous 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 the}/ 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 VvTiter 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

228 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

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 rehcs 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 Theodehnda ; 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. Som.e sixty or seventy saints' shrines are
specially enumerated, besides about eight places mentioned
before which oils were kept burning, before tombs which con-
tained 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.

I. 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 ruinedbuilding
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 accom-
modate 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.

MATERIAL USED BY DE ROSSI IN RESEARCHES 229

2. The remains, more or less perfect, of a staircase or stair-
cases 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 leadmg
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

230 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

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 " syllogae " or collections of early Christian inscriptions
gathered mostly in the ninth century by the industry of the
monks. These " syllogcT " 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 histor-
ical 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 ^ 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

^ Several additional discoveries of historic crypts have been made since
this computation was made.

MATERIAL USED BY DE ROSSI IN RESEARCHES 231

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 Ceciha, of the grave of S. Januarius, the eldest
son of Felicitas/ 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 re-placed 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 Marcelhnus. " A very glorious group of monu-
ments— 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 he explored and searched out. Each

1 Other tombs of the famous martjT-sons of Felicitas have since been
identified, and much knowledge of tlus incident in early Christian history has
been brought to light.

232 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

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 ceme-
teries 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 im-
portant crypts is presented.

The sketch will deal with each of the " Vias " 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 vine3'ards 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

CEMETERY ON THE VATICAN HILL 233

means of the Pons Triumphalis, afterwards termed the Pons
Neronianus, and was traversed by the Via Triumphahs and
the Via CorneHa. Between these two roads the Apostle S.
Peter was buried. The Pilgrim Itineraries describe the sacred
tomb now as " juxta viam CorneUam " — now as " juxta viam
Triumphalem." Directly over the apostle's tomb^ 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 Romian congregations.

It is doubtful if there was ever a Catacomb, as we under-
stand the term, on the Vatican Hill. No trace of subterranean
corridors, or of chambers leading out of the corridors, have
been found ; onl}/, it must be remembered that the neighbour-
hood of the tomb of S. Peter and the early Bishops of Rome
has been completely changed owing to the excavations neces-
sary 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
du-ectly towards the sea-board. It was the road from Rome
to Centumcellas (Civita Vecchia).

The cemeteries along the Via Aurelia have been as yet very

1 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-S8.)

234 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

imperfectly explored.^ The ancient Pilgrim Itineraries
mention four distinct cemeteries here, (i) 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. — (Apos-
tolic 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 net-
work of sepulchral corridors on this portion of the Via Aurelia
this special cemetery has not as 3'et 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

* Marucchi, Itineraries, a.d. 1903.

CEMETERIES ON THE VIA AURELIA, Etc. 235

confessor in her garden on the Aurelian Way. It had probably
been a cemetery before the deposition of the remains of the
famous boy-martyi- gave it a new name and not a httle 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 (Centumcellae) 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 — " in-
numerabiHs multitudo Martjn-um." Several of these are

236 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

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 Cata-
combs, 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 discover}^ 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 Brother-
hood, 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.

(i) 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

CEMETERIES ON THE VIA OSTIENSIS 237

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, hke 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 sarco-
phagus 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 in-
scription above quoted, are three apertures : the most im-
portant of these is circular ; it is, in fact, a little well, and is
23I inches in depth, and was no doubt originally what is
termed the " billicum confessionis," through which hand-
kerchiefs and other objects were lowered, so as to be hallowed

238 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

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 I2| 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 11.
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. Com-
modilla was evidently a wealthy Roman lady who, like many
other Christians of position and means, gave up her garden

CEMETERIES ON THE VIA OSTIENSIS, Etc. 239

to the Christian dead. Nothing, however, is known of her
history.

Two martyrs, SS. Fehx and Adauctus, once well known
in Christian story, were interred here. They belong to the
time of Diocletian. This Catacomb, apparently of consider-
able extent, is only very imperfectly known. The Martyr-
ologies 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 tradition-
ally 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 ceme-
teries 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. Soterls. This enormous network of sub-
terranean 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 de-
marcation 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

240 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

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 excep-
tion 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 DomitiUa 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. PetroniUa, 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

TOMBS OF SS. NEREUS AND ACHILLES, Etc. 241

of different periods in the second, third, and fourth centuries ;
the whole network is of very great extent.

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 Basihca of
S. Petronilla, a building which also bears the names of Nereus
and Achilles.

The fame of these early martyrs and the number of pil-
^ims 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
earty 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 ascer-
tained ; 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 L, 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, con-
cludes that this grave can be with very high probability
16

242 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

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 com-
munity at Rome. De Rossi concludes from this, that Ampli-
atus 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 cor-
ridors.

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 Prastextatus.

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 Salz-
burg 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 sepul-
chres 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,

CEMETERIES ON THE VIA APPIA-S. SEBASTIAN 243

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.
Ceciha and a countless multitude of martyrs (' ibi innumera-
bilis multitudo Martyrum'), Sixtus Pope and Martyr, Dion3'sius
Pope and Martyr, Juliiinus Pope and Martyr, Flavianus
Pope and Martyr. There are 80 martyrs resting there.
Zephyrinus Pope and Martyr rests above Eusebius ; and Cor-
nelius 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.

(i) The Cemetery of S. Sebastian {" ad Catacombas ") is situ-
ated 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 persecu-
tion 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

244 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

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 Praetorians,
which was stationed on guard on the Palatine. He died for
his faith under circumstances of a peculiar dramatic in-
terest, 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 seven-
teenth century by Cardinal Borghesi from the crypt in which
they were originally deposited and reinterred 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 cata-
combs 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 cata-
combs 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

O 2;

2 W

•72

'-/i

'-^

;i,

CEMETERY OF S. CALLISTUS 245

one and a quarter miles from the Porta S. Sebastiana (Porta
Appia).

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
" Calhstus " 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 oc-
cupied— 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 Caecilii, 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 weU-known Pomponia
Graecina, 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 tlie new crypt or chapel of the

246 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

popes ^ 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, com-
municates 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 exten-
sive 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 3^ear 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 Prcetextatus 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 anti-
quity. It must have been arranged quite early in the second

^ The story of the tomb of S. CeciUa and her crypt is told in detail in
the section immediately succeeding this general sketch of the catacombs,
pp. 289-97.

CEMETERY OF PR^TEXTATUS 247

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 examina-
tion : 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 ceme-
tery of Praetextatus 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 Prsetextatus, 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 mart3n:s 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 2eno, have been discovered here. Of these
confessors, Valerian and Tiburtius were respectively the
husband and brother-in-law of S. Cecilia. Zeno^ 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.

1 Further details respecting S. Zeno will be found below, p. 276.

248 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

A yet more famous confessor than any of these, S. Januarius,
the eldest of the seven martyr sons of S. Fehcitas, was buried
in this sacred second-century catacomb of Prsetextatus. The
number of graffiti, the work of pilgrim visitors in the neigh-
bourhood 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 unliappily dis-
figured by the mistaken piety of subsequent generations.^

The personality of Praetextatus, 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 (i)
Apronienus — perhaps the name of the original donor ;

1 Further details respecting the identification ol this once famous shrine
will be found below on pp. 301-2.

CEMETERIES OF THE VIA LABICANA 249

(2) SS. Gordianus and Epimachus ; and (3) S. TertuUinus.
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 Prcenes-
tina, to Palestrina. The Itineraries tell us of two cemeteries
on this road, that of S. Castulus and that of SS. Peter and
MarceUinus. 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 MarceUinus, 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 MarceUinus,
from whom this once celebrated catacomb is named, suffered
in the persecution of Diocletian. S. Peter was in orders
as an exorcist. S. MarceUinus 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 Ouatuor Coronati " were in the first instance
buried here, but their remains were subsequently translated
by Pope Leo iv to the church on the Coelian. 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) innu-
merabiles," etc.

250 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

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 11, to whom he was
attached as deacon. A very general tradition relates that
Laurence suffered on a gridiron. An extraordinary popu-
larity 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 preser-
vation of the precious remains of this once important
catacomb.

Cemetery of S. Hippolytus. — On the same great road.

CEMETERY OF S. HIPPOLYTUS 251

the Via Tiburtina which stretches across the now desolate
Campagna to Tivoh, on the northern side of the road ahnost
opposite the Cemetery of S. Cyriaca on which stands the
Basihca 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 under-
ground 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, am.ong whom S. Genesius is per-
haps 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 i. 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 minis-
terial, to the hfe and teaching of the Saviour Himself, Irenaeus,
of whom he was the pupil, Polycarp, and S. John. This

252 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

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 Peristephanon — the Crowns of
the Mart3'rs — devotes a long poem to the shrine and memory
of Hippolytus.

In the^opening years of the fourth century, when Honorius,

CEMETERY OF S. HIPPOLYTUS 253

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 con-
trived openings cut in the roof above, which bring the bright
rays of the sun into the crypt. Although the recesses twist-
ing 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 through-
out 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

254 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

of religion gathers into one vast crowd both Latins and
strangers." — Translated from Prudentius, " Peristephanon,"
Passion of S. Hippolytus.

The close proximity of the Cemetery and Basihca 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 abscond!
Roma, tam non potest abscondi Laurentii corona." In the
prayer of the oldest Roman sacramentary we read, " De beati
solemnitate Laurentii, peculiaris prae ceteris Roma laetatur."
" 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. Laur-
ence 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 Peristephanon.

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. Aries possesses a

CEMETERY OF S. HIPPOLYTUS 255

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
" Coemeterium 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.

(i) Cemetery of S. Nicomedes. — This is only a small cata-
comb, 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

256 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

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 Httle 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 ; JMarucchi 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 praediolo 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 Constan-
tine 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

CEMETERY OF S. AGNES 257

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 founda-
tions 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 mart}T S.
Emerentiana, were placed in a silver sarcophagus or urn. This
was seen in the year i go 1-2, when some work beneath the
altar was being carried out.

(3) The Coemeterium 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 resume of Marucchi's
arguments, which are most weighty, will be given when the
Cemetery of Priscilla is described.

The glory of this cemetery (Coemeterium 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. Emeren-
tiana, who for her devotion to her foster-sister Agnes suffered

258 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

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 " Coemeterium 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 repro-
duction 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

CEMETERY OF S. FELICITAS 259

with which the story of Fehcitas 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 Prastextatus, 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
Jordan! 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 ill translated the remains of the mother
and her son Silanus to the Church of S. Suzanna.^ There
they are still resting.

After the translation of its precious relics, the cemetery

' The Church of S. Suzanna has a strildng 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 martjTdom
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.

26o THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

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 cata-
comb 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 " Ccemeterium 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.

CEMETERY OF THE JORDANI 261

S. Gregory of Tours, in his De Gloria 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 Chris-
tian worshippers were thus buried alive. The bodies were
found, as Gregory of Tours relates, and with them the euchar-
istic 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 httle 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 httle window
looking on this moving scene was shown to pilgrims of his
day and tim.e.

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

262 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

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 archaeologist
here. They are S. Pudentiana on the Viminal Hill, S. Pras-
sedis on the Esquiline, and S. Priscilla (S. Prisca) on the
Aventine. Of these S. Priscilla is no doubt the lineal descend-
ant 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 weU-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 dedi-
cated. S. Zeno suffered in the reign of Claudius (Gothicus),
A.D. 268-70. He is buried in a crypt in the Cemetery of
Praetextatus. S. Zeno is caUed in one of the Itineraries
" The Brother of the S. Valentinus of the Catacomb on the

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CEMETERY OF S. PRISCILLA 263

Flaminian Way." This famous chapel contains one of the
great rehcs 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 stiU shown where S. Prassedis probably buried the remains
of mart^Ts ; a similar well exists in the sister church of
S. Pudentiana.

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 hospitahty to S. Peter. Itj
is mentioned in inscriptions of the fourth century'. SiriciusJ
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 ! under-
gone many restorations since ; but it still preserves a magni-
ficent 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 \dth 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 stor>' of the founda-
tion of this very early Church of S. Pudentiana ; the majority
of scholars, however, while acknowledging their great anti-
quity, hesitate to receive these " Acts " as belonging to the

264 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

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 com-
pletes the story. We give a portion of this :

" Pudens went to his Saviour leaving his daughters, strength-
ened 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 Pontihcalis (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. . . .

CEMETERY OF S. PRISCILLA 265

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." ^

To sum up the general tradition, which the recent investi-
gations 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 be-
longed 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

1 In two of the MSS. of the second edition or Recension of the Liber
Pofitificalis under the account of Pope Pius i (a.d. 142-57), we find the follow-
ing note, which contains much of the substance of the above extract from the
"Acts" of SS. Pudentianae et Praxedis above quoted: "Hie (Pins) ex
rogatu beate Praxedis dedicavit ecclesiam thermas Novati, in vico Patricii,
in honore sororis sue sanetse Potentianje (Pudentiana;), ubi et multa dona
obtuUt ; 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."

266 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

probability that Aquila was a freedman or client of Pudens,
and that Aquila and his wife Priscilla were intimately con-
nected with the noble family we have been speaking of, Pris-
cilla, 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 m.any 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 v/ere 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 sub-
sequently known as S. Sylvester. ^

^ See on p. 272, where details are given of the translation of these con-
fessors 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.

IN THE CATACOMB OK 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 I HE GOOD SHEPHERD WITH A

GOAT ON HIS SHOULDERS

CEMETERY OF S. PRISCILLA 267

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 cata-
combs 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 "Ccemeterium ad Nymphas heati Petri tibi haptizaverat."
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 phrase-
ology 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

268 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

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 cr3^pt, 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
hom_e ; 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 pilgrim.s 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

CRYPT OF THE ACILII GLABRIONES 269

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 " (" moUtores
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 aristo-
cratic group in Rome which accepted the faith of Jesus, a

270 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

group of which so Httle is known, and whose very existence
hitherto has been generally questioned ; and these, recog-
nizing 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 insigni-
ficant 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 Itahan
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 hypo-
thesis.

The Basilica of S. Sylvester, of which we shall speak pre-
sently, 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

CEMETERY OF S. PRISCILLA 271

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 " ccemeterium
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 identi-
fied the Ccemeterium 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 sepul-
chral 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 care-
fully planned of all the cemeteries of subterranean Rome
that have been yet examined.

His words here are remarkable, and must be quoted : " On
pent dire sans exaggeration, que c'est la region cem^teriale
la plus vaste et la plus reguliere de toute la Rome souterraine."

The masonry used in its construction ; its many inscrip-
tions on the locuh, 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.

272 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

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 appella-
tion " 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 accom-
modation of pilgrims and members of the Roman congrega-
tions 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. Syl-
vester 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 suc-
cessor 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 Vigihus, 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

H O

BASILICA OF S. SLYVESTER 273

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.

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 Basihca of S. Sylvester, until the great trans-
lation 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
18

274 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

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 basiUca 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,
liowever, 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

CEMETERIES OF S. HERMES AND S. VALENTINUS 275

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 Cata-
comb ; 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 inter-
esting 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 subter-
ranean cemeteries. Little is known of the confessor and

276 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

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 excava-
tions, but the tufa in this place was too hard and did not
lend itself to the formation of galleries. Corridors were ex-
cavated 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 mart}^: which became the public cemetery, but it has
been only very partially examined ; nmch 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
mart3n-s 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 Pras-
textatus 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 etj^mological 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. Flavins 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 mem-
bers 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, slie
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 cen-
turies. To give an example. As kite as the close of the

277

278 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

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 prseclari 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 con-
tained 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 un-
known 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 illus-
trious Hneage 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 modern 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 rever-
ence 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. PetroniUa. 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 WTiepstead,
Bury St. Edmunds. A yet more remarkable historical refer-
ence appears in " Leland's Itinerary," an official writing.

STORY OF S. PETRONILLA 279

be it understood, which dates circa a.d. 1539-40. Leland,
writing of Osric, somewhile king of Northiimbria, 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 Prankish
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 imper-
fectly christianized Angle-land (England).

In the " Historia Monasterii S. Petri Gloucestriae," a docu-
ment, 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 Glou-
cester, 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 Glou-
cester 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 sanctse Petronillae, in
Aquilonari parte ejusdem monasterii."

Professor Freeman quaintly comments here as follows :
"It is certain that there was a church of some kind, a pre-
decessor, 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

5. Peter's Tomb.— While Pope Paul v's task of destroying
and rebuilding the eastern end of old S. Peter's (the work

28o THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

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 neces-
sary to construct deep and extensive foundations. It was
in the digging out and building up of these substructures

S. PE'IKRS, kOMK— IHK CONFI>>1m\. :i;, I AKR-liURMNd LAMl'S ARK IN
FRONT OF THK ENTRANCK TO THK APOSTLES TOMB

TOMB OF S. PETER 281

in the immediate vicinity of the apostle's tomb that the re-
markable discoveries we are about to relate were made.

The account from which we quote is virtually a semi-
official proces-verbal, and was compiled by an eye-witness

Ubaldi, a canon of S. Peter's, who was present when the dis-
coveries 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 com.paratively recently. They were found ^ by one of
the keepers of these archives, and have been published lately
by Professor Armellini.

Before, however, giving the extracts from Ubaldi 's memor-
anda 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
balddchino were carried out close to the tomb in ques-
tion.

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

^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 (ist 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.

282 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

showed above ground ; it is no doubt the " Tropseum "
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 Liher
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 unfre-
quently permitted in the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth
centuries. Such objects after they had touched the cofhn
were esteemed as most precious relics.

In addition to these works in the two chambers, the Em-
peror 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

TOMB OF S. PETER 283

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 founda-
tion 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 com-
menced, 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 summ.ary of what apparently was dis-
covered 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 m
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

284 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

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 pri-
vilege 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 coflfins 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 ftrst 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 care-
fully 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.

TOMB OF S. PETER 285

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 Naz-
ianzen wonderfully says — " ... a suitable and capacious
grave was constructed " (close to the spot) " and there rein-
terment 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 cereis Columnis {of the bal-
dachino of Bernini) ab Urhano viii — super hac fornice
erectis, hie 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. Peter's 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

286 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

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 rem-
nants, 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

TOMB OF S. PETER 287

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, H3'giniis,
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 fu"st 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. 316) 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 excava-
tions 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.

288 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

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 w-ere 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. Ceciha and its recent discovery, and the
identification of the burial-places of S. FeHcitas and
her seven sons, have been selected to be told here as specially
interesting examples of the historical and theological im-
portance of these investigations among the forgotten ceme-
teries of subterranean Rome.

Allard's words in his edition of Northcote and Brownlow's
exhaustive resume of a portion of De Rossi's monumental work,
deserve quoting. Writing of S. Cecilia, he says :

" Les decouvertes modernes I'ont bien vengee du scepticisme
ou de la prudence excessive de Tillemont : on sait aujourd'hui
que Sainte Cecile n'est ni un my the, ni une martyre venue de
Sicile, mais une vraie Romaine, du plus par sang romain ; sa
noble et gracieuse figure est decidement sortie des brumes de la
legende pour entrer dans le plein jour de I'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.

290 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

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
the.se 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 subse-

CRYPT OF S. CECILIA 291

quently became part of the great Cemetery of Callistus. The
mart>T was interred evidently in a vault or crypt which
belonged to her illustrious family ; several inscriptions belong-
ing to Christian members of the gens Csecilia have been found
in the immediate vicinity of S. Cecilia's grave. Less than a
quarter of a century after her martvTdom, the subterranean
cemetery in which the Csecihan 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 earhest 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 done pas sainte Cecile qui fut enterree parmi
les Papes, c'est elle au contraire qui lit aux Papes du IH'""
siecle les honneurs de sa demeure funebre." (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 somicwhat later " redactor "
is manifest, for the cemetery only obtained its title of " Cal-
listus " 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. Ceciha's crypt
was among the popular sanctuaries specially cared for by
Pope Damasus, much of whose work is still, in spite of centuries

292 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

of neglect, clearly visible. Damasus' work here was by no
means confined to decoration, but included elaborate arrange-
ments 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 con-
structive 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 succes-
sive 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 cliurch 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-authen-
ticated story of the finding of the body b}' 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 Lihcr Pontificalis makes no mention of any special

CRYPT OF S. CECILIA 293

reason for this investigation, there is no doubt but that the
restoration work which was being carried on at the basihca
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," subse-
quently copied by William of Malmesbury several centuries later.

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 ^ 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,

1 The text of the Liher Pontificalis mentions the Cemetery of Prsetextatus
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. CeciUa had been removed from its original resting-place in the Crypt
of S. CalHstus, and had been secretly placed for safety's sake in the Cemetery
of Prstextatus. De Rossi, however, and later Marucchi. believe that the
Cemetery of Praetextatus, through an error in the Liber Pontificalis, had been
written for " Cemetery of Callistus."

294 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

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 crj'pt
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.^

^ 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 torepresent 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 pecuUar 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

CRYPT OF THE BASILICA OF S. CECILIA 295

The second sarcophagus found by Cardinal Sfondrati in
the crypt of the Church of S. Ceciha 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 " plumbatse " — leathern or metal thongs loaded with
lead ; one of these, whicli 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 Praetextatus 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 archaeologist
was sure that somewhere in the immediate vicinity of the
sepulchral chamber of the Popes or Bishops of Rome of the

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, Ceciha 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 Ceciha of Mademo.

There is another rephca 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.

296 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

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 ^ 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 mart}^.

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 Liher 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 Csecilia " who had been
buried there — all testifying to the fact that originally this

^ A " luminare " (plural " luminaria ") was a shaft communicating with the
surface of the ground wliich admitted light and air. ]\Iany of these were
constructed by Pope Damasus in the fourth century for the sake of pilgrims
visiting the historic crypts.

CRYPT OF S. CECILIA 297

portion of the great group of the so-called " Callistus " Cata-
comb 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.^

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 BasiHca 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.

1 In support of tliis conclusion, above ground, over this area of the great
"Callistus" Cemetery, important Columbaria have been found belonging to
the " gens CsciUa." Thus long before S. Ceciha's time the spot had been
evidently the burying-place of the illustrious house to which she belonged.

298 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

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.

Ill

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 histor}^ 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 ^ in the days of the P2mperor 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

^ The eldest of the " seven " was the well-known S. Januarius.

STORY OF S. FELICITAS 299

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 informiation 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 proces-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 miagistrate 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

300 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

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 sen-
tences were confirmed by the Emperor, and sternly carried out.

Felicitas and her seven sons suffered martyrdom,^ and
through pain and agon}' 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. Aube 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 proces-verhal.

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,

^ 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.

GRAVES OF THE SEVEN SONS OF S. FELICITAS 301

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
Prsetextatus 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,! and Felicissimus refresh (the soul of . . .)."

i^Agapitus is so spelt in the rough grafEte here referred to.

302 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

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 subse-
quently 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 v/as discovered —
in Marucchi's words, " on y reconnut aussit6t le tombeau de S'^
Felicite." 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 : " Ilia 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

GRAVES OF THE SEVEN SONS OF S. FELICITAS 303

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. Fehx 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 Fehcitas, namely, SS. Alex-
ander, 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 " Alex-
ander, 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 Ccemeterium Jordani)
" S. Alexander et S. Vitahs, sanctusque Martialis qui sunt tres
de septem filiis Felicitatis . . . jacent." William of Malmes-
bury 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

304 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

(a.d. 590-604) to Theodelinda the Lombard Queen), the
names of Fehcitas and six of her martyred sons occur.

In the " Pittacia " or labels they are grouped topographic-
ally 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, how-
ever, 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 ceme-
teries 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

GRAVES OF S. FELICITAS AND HER SEVEN SONS 305

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 milhons, 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 sena-
torial 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 fife, for the Name's sake, and who,
because they professed unswerving faith in the divine Son of

3o8 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

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 ob-
servable. 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.

EPITAPHS IN THE CATACOMBS 309

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, telHng 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 con-
viction of the reality of the future life.

The epitaphs speak of the dead as though they were still
hving. 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. Some-
times 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.

310 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

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 t%^u? —
each letter of which refers closely to the Saviour : (t) Jesus,
(x) Christ, (6) God, [v) the Son, (<?) 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."

^.ess^^ii • ( >

Hit-'

'HHj.^. j

-I <

i 5

EPITAPHS IN THE CATACOMBS 311

" Matronata — who lived a year and 32 days — Pray for

thy parents."
" Bolosa — may God refresh thee — In Christ."
" Sweet Faustina — mayest thou Kve in God."
" Peace to thy soul, Oxycholis."
" Agape, thou shalt Hve 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.

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 medireval
Church from very early times taught that the prayers of great
saints possessed a pecuhar 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 shaU presently quote some of
S. Augustine's views here.

312 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

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 beheved 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 com-
munion, 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 mart}^: 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 .^

The point, however, which especially concerns us here is
the testimony, repeated many thousand times, which the

' S. Augustine in the first quarter of the fifth century, circa a.d. 421, in
reply to a question addressed to him by S. PauUnus 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 resume of some of
S. Augustine's thoughts and arguments will be found in a short Appendix
to this chapter.

EPITAPHS IN THE CATACOMBS 313

catacombs bear to the perfect confidence of the early Christians
in the continuance of hfe beyond the grave. To the faithful
dead— to the behevers 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 hfe 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 con-
veyed in the quiet sadness of i;hat 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."

314 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

Here an inscription on a young woman's grave mourns
her early death : "I hft 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." Fre-
quently 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, " f or I am in darkness and cannot answer."

Ill

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 ! Wliat 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

EPITAPHS IN THE CATACOMBS 315

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 Irenaeus, 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 hved the beautiful hfe 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 wxitings,
and accepted the teaching of the early Christian teachers,
and believing, struggled to lead the hfe 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.

3i6 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

The catacomb inscriptions and pictures, besides their
overwhelming testimony to the behef 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 beheved, 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 enumera-
tion 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 wliich form the Greek word

EPITAPHS IN THE CATACOMBS 317

Ichthus, as we have explained, being the initials 1 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 precis, 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 numer-
ous 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, joyfuUy 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

1 The initial letters of the Redeemer's names and principal titles (in Greek)
made up the word ixdvz or fish. Thus :

IHCOTC = Jesus.
XPICTOC = Christ.
0EOT = of God.
YIOC = Son.
CJITHP = Saviour.

3i8 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

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 genera-
tion 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.^

A great and eloquent writer ^ 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

^See especially Heb. xiii. 20 ; i Pet. ii. 25-v. 4 ; S. Luke, xv. 4, 7, and
above all S. John x. 11, 16.

2 Dean Stanley of Westminster, Christian Institutions, chaps, xiii., xiv.

PICTURES IN THE CATACOMBS 319

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 em-
phatically 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 occasion-
ally 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 beheved in His tender compassion and boundless
charity." ^

This sweet and loving view provoked the indignant remon-
strance of the stern Tertullian {circa a.d. 200). On this harsh

iDean StzxAey (ChvisUan Institutions) calls attention to the curious fact
that the popular reUgion of the first two centuries, as shown in the catacomb
witnesses, ran, in some particulars, in different channels from the contemporary
writers whose rehquiae have been preserved, and also from the paintmgs
and writers of a later period ; for instance, the " Good Shepherd " is very Utile
alluded to even by the writers of the second and third and fourth centuries ;
e.g. Irenseus 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 AngUcan Tliirty-
nine Articles ; none in the Westminster Confession.

320 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

protest of the great African Father TertuUian, Matthew Arnold
founds one of his most touching poems :

"He saves the sheep — the goats He doth not save:
So spake the fierce TertuUian.

But she sighed:
Tlie 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 subter-
ranean 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 (i Kings xiii. 31) down to King John, who is said
to have requested that he might be interred at Worcester
directed between the bodies of SS. Oswald and Wulfstan.

S. Augustine's De curd pro mortuis gerendd is a peculi-
arly interesting treatise. The great bishop discusses at some
length this question, and his words throw considerable side-
light 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 mart3.TS 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 righteouslv, to be buried close to a saint

21 3" ■

322 THE ROMAN CATACOMBS

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 neigh-
bourhood. (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 know-
ledge," curiously added the great thinker and loving theo-
logian.

BOOK V

THE JEW AND THE TALMUD

3»3

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 sub-
sequent 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 M'ho 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 catas-
trophes, 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

325

326 THE JEW AND THE TALMUD

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 wander-
ings, 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 Pum-
beditha — schools devoted to the study of the Torah (the
Law) and the other books of the Old Testament, were co-
incident 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 ?

INTRODUCTORY 327

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 under-
gone 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 centring 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 rehgious 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 re-
spects 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 Judaea ; 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 :

(i) The Sadducees and Herodians, who occupied most of
the high offices and the priesthood.

(2) The Pharisees. Strict Jews, loving with a devoted

330 THE JEW AND THE TALMUD

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 chque (or sect), and a confused
medley of disorderh' 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

se'if

J-- '^*:

rn^'k':

'//^i//- ly 1/ 1/ 1^ 1/ I' \/ I' 1/ 1 1/ . L^' t . , ■ .

THE TEMPLE, JERUSALEM— THE HOLY PLACE BEKORK ITS DESTKUC
BY TITUS, A.D. 70

TION

THE BURNING OF THE TEMPLE, a.d. 70 331

laid siege to the Holy City, where the Zealots had established
what can only be termed a reign of terror.

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
S5n:ia.

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 Jewdsh 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,^ 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

1 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.

332 THE JEW AND THE TALMUD

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 ^ the bmrning 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 ex-
aggeration 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, kno^^•n as iEha CapitoHna, 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.

^ Talmud (Bab.), treatise " Gittin," 56A.

THE BURNING OF THE TEMPLE, a.d. 70 333

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 ^ by an
eagle. Still the carved representation of the sacred candle-
stick 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 ^ 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 sacri-
fice, 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

1 The arch was completed by Domitian after the death of Titus.

2 The golden reUcs 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 tliis 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 stiU available for use,

334 THE JEW AND THE TALMUD

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 suc-
ceeded 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.
1 16-7. 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 simul-
taneous 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 insurrect on 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 out-
numbered and out-generalled. Two of the most distinguished

THE LAST GREAT WARS OF THE JEWS 335

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 undisciplhied 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 hfe in Alexandria, Egypt, and Cyprus seems to have
been equally terrible. But even granted that the numbers of
Jews who perished in this fanatical rebelUon 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, distin-
guished 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 hfe 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 vari-
ously 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 cir-
cumcision apparently was forbidden. But the immediate
cause of the Jewish uprising no doubt was the steady progress

336 THE JEW AND THE TALMUD

made in the building of the new city, ^lia CapitoHna, 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
Judaea 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 contem-

THE LAST WAR OF THE JEWS, a.d. 134-5 337

porary 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 country-
men. 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 Judsea. 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 an}^ so-called
pitched battle, but advanced gradually, attacking and be-
sieging each of the rebel garrisons, thus gradual^ 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 niunbers are considerably
exaggerated. Judaea, however, there is no doubt, especially
in the southern districts, became hterally 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
22

338

THE JEW AND THE TALMUD

country indicates that some terrible catastrophe has at some
distant period passed over the land.^

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.^

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

^ The authorities for the details of tliis terrible and protracted war are
Dion Cassius and the notices in the Talmud, especially in the treatise " Gittin."

^ But these numbers, as we have stated, although derived from contem-
porary authorities, are evidently very much exaggerated.

WHAT WAS RABBINISM ? 339

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 wTitten 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 com-
mitted it to the Elders ; the Elders committed it to the Pro-
phets ; 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 Tabnudic tradition, is said to have lived 100 years

340 THE JEW AND THE TALMUD

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 Syna-
gogue," 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 dis-
tinguished 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 contem-
porary history is too scanty for us to describe this relation
in the treatise " Pirke Aboth," which thus connects the Mish-
nah 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

=3 I

< >

—> X

RABBINISM TAKES THE PLACE OF MOSAISM 341

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.

What happened in the year a.d. 70 had a tremendous effect
on the life of tlie 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 speakingwascommenced,
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 tlie
earHest elaborators of the Mishnah/ tlie first and oldest part
of the famous Talmud.

1 What the Mishnah was will be explained below (p. 35S), where a general
description of the Talmud is given.

342 THE JEW AND THE TALMUD

III

{b) RABBINISM

What Rabbinism and its Book, the Talmud, did for
THE Jewish People

Historical summary of events leading up to the com-
pilation 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 expecta-
tion 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, essenti-
ally 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.

THE RABBIS AFTER a.d. 70 343

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.^

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 " pro-
phets " 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 " Hala-
chah.""^ 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 every-
day 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,^ 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

1 These singular assertions will be found in the Mishnah, in the Talmudic
treatises of the Sanhedrim and the Baba-Bathra.

2 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).

3 These Scribes, their position and means of livelihood, are discussed more
fully below on p. 350.

344 THE JEW AND THE TALMUD

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
tlie 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 sacri-
fice 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 ^ —
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 be-
longed 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 them-
selves 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 com-
menting upon and explaining the Halachah (rules) and
Haggadah (traditions) of the Mishnah ; these further com-
ments and explanations are known as the Gemara.

This second part of the Talmud, known as " Gemara," ^
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 commentmg 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
^ The Mishnah and the Gemara are explained in detail below on p. 358.

THE TALMUD-WHAT IT WAS 345

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 Tahnud, containing theMishnah
and Gemara, which has come down to us fairly intact, fills
some twelve large foho volumes, and covers no less tlian
2947 foho 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 isAmoraim.

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 com-
pilation 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 Tahnud teaching.

346 THE JEW AND THE TALMUD

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 ?
WTiat 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

THE TALMUD— ITS POWER AMONG THE JEWS 347

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 com-
plete 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 extrava-
gances, 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 instnimcnt
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 1 who loved with a love passionate, though not always
discriminating, this vast wondrous compilation which has so

1 Dr. Emanuel Deutsch.

348 THE JEW AND THE TALMUD

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. Wlrat 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

HALACHAH (RULE) AND HAGGADAH (TRADITION) 349

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 I^w of expkma-
tion 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, ahnost 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 tlie oral
Law, much of the ancient Halachah, the traditions, the sacred
expositions which make up the Haggadah, were kept ahve by
teachers, in the first instance by the men who had been trained
in the schools of the prophets. Then after the return from exUe
the study of all these treasured memories— some, as we have
akeadysuggested,possibly dating from thedaysof Moses— which
surrounded the now precious Law, received a new development.
The Law. the Halachah, the traditions generaUy known as

350 THE JEW AND THE TALMUD

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.^

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 in-
cluded study, meditation, exposition, investigation, inquiry.
The men of the " Return from Exile " who devoted them-
selves 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

^ The period here referred to extended from the return from the Captivity
— the days of Ezra — roughly until the Christian era.

THE HALACHAH AND HAGGADAH 351

(rules, customs) ; the second (the poetry), Haggadah (tradi-
tion and legend, including parable, allegory, lessons) .1

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 \ast
bulk of teaching, largely unwritten, traditional, and legend; iry,
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
roand 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 pro-

1 At the close of this Fifth Book is a short general description of " Hagga-
dah." See, too, in the Appendix for a further description of Haggadah and
Halachah.

352 THE JEW AND THE TALMUD

mised 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 pro-
ceeded 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 Ever-
lasting, 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 sur-
vived 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

THE RABBINIC SCHOOLS 353

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 wonder-
fully 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 rem-
nant 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 Uttle 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

354 THE JEW AND THE TALMUD

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 explana-
tions 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 recog-
nized as the promised Messiah.

The answer perhaps is that Akiba, in common with others

RABBI AKIBA 355

of the new school of Rabbinism. which aimed at restoring
the fallen Judaism by means of an enthusiastic devotion to
the Divme 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 Tahnud e.xecrates
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 accom-
panied 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.^

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 ex-
planation and elaborate discussions in the academies of the
traditional Halachah or oral comments on the Law of Moses.

' 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.

356 THE JEW AND THE TALMUD

He was virtually the first ^ who attempted to codify and
arrange the vast accumulation of these Halachah and Hag-
gadah, 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) ^ ; 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 codifi-
cation may be dated about the years a.d. 200-19, or there-
abouts.

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 ^ commentaries
compiled in the schools of Palestine and Babylonia ^ 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,'*
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 earher, 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

1 The preliminary work of Hillel in this direction of arranging and codifying
seems not to have been carried on.

2 " Haggadah," as the better -known word, is substituted for the more
accurate plural form " Haggadoth."

* 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.

* The Palestinian Gemara was closed nearly a century and a half before
the Babylonian Gemara was completed.

RABBI MEIR AND RABBI JUDAH HA-NASI 357

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 prohibi-
tion, 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 I>aw, 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 teacn 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.^ 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.

1 The Rabbinic school of Sura was founded by Rab, one of the most
important pupils of R. Judah Ha-Nasi (Rabbi).

358 THE JEW AND THE TALMUD

This invariable method of teaching in the Rabbinical schools
was the origin of the term Mishnah (repetition).^

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.

1 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, wliich
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," " Mid-
doth," 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 Mislmah 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.

PICTURE OF A RABBINICAL SCHOOL AT SURA 359

A most interesting picture of the inner life and organiza-
tion of the Rabbinical schools or academies in which the
Talmud was slowly and deliberately composed is given in the
vast and scholarly Jewish Encyclopc-edia (completed in the
year 1906). A very brief precis 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 tlie 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 academ-
ical 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

36o THE JEW AND THE TALMUD

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 dis-
cussed 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 com-
mentary, 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 MASSORAH— WHAT IT IS 361

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 sufiicicnt 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 WTitings 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 canonicahvritings,
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. Tlie 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 " Masai,
to give something into the hand of another so as to commit it

362 THE JEW AND THE TALMUD

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 effectu-
ally 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 hne 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 ^ 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

^ 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 tliis saying to
" tradition " generally, and they understand the word Massorah as correlative
to " Kabbala " (tradition in general), such as is embodied in the Mishnah.

THE MASSORAH 363

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 Kttle 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 WTite 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

364 THE JEW AND THE TALMUD

gathering the different Massoretic notes for the monumental
work on which he is engaged.

The mass of material put together by successive genera-
tions 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." (San-
hedrim, 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

INSPIRATION ACCORDING TO THE TALMUD 365

was given to Moses by God complete at once, or handed to
him by volumes. (Gittin 60a.)

In course of time Divine inspiration was taught as belong-
ing 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 pro-
phesy 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." ^

The Talmud contains a somewhat similar curious teaching
as regards " Miracles " — the course of creation was not dis-
turbed by them, they were all primarily existing, as well as
pre-ordained. They w^ere " 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 com-
plain 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 byname. 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.

1 " 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 expUcitly to Moses."— P»>Ae 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."

366 THE JEW AND THE TALMUD

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 Canter-
bury (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 ignor-
ant prejudice with which Christian men regarded this wonder-
ful 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 com-
munity, 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 Rabbi nism 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.

TALMUD TEACHING DIFFERS FROM CHRIST'S 367

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.^ 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. i.) "The world was created
only for Israel ; none are called the children of God but
Israel, none are beloved before God but Israel." (Gcrim.)

1 " 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 are never alluded to as occupying an inferior place. See
below, p. 380, for a further note on the position of women.

368 THE JEW AND THE TALMUD

" Three things did Moses ask of God " : — i. " 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. i.)

Such teachings as these from the Talmud might be multi-
plied indefinitely.

The Authority and Influence of the Talmud
ON Judaism

The influence of the Talmud on Judaism has been measure-
less.

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 oat 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 ; be-
tween 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 Tabnud 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

INFLUENCE OF THE TALMUD 369

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 Chris-
tianity 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 civiliza-
tion.

Among these great ones issuing from the Jews of no one
land, and who form a numerous band, it is diihcult 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 tlie so-called dark
mediaeval period : —

Raschi . . a.d. circa 1 040-1 105
Maimonides . „ „ 1 135-1204
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 in-
definitely.

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.

370 THE JEW AND THE TALMUD

The Influence of the Talmud on Chrlstianity

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 in-
fluenced 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 Testa-
ment 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 Talm.ud,
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. ^

^ Renan recognizes the service rendered by the Talmudical Rabbis to
Christianity, but while acknowledging this, curiously limits it to the preserva-
tion of the Hebrew text of the Old Testament Scriptures, which he tliinks
would probably have been lost but for the labours of the Rabbis of the Talmud
— he characterizes this as " un service du i*' ordre." To him the Hebrew

THE HAGGADAH 371

VII
(A) AN APPENDIX ON THE "HAGGADAH"

Before closing this little sketch of the Tabnud 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 Taknud ; 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 Uves 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,

Old Testament is an incomparable monument of Iiistory, arcliacology,
and philology. The deeper signification of these sacred records, which
in the hearts of earnest Christians constitutes their exceeding predousness.
finds little place, alas, in the cheerless conception of the brilhant French
scholar.

372 THE JEW AND THE TALMUD

were written down * 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 develop-
ment 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 " Hag-
gadah " 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 Penta-
teuch, 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 homihes inculcating
religious truths and moral maxims, into disquisitions on the
past and future glories of Israel ; roughly speaking, the " Hag-
gadah " 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

* While it is generally acknowledged that the decisions arrived at in con-
nection 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.

THE HAGGADAH-EXAMPLES OF 373

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

374 THE JEW AND THE TALMUD

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 up-
borne. 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 chrysohtes, gems, and

THE HAGGADAH— EXAMPLES OF

375

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
imto this day."

jv-v

:c2

He, watch-ing o - ver Is - ra - el, slum-bers not, nor sleeps.
{From Mendelssohn's Oratorio, " Elijah.")

VIII
(J5) ON THE " HALACHAH " AND " HAGGADAH "

We would add a few words further explanatory of the
Halachah. The Halachic Midrash (or exegesis and develop-
ment 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 con-
tains 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

376

ON THE HALACHAH AND HAGGADAH 377

various offerings. The Halachah might fairly be caUed 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 gener-
ally 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 wTitings.

But even in the Pentateuch, narrative and history occupy
a wide space, and in the Pentateuch Midrash we fmd too a
mass of Haggadic commentary on the narrative and historic
portions of the five Books of Moses.

Here the " Book of Jubilees " (century i) may be quoted
as a striking instance of early Haggadic Midrash or exegesis
of Scripture. It reproduces the Book of Genesis, and curi-
ously 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— (i) 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.

378 THE JEW AND THE TALMUD

(6) The famous Shamir, the worm which sphts stones, tradi-
tionally used in the making of the Tabernacle and its furniture.

(7) The Rod of Moses. (8) Alphabetic writing. (9) The writ-
ing 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 Hag-
gadic 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 pas-

ON THE HALACHAH AND HAGGADAH 379

sages ; 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 i Cor. x. 4, where the rock
from which, at Moses' bidding, the water gushed forth is repre-
sented as positively accompanying the Irsaelites 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 ^ 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 separa-
tion— 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.

^ See on page 367 for further details on the position held by women in Israel.

380

INDEX

"Aboth," treatise, 358 n. i

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. i

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. i

Acts of S, Cecilia, in the light of cata-
comb discoveries, 289 et seq.

Acts of S. Hei-vies, 274

Acts of Martyrdom, or Acts and Passions
of the Martyrs, archso-
logical and literaiy corro-
boration of, 81, 82, 94 i^;/. I
Critical estimates of, 81 ^nn., 82,

258
Few in early days, 33, 35, 48, 53
Pagan contempt shewn in, 158
Value of, in exploring Cata-
combs, 226
on Numbers of Christians, 1 04
on Persecutions, 163

Acts of the Martyred Staves, 136

Acts of the Passion of S. Felicitas, 299 ;
authenticity of, 300, 304

Acts of Pastor and Timotheus, tradi-
tion in, on Pudens and his
family, 263-5

Acts of S. Valentinus, 276

/Elia Capitolina, site of, 77 ; insults at,
to Christians, 78 ; results of
building, 332, 335-6 et seq.

JEWus Verus, adopted by Hadrian, 83

^neas, piety of, 87

yEneid, teaching of, 88

Africa (see Carthage, see also Egypt),
Christian congregations in,
mid-second century, 36

Agaunum (S. Maurice), Martyrdom
legend concerning, 148 n. i

Agrippa, builder of Pantheon por-
tico, 280

Akiba, Rabbi, eminence of, and of his
pupils, 337, 354-6
Fate of, 355 <^n, i
Supporter of Bar-cochab, 78, 336-7
on Massorah, 362 «. i

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 «. 2

Alexandrian-Jewish influences in Re-
velation of S. John, 72

Allard, — , on Acilius Glabrio, 269 ; on
Archaeolog}- as rehabilitating
legend, 289 ; on Jewish
fecundity, first century, in
Rome, 5 w. I ; on the Jews
in the Augustan age, 4 ;
on Nero's persecution and
popular disgust, 42 «, 2 ;
on the Martyrdom of the
Theban legion, 148 //. i ;
on Pliny's letter, 46 ; on
S. Peter's arrival in Rome,
19 n. I ; on Trajan's person-
ality, 48
Translation by, of the Epitaph of
Pope Damasus, 215 w. i

Almsgiving, in the early Church, 113,
119-22, 123, 130 et seq.,

138, 139
America, Civil War of, cause of, 135 //. I
Amoraim, the, 345, 358 n. 1, 359
Amphitheatre games, horrors of, 50 ;

Martyrdoms in, no, 172,

175-6 ; training of Christians

for, 198
Ampliatus, Chapel or Crypt of, Domi-

tilla Cemetery, 240
Tomb of, identification of, 241-2

381

382

THE EARLY CHRISTIANS IN ROME

Anacletus, Pope, cemetery of, 287 ;
discoveries in, seventeenth
century, 280 et seq.
Memorice erected by, over tombs of
SS. Peter and Paul, 233,
237, 281 et seq.
Ananias and Sapphira, gift of, volun-
tary, 120 n. I
Anchor, as Christian Emblem, 310
Angels, Haggadic references to, 378, 379
Animals, wild, in amphitheatre games,
exposure to, of Christians,
&c., 175-6, 17S, 183, 185,
187, 191, 203, 204, 269
Anniversaries of Martyrs, first cele-
brated, 35
Antioch {see also Ignatius), literary
support from, of Petrine
tradition, 9, 13
Antipas, martyr, 169
Antonines, the {see also Antoninus Pius
awrf Marcus Aurelius), reigns
of, 63, characteristics of, 84
et seq. ; table of succession
of, 83
Antomns, Les, by De Champagny, on
Hadrian's character, 77 11. i ;
on the number of Jews
slain in the last wars, 338
er'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, ignor-
ance 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 Perse-
cution, 37, 157, 165, 167-70
Apologies, The, of Justin Martyr,
128, 184
on Assemblies, 108, 1 13-4
on Persecution, 185-6
Apology of Aristides, on Burial of the
dead by Christians, 132,
133 ; on Christian charity,
124 dr=n. I, 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 TertuUian, and the Octavius
of Minucius Felix, 186

Apostasy, encouraged by Roman rulers,
I95» 197 ; Hermas on, 181 ;
results of, 197, 203 ; some
causes, 201
Apostolical Constitutions, The, on
Almsgiving, 122 ; on Hos-
pitality, 128

Apostolic leathers, writings of, cast in
Letter form, 73

Apostolic Fathers, by Lightfoot, cited on
Pliny's Letters, 46 n. I ;
on S. Hippolytus, 251

Apostolic remains, authors and form
of, 73 ; characteristics and
special value of, ib., meant
for publication, 74 07"«. i

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 ds' n. i

Archaeological Relics of S. Peter, Chair,
and place of baptism, 12

Archaeology, witness of, to literature
and tradition {see also Cata-
combs), 17, 19 n. I, Si, 82,
108, 147, 152 n. I, 209 et
seq., 289, 295, 298, 304
to Pagan and Christian views on

Death, 154-5
to Social Status of many early
Christians, 11 1-2

Arenaria, in Jordani catacomb, 260

Aristides, see Apology of, supra

Aristotle, works of, 146

Aries, Church of S. Hippolytus at, 255

Armellini, Prof., on Inscription con-
cerning S. Agnes, 256-7 ;
Ubaldi's memoranda pub-
lished by, 281 ; work of, in
Catacomb exploration, 239

Army, Christians in, 148 S^ n. i

Arnold, Matthew, on the Good Shep-
herd with the Kid, 320

Arsacius, Letter to, from Emperor
Julian, on Christian char-
acteristics, 123 «. I, 128, 131

Arval Brotherhood, College of, 236 ;
M. Aurelius a member,

. 95 «• I
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

INDEX

383

Assemblies, Christian, composition of,

1 10-12, 113, 114, 240, 242

Importance of, loi, evidenced in

literary references, 107-9
Joy in, 155

Places where held {see also Cata-
combs), 139
Proceedings at, various writers died,

ii'i et seq.
References to, in N.T. and later
writerSjChrislian and Pagan,
107 et seq.
Sunday, 108, observance of, Justin

Martyr on, 1 1 3-4
Teaching, doctrines and ritual at, loi,
113 et seq., 124, 126,
128-30, 131-3, 138, 139

Astolphus, 293

Athenagoras, 319 n. i, on Persecu-
tions, 18S-9

Attire, Rigourist teaching on, 153-4

Aube, on the Acts of S. Felicitas, 300 ;
on Domitian's persecution,
42 «. 2 ; on Trajan's Re-
script, 49

Augustus Cfesar, 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 Theo-
philusof 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 «• i
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. i

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, 35S n. I
Bai:e, death at, of Hadrian, 83
Balaam and his ass, Haggadah on, 377,

378
Balbina, tomb of, 247
Baptisteries {see also Wells) in Cata-
combs 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,

B , J^.' 336-7, 354, 355
Barnabas, Epistle of, see Epistles
Barnes, — , cited on Neronic burning
of Christians, 285-6 ; on
S. Peter's tomb, 28 1 ct'w,
et seq.
Baronius, Cardinal, 263, present at
finding of S. Cecilia's
body, 294 ^H. 1 , 297 ; on
S. Petronilla, 277
Basil of Cappadocian Coesarea, 138
Basilicas : —
of S. Lawrence "ad Corpus," Popes
buried in, 250
Domitilla, 278
Prsetextatus, 247
SS. Hermes and Basilissa, 274-5
in Coemeterium Majus, subterran-
ean, 258
in Rome, third century number and

appointments of, 1 12
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 tSr'
«. I, 272
When and why erected, 272
Benson, Archbishop, on S. Cyprian,

122 iS-";/. I, 127 «. I
Bernini, Baldachino by, in S. Peter's,
discoveries on erection of,
233 n. I, 280 et seq.
Bethel, the old prophet of, 321
Bethia, Zealot head-cjuartcrs, 336
" Billicum confessionis," nature of,

that of S. Peter, 237, 282
Bishops and Popes of Rome {see utuier
Names), claim to be suc-
cessors of S. Peter, un-
disputed, 16
Catalogues of, on date of Linus's
accession, 14 ; to Eleu-
therius, 15
Early, buried around S. Peter, sec
Papal Crypt
Bithynia and Pontus, 57, 58, 62

Christians in {see also Pliny's letter),
27, 32, 35"- I. 45''' ■^'''/•.
50. 71. 75. 77. >oi cr-M. 2,
no, 177
Bliss, instant, after Death, Christian
hope of, 156

384 THE EARLY CHRISTIANS IN ROME

" Book of Jubilees," subject-matter of, :
377, 378

Borghesi, Cardinal, 300, re-interment
by, of S. Sebastian, 244

Bosio, — , pioneer of Catacomb explor-
ation, 223-4 ; present at
discovery of S. Cecilia's
body, 294 dr'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 Chris-
tianity, 38, 122-3, 270

Builders, of Basilicas, &c., injury done
by, to Catacombs, 250, 257

Burial customs, Jewish, Christian, and
Pagan, 4, 5, 13 1-3, 264

Bury St. Edmunds, cult of S. Pet-
ronilla in, 278

C^CILIAN family, the, Christians and
martyrs of, burial-place of,
245, 291, 296-7 fir'W. I
CiEcilius, pagan interlocutor in
Odaviiis of Minucius P'elix,
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 «. i
Caius, Presbyter, 282 ; on the
Memorise of the Apostles
in Rome, 11
Caligula, Emperor, and the Imperial

cultus, 42 n. I
Callistus, Bishop or Pope of Rome,
and martyr, once a slave,
136 n. I
Cemetery or Catacomb of, 234, 236-7,
239, 240, 242, 244-6,
251, 261
Inscription of Damasus once in,
on numbers of martyrs,
215 &fn. I
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, lo-ii, 13
Plague at, charity of S. Cyprian
and his flock during, 123

M. I, 127

" Catacombas, ad," see S. Sebastian

Catacombs or Cemeteries, see also
tinder Names of Saints,
(sfCf and under Via, and
see Inscriptions, Itineraries,
and Translation
Decorations of, deductions from, 133,

147, 219, 220, 221
Exploration of —

beginning, 223 &= w. I

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. i, 244
Restorations of, by Pope Damasus,

152 n. I
Teaching in, passim ; on Death,

309-11
Three oldest, 266
Tombs in, passiin
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

£3^ nn.

to Early Christian history and

tradition, 105, 11 1-2, 133,

163 n. I, 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, i
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 &f n. I, 319 n. I
Christian, name treated as crime, 39,
189, 191
Relatives of Emperors, no, 112, 148,

240, 241
Religion, powerful factor in spread
of, 102-3

INDEX

385

Christian — {continued)

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, loi, 208, words

cited, 103-6
on Persecutions, &c., 36, 37, 81, 82,

163-5, 166-7, 177-91. 208 ;

words cited, 1 03-6
Christianity, see also Martyrs, Persecu-
tions, Ssfc.
Early, connection of, with

Judaism, 325
Growth of, 37 et seq., 107, 150

6^ w. I, 151
Importance to, of history of the Jews

after the last Wars, 326

et seq.
of the Talmud, 326, 327, 348,

370 6^«. I
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, loi, 110-12, 148,

240, 241, 291, 296-70 <S^

«. I, 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, 1 54 et seq.
Jewish opposition to, in Rome, 18
Life of, in early days, 33-7, loi

et seq., 78-81, 140 et seq.
Numbers of, and of Martyrs {q.v.),

28, 46«. I, 53,215; witnesses

to, 82 er-w. I, loi, 103-6
Schools of teaching among, two, loi
Christology of the Catacombs, 220; of

S. Paul, 23-4
Chronicles, Book of, Haggadic expan-
sion 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, &>'(.), early
importance of, i6, 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 //. i

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
Padagogus ; cited in support
of Peirine tradition, 10, 13;
on Christians living in the
world, 146 ; on Christians
of wealth, in 6r'n. i

Clement Vlii, Pope, and the find-
ing of S. Cecilia's body,
294. 297 ; and S. Peter's
tomb, 282

Clermont, Sidonius ApoUinaris, bishop
of, 66

Clitumnus fountain, Pliny's description
of, 60

"Clivium Cucumeris, ad," Catacomb
so called, 275

Codex Sinaiticus, The Shepherd of
Hernias included in, 179-80

Coelian Hill, church on. Saints buried
in, 249

"Ccemeterium Majus," chief interest
of, and other names of,
255, 257-8 ; subterranean
church in, 258

Ccemeterium 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, ^I'ii "• 2

Apology of Athenagoras addressed

to, 188
Attitude of, to Christians, 97, 147,
164, 208

386 THE EARLY CHRISTIANS IN ROME

Communion of Saints, early Christian

view on, 307 et seq.
Communism and the early Church,

120 b' n. I, 130
Constantine the Great {^scc 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,
Prretextatus, SS. Cecilia,
Januarius, Priscilla, Silanus,

Age of, how determined, 267
Identification of, by De Rossi, 225,

230 (Sr'w. I, 242
Local indications of presence of, 228-9
Cureton, Canon, and the Ignatian

Epistles, 173 n. i
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. i

Damasus — [continued)

and the INIartyrs at tomb of SS. Chrys-
anthus and Daria, 261

Work of, in the Catacombs, decora-
tion, inscriptions, and epi-
taphs, 152 n. I, 215 ^n. I,
229-30, 249, 252, 275,
291-2, 296 n. I, 297, 302,

305

Daniel, the prophet, and Idol-wor-
ship, 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, 3"
Pagan attitude to, 59 «. i, 83, 313-4

De Boissier, — , on Pliny's letter, 46 ; on
the School for Martyrdom,
198 n. I

De Broglie, — , on Toleration shown
by early Christian teachers,
142-3

De Champagny, — , on Hadrian's char-
acter, 77 71. I ; on number
of Jews destroyed in the last
wars, 338 ex^ n. 2

Decius Aurelius, Emperor, persecutions
under, 40, 97, 163 «. 2, 250,

254, martyrs in, 236, reason
for, 194

Decoration of Catacombs, evidence
from, and teaching of, 225,
267, 268, 269, 292, 301-2,
■^oZetseq. ; 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., Archaeological work of,

209, 239, 246, 260, 261, 267

Excavations and discoveries by, 12,

42, 224, 246, 247, 254, 266

«. I, 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 Ccemeterium Majus as
S. Peter's Baptistery, 257 ; on
Common tombs of martyrs,
215 n. I ; on Crypt of
Lucina, 245 ; on Epitaphs
in the Catacombs, 310 ; on
the " Ostrian " Cemetery,

255, 257 ; on the place of
martyrdom of S. Chrysan-

INDEX

387

De Rossi, G. — {continued)

thus, 260 ; on Pud ens,
265, 270; on S. Cecilia's
burial-place, 289, 291,
292, 293 n. I, 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. Fe-
licitas, 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 few Trypho, by
Justin Martyr, 184, on Per-
secution, 185-6

Diana, worship of, 195

Didachi, the, teachings of, 138, on
Almsgiving, 121, 123, on
Assemblies, 108, on Hos-
pitahty, 128, on Slaves and
Masters, 135

Dill, Prof., cited on Roman wish for
posthumous remembrance,
59 n. I

Diocletian, Emperor, 75
Baths of, 302
Christian relations of, 148
Christians at Court of, 147
Persecutions under, 97, 163 «. 2,
236, 244, 246, 249, 266
Martyrs in, 234, 239, 259 n. i,
260, 276 ; official records
of Roman martyrdoms de-
stroyed in his reign, 225
Protracted, light on, from Cata-
combs, 231
Reasons for, 42 ^n. i, 194
Severity of, reaction after, 151

Diognetus, Letter to,byunknown writer,
on Persecution, 177-8, sug-
gested date, 178 iy'n. i

Dion Cassius, 75, 269, on Domitian's
executions, 41 ; on the last
wars of the Jews, 328 «. i ;
on Nerva's treatment of
Christians, 171

Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria, on
Christians at Court, 147 ;
on Roman generosity to
other Churches, 1 31

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. i
"Domine quo vadis," Church, and

legend of, 239
Domitian, Emperor, Arch of Titus
finished by, 333 w. i
Christian relatives of, no, 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 X'atican

Cemetery (ancient), 287-8
Dryden, John, poem by on S. Cecilia,

294 n. I
Duchesne, — , on Christianity as equiva-
lent to Martyrdom, 37 ; on
The Shepherd of Hermas,
179 S^n. I, 181 ; on
S. Cecilia's burial-places,
293 «. I ; term used by, for
Church of Rome, 16 tS-" w. i

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
iglise, L\ Chriticfitie^ ref. by Rcnan,

on Hermas's Shepherd, 180
£^lise, L' , et F Empire Mornain, by De

Broglie, on early Christian

toleration, I42-3
Egypt, see Alexandria
Einsiedein, Itinerary of, cited, 212;

date, 227
"Syilogae" at, 230

588

THE EARLY CHRISTIANS IN ROME

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 idol-
atry, 149

Emblems used in the Catacombs, 310
et alibi

Emperor-worship, 42 <S-^k. i, 169, 170,
181, 194, 195

England, crusade of, against Slavery,
Lecky on, 135 «. i

Ephesians, Epistles to, see Epistles

Ephesus, the "highway of martyrs,"

173

Epistles or Letters, anonymous, see
Diognetus, Hebrews, Poly-
carp
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 olso 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, 1 30-1
Fronto, to M. Aurelius, 63-4 tSr' «. I,

85, 86-7
Horace, 69 n. i
Julian, Emperor, to Arsacius, 123

n. I, 128, 131
Ovid, 69 n. I

Pliny the younger [q.v.), 57, 59-62
Polycarp, 73, 125
S. Clement of Rome,
to the Corinthians, 73

First, 37, 104 6^ n. 2, 126,

128, 165, 170-2 ; teaching

of, 138; cited in support

of Petrine tradition, 9
Second, so called, 104 n. 2,

121 6^«. 1
S. Ignatius of Antioch, 73

Authenticity of, 165, 172-3

of 7!.. I

to Corinth, loS, 172-6
to Ephesus, 173
to Magncsians, 174
to Polycarp, 108

Epistles or Letters — (continued)

S. Ignatius of Antioch — {continued)
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, no; 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 in-
fluence 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 6f n. i, 21,
24, 107, 129 ; Linus men-
tioned 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. I, 130
S. Paulinus of Nola to Sulpicius
Severus, on his slave, 136-7
S. Peter, First, 71, 129, date and
place of writing, 8 6^w. i,
16, 18, 19, 51, 107, 135,
165, 166 n. I, 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 Auto-
lycus, 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

INDEX

389

Eusebian catalogue of Roman Bishops,
value of, in support of
Petrine tradition, 14, 15,
Armenian version of above,
ib. lb.

Eusebius, Bishop or Pope of Rome,
128, 147, 187-8, attempted
exculpation by, of Trajan,
49 ; burial-place of, 243,
indentified, 243
cited \n support of Petrine tradition,
10, II-12, 14 ; on Alms-
giving, 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 Theo-
philus of Antioch, 189

Evander, home of, 87

Avangiies, Lcs, by Renan, ciUd on
Pliny's letter, 46 n. i ; on
Trajan as persecutor, 49

Evaristus, Bishop or Pope of Rome,
burial-place of, 287

Exhortatio ad Martyrum, by Origen,

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 cr"«. I, 65

Family life, early Christian difficulties
in, 1 40- 1

Fasting, early Church, 124 <S-^«. I ;
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, un-
usual, 275

Fish, mystic, explained, 310, 316-7

d-M. I

Flaccus, 3

Flavian Emperors, the {see also Dom-
itian, Titus, and Vespasian),
persecutions under, and
reasons for, 39-42, 163
«. I, 172, 173, 174 ; tombs
of, 277

Flavianus, Pope, martyr, tomb of, 243

Flavius Clemens, Consul, martyred by
Domitian, 41

Floras, 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 J Roman
view, 193, 205

Forum, the, 86, 89

Frcedmen, in Rome, 137

Freeman, Prof., on S. Petronilla's altar,
at Gloucester, 279

Friedlander, — , views of, on Trajan's
Rescript, 49

Fronto, 95, 145, contempt of, for
Christians, 158; correspond-
ence with Marcus Aurclius
and his colleague, 63-4 ;
letters of, on Antoninus
Pius, 85, 86-7

Gai.atians, Epistle to, see Epistles

Galba, Emperor, 39, 331

Gallerius, Emperor, and the ceme-
teries, 237

Gallus, Cestius, siege by, of Jeru-
salem, 330

Gamaliel, the elder, 366

Gaul {see also Lyons, Vienne, ^c),
Visigoth invasion of, 66

Geviara, the, 344-5 iSr'w. I, 346, 362,
370 ; basis of, 358 u. I, 360,
361 ; exclusive spirit in,
366-8 ; extravagances of,
347; Rabbis of, 358, it. I,
359 ; study of, 362-3 ; two
versions of, 356 d-' «. 4

Generosa, catacomb of, 235, 236

Genesis, Book of, Haggadic com-
mentary on, 377-8

Gentle School of Christian teach-
ing, loi, 157

Gieseler, — , views of, on Trajan's Re-
script, 49

Ginsberg, Dr., work of, on Massoretic
notes, 363-4

Gloucester Abbey, altar and chapel of
S. Petronell at, 279

Gnosticism, rise of, concurrent with
Rabbinism, 326
Teachers of, classes addressed
by, 112 «. I

Golden Age, The, of the Chunh {by
author), cited, on Saints'
power over Animals, 176
«. I

390

THE EARLY CHRISTIANS IN ROME

Good Shepherd, the, paintings of, in
Catacombs, 248, 301, 308,
310, 317-20 cfnn.

Gospel, the, at Rome, problem of its
beginnings, tradition as to
founder, 7, literary quota-
tions sustaining, 8, 9 ei seq.

Gospels {see also under Names),
Canonical, in circulation
temp. Antonines, 96 ; form
of, 72 ; power of, 103 ;
woman's position in, 367
iSr' «. I

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 «. I ; 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 S^ n. 2, 344 ;
detailed explanation of, 371
et seq., 377-9; Divine in-
spiration claimed for, 365 ;
edited by R, Akiba, 356 ; in
the Exile, and after, 349-50,
351 &^ n. I, 371 et seq. ;
Talmud popularity largely
due to, 371 ; sources of,
372-3
Haggadic notices, nature of, 373 ; where
metwith, 358«. I, 372, 373
Haggai, the prophet, and the oral
Law, 339

Hagiographa, Divine inspiration
ascribed to, 365

Halachah, the, 343 of n. 2, 344, 349,
350 ; developments of,
376-7 ; discussions on, 360 ;
editions of, by R. Akiba,
354-6, by "Rabbi," 358
n. I ; reduced to writing by
"Rabbi," 372 <if n. i

Harnack, A., on authorship of 2nd
Epistle of Clement of
Rome, 104 «. 2 ; on The
Shepherd of Hermas, its
date, 179 c^ «. I, and various
classes in the Church, 124-5;
on the Martyrdom of The-
ban legion, 148 «. l ; on
numbers of early Christians,
inference from size of
Catacombs, 105-6 &' n.l ;
on the Padagogus of
Clement of Alexandria,
III n.\

Hebrews, Epistle to the, 71, 72;
Haggadic influence seen
if) 379 j on Christian As-
semblies, 107 ; on Charity,
130 ; on Hospitahty, 128-9 '■>
on Persecution, 165, 166

Hegesippus, list by, of Roman
Bishops, 15

Heracleon, Gnostic teacher, 112 «. i

Heresies and Heretics, first century, at
Rome, 22, 23 cf n. I

Heretical teachers, second century,
successful contentions of
Christians with, 37

Hermas, author of The Shepherd
(Pastor) {q.v.), 136 n.\,
178; teaching of, 138, 179,
182-3

Herod Antipas, and S. Peter, 19 n. \

Herod family, 3, 329

Herod the Great, 340

Herodians, 329

Hilary of Poitiers, on persecuting
Roman Emperors, 40 Ss^n. 3

Hillel, 366 ; attempt of, to edit
Mishnah material, 351 ;
codification work of, 366
71. I ; and Shammai, 339,
debt to, of Rabbinism, 340

Histoire Ancienne de t^glise, by
Duchesne, cited, 16 St 71. I,
179 of n. I, iSi, 293 ;/. I

Histoire des Ferst'cutions, by Allard
(q.v.), cited, 19 71. I, 42
n. I, 48

Histoire des Persi'cutions, by Aube,
cited, on Domitian, 42 n. 2

INDEX

391

Historia Monasierii S. Petri
Gloucesirtce, 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 d-K. I, 332

History of European Morals, by Lecky,
on Christian charity, 137-8 ;
on Christian fortitude and
its effects, 193-4 ; on Chris-
tianity, causes of its spread,
150 (St';/. 2; on Slavery,
134, 135 6-«. I, 136 n. I

Honorius, Emperor, 56, 252-3 ; and
the Basilica of S. Paul, 238

Honorius i, Pope, 276 ; and the
Basilica of S. Pancras, 235

Honorius in. 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 «. I

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,3io, 316-7 d-^«.i

Idol-worship {see also Incense), Cere-
monial, 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 «. 3

Immortality, Christian ideas on, 156-8

Imperial cultus, see Emperor-worship
Families, Christian members of, no,

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

Inscriptions in the Catacombs — (contd.)
" 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

Irenaeus, teacher of S. Hippolyius, 14,
138, 170, 251, 315,
319 «. I ; list of Roman
Bishops by, 15 ; writings
addressed by, to cultured
classes, 1 1 1 «. i
cited in support of I'elrine tradi-
tion, 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 iSr^M. I
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, Sec, 209 et se(/.,
227-8, 242, 243, 246, 247

JAMNIA, Rabbinic School at, 326, 353,

357. 358 «• I
Jannes and Jambres, source of names

of' 379
Jerusalem, /Elia Capitohna built on
site of, 332, 335-6, result,
336-8 ; Hadrian's insults at,
to Christianity, 77-8

ApostoUc Council at, S. Peter at, 8

Communism in the Church at, results
of, 120 «. I, 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 Callus,
330, VesfKisian, 331, Titus,
331-3. Sevcrus, 337

Taken by Pompey, 3

392

THE EARLY CHRISTIANS IN ROME

Jesus Christ {see also Christ), God-
head of, importance of the
testimony of Apostolic
Fathers in regard to, 74
Jew, the, and the Talmud (Book

v.), 325 et seq.
Jewish Eticyclopctdia, 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, inspira-
tion of, 364-5

Women, disabilities of, 367 6^ «. i ,
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 ct seq.,
368-9

Fate of, after last wars, 325-6

History of, in Old Testament and
after, 325-6, evidential im-
portance 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, T,2()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, 1 10
Joseph the patriarch, and idol-worship,

149

Josephus, on the burning of the
Temple, 331

Joshua, and the oral Law, 339

Judzea, Roman rule over, 329, and
revolts against {see also
Jews, Wars of, awo? 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 char-
acteristics, 131 ; on Chris-
tian brotherhness, 123 « i,
128

Julianus, Pope, martyr, tomb of, 243

Julius Caesar, 56 ; favour shewn by, to
Jews, 3

Julius I, Pope, 276

Jupiter, worship of, test for Christians,

194, 195

Justin Martyr, 319 n. i ; compared with
Theophilus of Antioch, 189;
martyrdom of, 94, 104, 184 ;
teaching of, 138
on Aid to Prisoners, 130; on Alms-
giving, 1 13-4, 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,
III ; on Hospitality, II3-4,
128, 129 ; on the numbers
of Christians, 104, 106, 107 ;
on Persecutions, yj, 184-6 ;
on progress of Christian-
ity, 107

Justinian, Emperor, dedication of a
church by, to a slave-saint,
136 n. I ; Talmud con-
demned by, 365

Justus, and S. Nicomedes, 255-6

Juvenal, on Domitian's unpopularity,
42 cr'«. 2; on the ideal
Roman, 88 ; on Roman
Society, 58

Kabbala, the, 360, 362 n. i
Kimchi, D., famous Rabbinist, 369
Kyneburg, Abbess of Gloucester, 279

Lactantius, on Almsgiving, 122 ; on
Care for widowsand orphans,
126-7 ; on Christian virtues,
and burial of the dead,
131-2, 133; on Persecu-
tions, 32

Lanciani, — , 236, cited on Basilica of
S. Paul, 238

INDEX

393

Languages, of Christian Epitaphs in
Catacombs, 308

Lateran Museum, Christian sarcophagi
in, sculptures on, 19 n. i

Latin language, debt of, to Cicero, 58

Latin Literature, by Dr. Mackail,
cited on Marcus Aurelius's
letters, 63 n. i

Law, Mosaic {sec Torah and Midrash),
Commentaries on, see Hag-
gadah, Halachah, Midrash,
Talmud, Targumim, &c.
Roman, on treatment of Chris-
tians, 32, 49

"Law upon the Lip," tradition

^ ^, on, 339

Le Blant, — , on the School for Martyr-
dom, 198 «. I

Lecky, W. H., cited, see History of
Ewopeatt- Morals

Leland's Itinerary, on cult of S. Pet-
ronilla (Petroncll), 278-9

Leo III, Pope, translation of S. P'eli-
citas and Silanus by, 259,
302

Leo IV, Pope, samts 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 Foly-
carp, genuine, 81 n. I

Liber Pontifualis, antiquity of, 15 ;
value of, to Catacomb ex-
plorers, 226-7
cited on Basilica of Constantine the
Great at S. Peter's tomb,
282 ; on S. Cecilia's tomb,
262, 293 n. I, 296 ; on
Novatus, 264 ; on S. Pris-
cilla's catacomb, burials in,
266 ; on S. Pudentiana and
her sister, 264, 265 «. I

Liberian or Philocalian catalogue, cited
in support of Petrine tradi-
tion, 14, 15 ; on burials in
S. Priscilla's cemetery, 266 ;
on the tomb of S. Felicilas
and her sons, 301, 302-3,
304

Liberius, Pope, 301 ; burial-place
of, 272

Licinius, 29

Lightfoot, Bp., 121 «. I ; on the Acts of
the Passion of S. Felicitas,
300 ; on the Antonine perse-
cutions, 94 6^ «. 2 ; on the
authorship of the znd Epistle
of Clement of Koine, 104 w.i;
on Caius, 11 ; on the date
of the Epistle to Diof^netus,
178 «. I ; on the date of
Octavins, 186; on Epistol-
ary form as usual with the
Apostles, 74 M. I ; on
genuineness of Pliny's
letter, &c., 46 or' «. i ; on
Hilary's reference to Ves-
pasian's persecutions, 40
iSr' w. 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 «. i ; on
S. Ilippolytus, II, 251-2;
on S. Laurence, 254 ; on
S. Paul's Epistle to the
Romans and S. Peter's first
coming to Rome, 19 «. 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 ; " Mcmoria "
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, ib^et seq.

Lombards, the, 293, 297

Lorium, country home of Antoninus
Pius, 86, 87

Love as bond of Christians, 1 18-9

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, indentilication of, 245

Lucius Quietus, Roman general, 335

394

THE EARLY CHRISTIANS IN ROME

Lucius Verus, Fronto's correspondence

with, 63
" Luminaria," in the Catacombs, 296
& n. I ; indication from, of
crypt below, 229
Lydda, Rabbinic school of, 357, 358 w. i
Lyons, birthplace of Sidonius ApoUin-
aris, 65
Literary support from, of Petrine

tradition, 9, 13
Martyrdoms at, 94, 201, 208, genuine

accounts of, 81 ;/. i
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 6^ n. i
Madaurian persecutions, 94
Maderno, Stefano, architect, 259 «. i,

statue of S. Cecilia by, 294,

replicas of, id. ;/. I
Magnesia, Epistle to, of Ignatius, 173,

174

Mahommedanism, spread of, compared
with that of Christianity, 102

Maimonides, famous Rabbinist, 369 ;
on the fathers of Rabbin-
ism, 339

Manuals of Martyrdom, 199

Marc-Aurile, by Renan, cited, 146 tt. l

Marcellinus, Pope and martyr, burial-
place of, 266, identified, 231

Marcellus, Pope and martyr, burial-
place of, 266, 272

Marchi, Father, archaeological 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 suc-
cessor 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, 162 «. 2, 164,
188-9, 190, 207, 208 M. I,
and reasons for, 81, 91-7,

Marcus Aurelius — {continued)

^yj> 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. i ; 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
cf }i, I et seq.
Physical training for, 198, 201-3
Spiritual training, 198-201
Results, 203-5
Spirit in which faced, 205 et prcevi
Marty res, Ad, by Tertullian, 199 ; on

Physical training, 202
Martyr a, De Laudi, 199 ; on Christian

fortitude in torture, 193
Martyrologies, literary sources of, in
many instances rehabili-
tated by De Rossi's cata-
comb excavations, 225,
230-1 ; on Confessors buried
in Catacomb of Commo-
dilla, 239
Alartyrology of S. Jerotne, value of, to

Catacomb explorers, 226
Martyrs, Apocalyptic references to, 37,
157, 167-70
Burial and burial-places of (see Cata-
combs, Cemeteries, and
Itineraries), 285-6 ; burial
near, desired, 312 &^n.i,
321-2
Formula for, of reply to judge, 199
Hennas on, 181
Hymns on, by Prudentius and

others, 15 1-2 &^n. i

under Nero (q.v.), 267-8, 285-6

Numbers of, emphasized, 33 ;

"small" theory refuted by

archaeology and literature, 82

e7^ K. 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
(St' «. I, 267, 272, 273-4, 292

INDEX

395

Martyruin, De Gloria, by S. Gregory
of Tours, cited on tragedy
at tomb of SS. Chrysanthus
and Daria, 261
Martyrum, De Locis SS., died 210-1 1,
303 ; on numbers of martyrs,
212, 213, 214
Marucchi, — , archjeological 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 as-
sociated 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 tradi-
tion, 293 n. I, 298
on S. Felicitas's tomb, and those of

her sons, 302, 303
on the Thrason Catacomb, 260
on the veneration paid to S. Laur-
ence, 250
Massorah, the, 361 el 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, 14 cr'w. i
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 Ves-
pasian, 40 n. 3
IMemoriK or Chapel-Tombs of Apostles,
at Rome, locale of, 11, 233,
28 1 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, 330
et seq., 354-5
Midoth, treatise, 358 n. i
Midrask, 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 6^ «. I
Milman, Dean, on the style of the
Octavius of Minucius
Felix, 186-7
Minucius Felix {see Octavius by), 158
Miracles, Talmundic leaching on, 365
Mishnah (seealso Haggadah, Halach^,
a«</ Talmud) ; basis of, 361 ;
chief object of study,
Rabbinic schools, 358 n. I,
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
6-^;/. I, 344 6^«. I, 356
.5r^«. 3, 358 &-«.!, 365.
370 ; oral at first, 344 ; in
the two Talmuds, 344-5
on Akiba's martrydom, 355 ft. i ; on
the history of the Talmud,
339-40
Mishnah, the non-canonical, 360, 373
Mishnic Rabbis, work of, on Ilalachah
and Haggadah, 34i.344-5«
347, 351, 352. 358 «• I .
Mission and Expansion of Christtanxty,
byHarnack, 106 «. I, 124-5

Mommsen, — , 33' «• '• «" ^^*"
Rome personified in Apoc-
alypse, 169//. I ; on Pliny's
letter, 46

Monza Catalogue and Labels, story of,
evidence of, on numerous-
ness 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, 389, and the Law, 339
Rabbinical teaching in, 343 <^ "• *•
and on, 364, 373-4i 37»

Mucius Scrcvola, torture of, 1S7

Muratorian Canon, on date of IJit
Shepherd o{ Hernias, 17S-9

Music, association with, of S. Cecilia,
294 n. I

Mutual aid between Christian Churches,

' inculcated, 130-1

F. W., verse by, on the
Atonement, 115 w. i

Myers,

Naaman, the Syrian,
worship, 149

and Idol-

396

THE EARLY CHRISTIANS IN ROME

Naevius, the augur, 87

Naples, memorial at, of S. Agnes,

256-7
Nehardea, Rabbinic school at, 357,

358 n. I
Nero, Emperor, 39, 40, 41, 42 «. 2,
182, 183, 197, 232, 245, 269
Death of, 207, 331
Edict of, against Christians, 32, 54
Fire at Rome attributed;to, 26-7, 2S,

3i> 285
Insanity of, 26
Jews in Rome in reign of, 5
Persecutions by, 10, 28, 30, 46 n. i,
62, 104, 164, 167, 172, 190,
197 ; burnings under, 28-30 ;
numbers involved, 28, 46
n. \ ; 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, loi
Ilaggadic 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 Chris-
tianity, 107
Nicholas, Pope, 226
Nicodemus and other persons of
position among Early
Christians, 1 10-12
Nicolaitan heresy, 23 n. i
Nicomedia, Court of. Christians

at, 147-8
Nimes, birthplace of Antoninus Pius, 83
Nomeseus, martyr, 21 1
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, g ei seq.
Novatus, Baths of, 264, 265
Numerian, Emperor, persecution
under, 260

0C7AVIUS, Dialogue by Minucius
Eelix, 138, 145-6, 186-7 ;
on Christian love, 1 19, 129 ;
on Christians in high place,
III ; on persecution 186-7

Octodurum, Martyrdom legend of,
148 n.'i

Old Testament, Books of, text of,
Jewish care of, and com-
mentaries on, 342 et seq.,
370, 371-9
Christian reverence for, influence on,
of the Talmud, and of
Rabbinism, 327, 370
&~ n. I
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. i

Origen, modified Rigourism of, 146 ;
teaching of, 139; identifica-
tion by, of Hernias, 178;
veneration of, for The
Shepherd, by Hermas, 179 ;
writings by, on Martyr-
dom, 199

Osric, King of Norlhumbria, burial-
place of, 279

Ostia, 145, 186-7, 235, 236

Ostian Way, Memoria of Apostle
on, II

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. I

Ozanam on Slaves in Roman Empire,
first and second centuries,
135 n. 2

P.-EDAGOGUS, by Clement of Alex-
andria, addressed to a cul-
tured community, ill «. I ;
on Christians in the world,
146
Pagan altitude 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 Chris-
tianity, 107

INDEX

397

Paganism {passim), at core of Roman
Empire, De Broglie on,
142-3 ; displaced by Chris-
tianity, when, and whv,
150, 151
Pain, unfelt by Martyrs, testimony to, 200
Palaces, Christians in, iio-ii, 147, 149
Palatine Hill, palace on, of the Em-
perors, 86, 89 ; graffito of
crucifix on, deduction from,
147 &' n. I
Palestine {see also Gemara a«(f Talmud),
Rabbinic Schools of, 326,
344. 362-3, 373 ; the chief,
353. 356 &^ n. 4, 358 n. I ;
mode of teaching at, 357-60
Roman occupations of, and Rabbin-
ism, 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 6^«. I, 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. i

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. Ilippo-
lytus, 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
Pilgnmages 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 Cata-
combs, 3'S. 319 «• I ; how
voiced by [xjets and Popes,
152 vSr'w. I
Pepin, King, translation by, of S. Pet-

ronilla, 279
Pergamos, Church of, message of
Apocalypse to, 16S, 169-70
Pcri-Stephan5n, by Prudentius, poems,
subjects of, 1 5 1-2 &" n. I,
cited on forgotten Martyrs,
287; on S. llippolytus,
252-4
Persecutions of Christians, see also
Tacitus on
Active or latent, period of, 163
6-^ M. 2
Evidence on, 163 &'ntt. i 6^2,
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, iSo et seq.
Silence of writers as to, reasons

for, 35 &-«. I, 36-7
Under the Antonines, 80, 81, 94
Decius Aurelius, 97
Diocletian, 97 ; severity of, 151
Flanan emperors, 39 et seq.
Hadrian and his successors, 79,
80, severity of, 81, 82
&'n. I, 83, reasons, 91-7
Nero, 10, 28, 30, 46 M. I, 62,
104, 164, 167, 172, 190,
197, 285-6
of Jews, 346
Petro or Pi-tros, as basis of name

Pelronilla, 277
Petro, T. Flavius, founder of Flavian

family, 277
Pharisees, 329-30, after the Disper-
sion, 341
Philemon, S. Paul's Epistle to, 71, 134

398

THE EARLY CHRISTIANS IN ROME

Philip, Emperor, lenient to Christians,

Philip of Side, on Athenagoras's con-
version, 1 88 &^n. I

Philip, son of S. Felicitas, tomb of, 259

Philippians, Epistle to, see Epistles

Phoebe of Cenchrea, 1 10

Physical preparation for Martyrdom
{see also Schools of Martyr-
dom), 198, 201-3

Pilgrim Guides (see also Itineraries),
witness of, to numerousness
of Martyrs, 2io

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 11. 1

" Pittacia," the, references in, to
S. Felicitas and her sons,

303, 304
Pius I, Bishop of Rome, or Pope, 264,
265 n. I ; burial-place of,
287 ; slave origin of, 136 «. i
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. I, 2,6,^Setssq., 50, 53-5,
56-7, 60 «. 1,62, 75-8, 103
Sifn.2, 106, 107, IIO, 177
Publication of, 60 «. i
Summary of, 67

Trajan's Rescript in reply, 53-4
Literary followers of, 64-8

Style of, 60, Renan on, 4 (St^ k. I, 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, 1 10

Plotina, Empress, and Hadrian, 75

Plumbatse, torture of, 295, 300 n. i

Poems, by Early Christian writers,
topics of, 151, 152 &^«. I
Pagan, referring to Christianity,
158 n. 1

Political reasons for Roman attitude
to Christianity {see also
Paganism), 28, 30, 31-4,
39 ei seq.

Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, 251,
scholar of S. John Evange-
list, 73 ; letters of, see
Epistles ; letters to, of Ig-
natius, 108, 172; Martyr-
dom of, letters on, genuine,
81 n, I ; on Christian
charity, 125

Pompey, Consul, 56, first Roman ruler
of Judea, 329 ; Jerusalem
taken by, 3

Pomponia Graecina, 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 Car-
thage, 127

Pontus, Christians in {see also Bithynia),

45> 50

Pope, — , his ode on S. Cecilia,
294 «. I

Popes (or Bishops) of Rome {see under
individual Names, see also
Papal burial-places), mar-
tyred, tombs of, with other
Martyrs, 243

Poppoea, 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, 31 1-2
S. Augustine on, 311, 312 «. i, 321-2
S. Cyprian on, 312

Projtextatus, catacomb of, 242, 246-8,
259, 262, 295 ; grave (al-
leged) of S. Cecilia in, 293
n. I ; tomb of S. Januarius
in, discovery of, 301-2 ;
S. Zeno buried in, 276

Priests as converts, no

Priscilla (and Aquila), no, 265-6
Catacomb of, 213, discovery of, 230

Prisoners, Christian aid to, 130

Prophets, the, 339, books of, 361, in-
spiration of, Talmud on,
365 ; Schools of, 343, 349

INDEX

399

Prudentius, poems of, 151, 152 6^;/. i

Publius, Prefect of Rome, and the
martyrdom of S. Felicitas,
299

Pudens, burial-place of, 264, 265, 266,
house, &c., of, on the Aven-
tine, 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. i, 359,
373

"QUATUOR Coronati," Saints, burial-
places of, 249 ; church of,
ib., relics in, of S. Hippo-
lytus, 255
Quintilian, the earliest Ciceronian, 58
Qtto vadis legend, locality associated
with, 273, 274

" Rab," Rabbinic School founded by,
357 n. I

"Rabbi" (Judah Ha-Nasi), famous
pupil of, 357 71. I ; Talmud
codification by, 356-7 ; work
of, on Halachah, 258 n. i,
372 w. I

Rabbinic Dicta, on Inspiration, 364-5

Literature (extra-Talmudic), 360
Schools [.set also Babylonian, and
Palestinian), 326, 353,
354-5, 362-3, 368, 372,
373 ; chief study of, 358
n. I ; 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, Sham-
mai, &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 Chris-
tianity, 366 et seq. ; tradi-
tional history of, 339-40

Rabbis, authority of, as successors to
the Sanhedrim, 357 ; sup-
porting Bar-cochab, 78, 336,
354, 355

Rabbis of the Dispersion, and the Law,
341, 342-3, books evolved

^ cr ., ^y- 343-5

RaMaelle, pamting by, of S. Cecilia,
294 n I.

Ramsay, Professor, on the date of
the 1st Epistle of S. Peter,
8 «. I, 166 M. I ; on the
date of S. Peter's death,
166 «. I ; on Epistles of
Ignatius as showing con-
temporary 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 Cirn.z; on Roman
references in the Apocalypse,
169 w. 2

Raschi, famous Rabbinist, 369

Ravenna, 303 ; church of S. Vitale at,
136 w. I

Regulus, tortures of, 187

Relic-hunting in the Catacombs, re-
sults of, 224

Religious faith of Jews in Rome, first
century, 4-6

Renan, E., on the destruction of the
Temple, 331 n. i ; on
large numbers of Christian
martyrs, 82 n. I ; on Oc-
tavius by Minucius Felix,
145, 146 ; on persecutions
between a.d. 134 and 180,
82 n. I ; on Pliny's letter,
46 &' n. I, and on his
literary style, //'. , 60 ; on
The Shepherd, of Her-
nias, I So ; on Talmudic
influence on Christianity,
370 «. I ; on Trajan as
persecutor, 49

Reservoirs or wells, in Catacombs and
Chapels {see also Baptis-
teries), 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 dispensa-
tion concerning, 149

" Rock, the spiritual, that followed
them," origin of reference,

379
Roman attitude to Christianity, 39
el seq.

400

THE EARLY CHRISTIANS IN ROME

Roman attitude to Slaves, and to Freed-

men, 134, 137 ; craving for

posthumous remembrance,

59«. I, 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 iSr" K. I
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 &=«. I, 169, 170
Empire, numbers of Early Christians
in great centres of, 106
of Slaves in, first and second
centuries, 135 «. 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, 89 w. i ;
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
Archaeological investigators of, see De
Rossi, Marchi, Marucchi,
erf.
Basilicas in, third century, 112
Chief arena of Martyrdom, 175
Christians in, 16, Assemblies of,
113 (?/ seq.
Behaviour of, in trial, 180-1
Estimate of, in third century,

105
Life of, loi et seq.
Some of high social status, 1 10-12,

147, 149
Church of, see Roman Church

Rome — {continued)

Churches in, the most ancient, 263
Those holding relics of S. Hippo-
lytus, 255
Dead, Roman and Christian treat-
ment o{{see also Catacombs),

131-3

Devotion to, of the Antonines,
89-90

Earliest founder of, 87

Fire of, under Nero, 25-6, conse-
quences to Jews and Chris-
tians, 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

Memorise of the Apostles in, 1 1

Pagan, Apocalyptic reference to,

Ramsay on, 169 ^r' n. I, 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 Judaea, 329, 340,
revolts against {see Wars),
■i29etseq., 342, 345, 353

S. Paul's stay in, 17, 21-24, ^^^
Martyrdom at, 9

S. Peter's visits to, probable dates of,
and events during, 16, 18,
19 &'7t.i, 24, and Martyr-
dom at, 8 ; burial-place in,
see Vatican Hill

Slavery in, 134

Temple treasures from Jerusalem
at, 333 <&^«. 2
Rome proper, burial-place in, of S. Paul,
236 ; Catacombs in, Itiner-
aries on, 21 1-4
Rome Souteraine, by Allard, cited on
numerousness of martyrs,
215 n. I
Romulus and Remus, 87
Ruinart, — , on the Martyrdom of the

Theban legion, 148 n. I
Rusticus, Roman prefect, 94, 104
Rutihus Namatianus, poem of, on
Christian misery, 158 ^ n. i

INDEX

401

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 excava-
tions, 230

S. Adauctus, burial - place of, 239 ;
shrine of, 211

S. Agapetus, deacon and martyr, 301
i2r=«. I, 302; History of,
247 ; tomb of 243, 247

S. Agatha, 294 n. i

S. Agatopus or Agapetus {q.v.), martyr
named in tomb of S. Janu-
arius, 301 b'n. i, 302

S. Agnes, 136, 294 n. i ; basilica of.
Catacombs around, 212-3,
255 ; burial-place of, identi-
fied, 231 ; martyrdom and
story of, 256 ; other martyrs
buried with, 214-5 ; ">■" ^^%
258, recently seen, 257

S. Alexander, burial-place of, 303

S. Anastasia, 294 n. i

S. Athanasius, veneration of, for
Hermas's Shepherd, 179

S. Augustine, on asking the prayers of
the Saints, 311, 312 «. i,
322 ; on Burial near the
Saints, 322 ; on S. Laur-
ence, 254

S. Balbinus, Catacomb of, 239

S. Barnabas, Apostle, no

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. I ; 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, zgzet scq.,
her body in, 294, 297
Crypt or burial-place of, 211, 246
(St'm. I, 290 et seq. ; dis-
covery of, 231 ; other
martyrs buried in, 214, 243 ;
rediscovery of, 289 et seq.
Martyr relatives of, 247

S. Cecilia— (f(j«//«M;rf)
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
•Sr" «. I, 315
Book on, by Bishop Lightfoot, 19
«. I, 121 «. I, ciud on
Pelrine tradition, 10
Epistles of, see under Epistles
Ordination of, by S. Peter, tradition

on, II
Tradition on his Apostolic teachers,

73
on Almsgiving, 121 &"». i, 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 (jr' w. I, at Rome, 106 ;
on progress of Christianity,
107 ; on S. Peter's martyr-
dom, 9
S. Conslantia, church of, origin of, 263
S. Cornelius, other martyrs buried

with, 214-5
S. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, and
martyr, 149, 193, 315, 319
«. I ; and his congregation,
charity of, 123, 127
Death of, 146
Flight of, 147
Letter of, ad Thiharitauos, a martyrs

manual, 199
Teaching of, 139
Writers on, cited, see Benson, and

Pontius
on Almsgiving 121-2 ; on Cartha-
ginian 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 Perse-
cutions (third centur)'), 37
S. Cyriaca, burial-place of, 212,
250

402

THE EARLY CHRISTIANS IN ROME

S. Daria, once a Vestal, site of her

martyrdom, 260, 303
S. Denis, Abbey of, ashes of S. Hip-

polytus 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. I
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 dr'n.i
Story of, 258, confirmed by archse-
ology, 259-60, 298 ei seq.
Translation of, 259, 302
on Insensibility to pain, 200
S. Felix (and S. Adauctus), burial-
place of, 239
S. Felix, cemetery of, 21 1, 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 «. I
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-S
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 (fzVif^ on, 251-2

S. Hippolytus — [continued)
Pupil of Irenaeus, 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, no, 154,
204-5, date of, 73
cited in support of Petrine tradi-
tion, 9, 13
on Assemblies, 108; on Christ's Atone-
ment, 115; on his yearning
for Martyrdom, 204-5 5 011
influential Christians at
Rome, 1 10 ; on persecutions,
37, 165, 172-6 ; on progress
of Christianity, 107 ; on
Roman generosity, 131
S. James, Epistle of, ^ee under Epistles
S. Januarius, 298 n. i, 304, martyr-
dom of, 300 n. I ; burial-
place and tomb of, 243, 248
(Sr'w. I, 301-2, discovery of,
231, veneration of, 259
S. Jerome, Catalogue of Roman Bish
ops 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, 1 1
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 «. I

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. Pro-
cessus and
S. Matthew, Gospel of, 10, as Martyrs'
Manual, 200 <Sr=«. i, 201

INDEX

403

S. Maurice and the Theban Legion,
legend of martyrdom of,
148 ». I

S. Maximus, Roman officer and martyr,
290, basilica of, and history
of, 247 ; catacomb of, 259 ;
tomb of, 242, 293 n. i, 295

S. Nereus, martyr, burial-place of, 211,
240, 241, 278; story con-
firmed 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, 1 10
Epistles^of, see tinder Epistles
Haggadic influences in writings of,

379

Hermas named by, the Hermas of
The Shepherd 'i, 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,
151,1152, 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 «. I, 130; on Assem-
blies, 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 «. I ; question of, to
S. Augustine, 312 «. i, 321-2
S. Perpetua and her companions, 294
n. I, martyrdoms of, 200,
208, genuine accounts of,
81 «. I ; pain unfelt by, 200
S. Peter, Apostle and Martyr, First
Bishop of Rome (j?< 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, 28 1 m. 1

et seq.
Catacomb of, and of S. Marcel-

linus, 249
Founder of Church in Bithynia, 51
Founder of Church at Rome, tradi-
tion, archneological, and
literary support to the belief,
7 et seq., lb, 19, 22, 70, 104
in Rome, 18, 24, date of arrival
discussed, 8, 11, i^etseq.,
16 ; martyrdom of, 8, 10,
16, 18, 19, 151, 153, 170,
171, 233, 234, date and site
of, 166 ti. 1, 267 ; burial-
places, and tomb of, 49,
273 ; Bishops of Rome
buried around, 16, 23, 233
^sr" n.\, 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 I ^^
slavery, 135 ; on spread of
the faith, 107
S. Peter and S. M;ucellinus, catacomb

of, 249
S. Peter Chrj'sologus, laudation by, of

S. Felicitas, 305
S. Peter's (Basilica), Rome, 8, 233,
238 ; martyrs buried be-
neath, 210, 285 ; origin of,
and former representatives
of, 233, 23S

404

THE EARLY CHRISTIANS IN ROME

S. Peter's (Basilica) — {continued)
Reason of its position, 1 1 ; site of,
associations of, 28 ; venera-
tion shown to, 17, 18

S. Petronilla {see also S. Parnel),
daughter of S. Peter, 240,
241, hypotheses on, dis-
cussed, 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, Cata-
comb 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. ; in-
scriptions in, 267, 268, 271 ;
notable interments in, 266,
302
Church of, 262
Original tomb of, 268

S. Processus and S. Martinianus, cata-
comb of, 234 ; story of, 234

S. Protus, martyr, tomb of, 275

S. Pudentiana {see also supra, S. Pras-
sedis), 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 cata-
comb, 270

S. Quirinus, Crypt of, 247 ; history
of, ib.

S. Riquier, "syllogce" in library of,
230

S. Sebastian (ad Cataconibas), cata-
comb 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

vS. Soteris, virgin, martyr, catacomb
of, 239, 242, 243, 246

S.Stephen, protomartyr, no; and
S. Laurence, parallel posi-
tions of, 234

S. Suzanna, church of, 302, final
resting-place of S. Felicitas,
259 <^«. I

S. Sylvester, Pope, Basilica erected by,
266 (Sr'w. I ; notoriety of,
272 ; Popes buried in,
272-4 ; saintly remains in,
213, 266 &'n. I, 272,
302-3 ; site of, 257, 266
&^«. I, 270, 272, 273
Burial-place of, 272

S. Symphorosa, burial-place of, 212

S. TertuUinus, catacomb of, 249

S. Thekla, catacomb of, 236, 239

S. Thomas Aquinas, 319 «. I

S. Tiburtius, martyr. Basilica of, 247 ;
relation of, to S. Cecilia,
290 ; tomb of, 293 «. 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. i ;
tomb of, 242, 247, 293 n. i,
295

S. Vitale, a slave-martyr, Church of,
Ravenna, 136 «. i

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 (Sr'w. i

Saints, Communion of, Early Christian
view on, 307, 309-10
Dead, invocation of, and prayers of,
besought. Early Christian

INDEX

405

Saints — {continued)

attitude as to, 309-10, 311,
312 (Sr^w. I, 321-2
Desire for burial near, S. Augustine
on, 312 «. I, 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 Disper-
sion, 357, 360
Sanhedrim treatise, in Talmud, 343 «. i
Sarcophagi, Christian, Lateran Museum,
and S. Peter's escape from
Prison, 19 «. i
Sardinia, exiles and martyrs in, 252
Sardis, 187

Satuminus, catacomb of, 258, 260
Schools of Martyrdom, 145 ; methods
of, 197, 198 dr'M. I et seq.,
writers on, 198 et seq.
of the Prophets, 349
of Teaching, Early Christian

Practical, and Gentle, loi, 145-50
Rigourist, loi, 144-5, 150-2
Scillitan martyrdoms, 94, 208, Acts of

martyrs genuine, 81 m. i
Scorfiace, by TertuUian, 121 «. i, a
martyrs' manual, 199 ;
S. Paul cited in, on Martyr-
dom, 202, 203 (5^ M. I
Scribes, the, and their duties, 341, 343

&^n-Z, 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 «. i
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. i ;

leniency of, to Christians, 97,

and supposed Christianity

of, 147
Septimius (historian), on Nero's anti-
Christian Edict, 32

SQvtr\xs—(contintud)

Sextus Julius (General), operations of,

in Judea, 337
Suipicius, letter to, of Paulinus of
Nola, on his slave, 136-7
on destruction of the Temple, 331
&"«. I, 332 ; on Titus's
speech against Jewish and
Christian religions, 39-40
Sfondrati, Cardinal, finder of the bodies
of S. Cecilia, 294 &'n.i,
297, and of her husband,
&c., 295
Shammai, a Rabbi, 366
Shema invocation, 355 n. i
Shemoth Rabba, treatise, cited, 365
Shepherd (Pastor), The, of Hermas,
136 «. I, discussed, 178-9
dT'n.i, 180; reasons of its
popularity, 183 n. i ; the-
ology of, 138, 179, 182-3;
on care of widows, &c. , 1 26 ;
on Christ's Atonement, 1 16 ;
on Christian charity, 124
(S-'w. I, 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, 1 1 1
Sicarii, the, 330
Sick, the, care of, by Early Church,

126-7
Side, 1 88 &'n. i

Sidonius, Apollinaris, family, career,
and writings of, 64, 65-7, 68
Simon the Just, 339
Simon Magus in Rome, 1 1
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 oj,
at S. Cecilia's crypt, 292
Sixtus V, Pope, Church of S. Suzanna

built for, 259 ». I
Slavery, England's crusade against,

Lecky on, 135 «. i
Slaves, Christian, freed by advice ol
Pope Pius I, 264 ; posi-
tion and condition of, 134
et seq.

4o6

THE EARLY CHRISTIANS IN ROME

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 Chris-
tians 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
(Sr'w. I ; on the witness of
the Catacombs to the life
of the Early Church, 219-20

Statius, 59 n. i

Stephen, Bishop or Pope of Rome, 131

Suetonius, history by, 60, 62, 63, 269,
on Christians accused of
firing Rome, 27 ; on Domi-
tian'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 «. I, 359,
373 ; founder of, 357 &= n. i

' ' Syllogse " of Early Christian Inscrip-
tions, where found, 230

Sylloge Palestina, the, 215

Symmachus, Memmius, and his father's
Letters, 65

Symmachus, Pope, 60 w. i, Council
held by, 262

Symmachus, Q. Aurelius, career of,
and writings (Letters) of,
64-s, 66

Syria, Vespasian's legions in, 331

Tacitus, History of, 60, 61, 62

Lost Book of, on Titus's destruc-
tion of the Temple, 39, 331
&"«. I, 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, iio; on
conversion of Pomponia
Graecina, 245 ; on numbers
pf Christians, 103, 107

Tacitus — {continued)

on Jewish fecundity, 5 «. i ; on the
persecutions, 36, 46 «. i,
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. I
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,

T,i,%et seq., 358 «. I, 360
Meaning of term, 358 n. i
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
«2j^«. I, and on destruction
of the Temple, 332
Tannaim, the, 344, 358 n. i
Targumim,the,36o; Haggadic pieces in,

373, excerpts from, 373-5
Tarquinius Priscus, 87
Taylor, Dr., on Rabbinic dicta, 365 n. i
Teaching and doctrine, Early Chris-
tian Assemblies, 11 3-4;
ground-work of, 11 5-9; as
met with in the Catacombs,
220, 309 et seq. , 3 1 2 cr" «. I ,
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
&-«. 2, 351

INDEX

407

Temple — {continued)

Women's Court in, 380
of Peace, Rome, 333 71. 2
Tenth Legion, at Jerusalem, 332
TertuUian, 151, 204, 315

Rigourism of, 146, 151, 153-4,

179, 182
Silent as to Vespasian, 40 ;/. 3
Teaching of, 138
Writings of : —

ad Uxor, on Hospitality, 128
Apology of, resemblances between,
and Ociaviiis of Minucius
Felix, 186
Martyrs' Manuals, 199
Scorpiace, 121 «. i, S. Paul cited

in, 202, 203 <y^ n. I
Treatise on Idolatry, 144 w. i,
on training for Martyr-
dom, 203
cited in support of Petrine tradition,
lo-ii, 13, 14; on aid to
prisoners, 130; on alms-
giving, 120; on burying
the poor, 132, 133 ; on
Christ with the Kid, 319,
320 ; on Christian love,
119; on highly placed
Christians, iii, 147, 149;
on idol-worship, 144 n. i ;
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.\, and on enduring
hardness, 153-4; on perse-
cutions, 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 «. I
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 per-
secution, 189-90
Thibaritanos, Ad, letter by S. Cyprian,

198 n. 2, 199
Thirty-nine Articles, the, 319 «• i
Thrason, Catacombs of, 258, 260

Tiber, the. Catacombs beside, Itiner-
aries on, 210-14 ; S. Peter's
Vjaplisms in, 11, 14
Tiberias, Rabbinic School at, 326, 327,
method, study, and work
at, 344, 346, 357, 358 n. I
Tibur, Hadrian's Villa near, 82
Tiburtius, martyr, tomb of, 242
Tigellinus, evil counsel of, to Nero, 27
Tillemonl, — , 289 ; on the Acts of
S. Felicitas, 300 ; on the
martyrdom of the Theban
Legion, 148 n. i
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, ex-
planations made to {see
also under Names), 343
if nn. I &'2 et seq.
Haggadic notices on, from Pales-
tinian 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 iS" w. 2
Torre Pignatara, tomb of S. Helena

at, 249
Trade, difficulties in, of Early Chris-
tians, 141
Tradition, rehabilitated by Arclu-eology,
105, 225-6, 230-1, 239-40,
241, 289, 293, 298, 304
on S. I'eter as founder of Roman
Christianity, 7, 8 ; literary
and archxological support
to, 8, 9 el seq.
Trajan, Emperor, 1 10, 164, 171, 172,
182 ; altitude to, of Christian
historians, 48-9
Characteristics of, 49-5°! 5S« ^5
Death of, and successor, 75
Pliny's letter to, 27, 32, 35 «. I, 43.
45 et seq., 56, 103 ^^m. 2,

177

4o8

THE EARLY CHRISTIANS IN ROME

Trajan — [continued)

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. i ; Ter-
tullian'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. I, 267, 272,
273-4, 292, 298
Trastevere Quarter, Catacombs in,

Itineraries on, 210-I1
Tridentine Catechism, the, 319 «. i
Trinity, Blessed, references to, in Cata-
combs, 316
Triumvirate, proscription of, 56
"Tropjeum," the, probable identifica-
tion of, 282

Ubaldi, Canon of S. Peter's, on
discoveries during erection
of Bernini's baldachino, 281
& n. I et seq.

Uhlhorn, — , views of, on Trajan's
Rescript, 49

Urban viii, Pope, and the discovery of
S. Peter's sarcophagus, 233
71. I, 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 w. i

Valerian, Emperor, favour shown by, to
Christians, 147 ; persecution
under, 243, 247, 256, 275

Vatican Basilica, the, 293

Hill, Cemetery on, 243, 272-3 ; be-
ginning of, 280, 285, 286 ;
"Itinerary" on, 210; re-
discovery 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, " Memoriae" of Apostles

on, II, 233
Vergil, poems by, 87, 88, 91, teaching

of, 88, 95
Verus, son of .^lius Verus, adopted by

Antoninus Pius, 83
Vespasian, Emperor, 33 ; attitude of,
to Christianity, 39-40 S^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, catacomlis 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 &= «. I
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. Aure-

lius, 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 tf/ seq.,

338, 354
Westcott, Bishop, on date of letter to

"Diognetus," 178 n. I
Westminster Abbey, epitaph of Jane

Lister in, 309
Westminster Confession, 319 «. I

INDEX

409

Whepstead, church of S. Parnel at, 278 j
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 i

and their tombs, 303 j

Wiseman, Cardinal, 263 j

Women, Christ's teaching on, and the

Talmudic contrasted, 367

&fn. I ; Court of, in the

Temple, 380
Worcester, two Saints of, 321

Wordsworth, W., poem of, on S. Ce-
cilia, 294 /(. I

Worship {see also Assemblies, Idol-
worship, Incense), in Chris-
tian Assemblies, Justin
Martyr on, 113-4

Wulphere, King of the Mercians, 279

XlPHlLlN or Xiphilinus, on Domilian,
41 ; on Hadrian, 75

Zealots, Rabbinic masters un-
sympathetic to, 342, 353,
354 ; revolts of, and re-
sults, 330-1, 332, 334-5

Zephyrinus, Pope, martyr, 11, tomb
of, 243, 24s, 273, 291

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