the extract from Cicero. The policy of the Empire is given on its conservative side by the advice of Maecenas to Augustus, and on its constructive side by the inscription referring to the official worship of Rome and Augustus at Lyons: and the second inscription mentions some of the Eastern worships which overspread the empire. Of the three intermediate passages, the first two refer to the persecution of converts by Septimius Severus and the tolerance of Severus Alexander. The third gives extracts from the Manichaean edict of Diocletian in 296. Note the burning of the books, and the comparative moderation of the first edict against the Christians. ERGO abolendo rumori Nero subdidit reos et quaesitissimis poenis adfecit, quos per flagitia invisos vulgus Christianos appellabat. Auctor nominis eius Christus Tiberio imperitante per procuratorem Pontium Pilatum 5 supplicio adfectus erat; repressaque in praesens exitiabilis superstitio rursum erumpebat, non modo per Iudaeam, originem eius mali, sed per urbem etiam, quo cuncta undique atrocia aut pudenda confluunt celebranturque. Igitur primum correpti qui fatebantur, inde indicio eorum 10 multitudo ingens haud perinde in crimine incendii quam odio humani generis convicti sunt. Et pereuntibus addita ludibria, ut ferarum tergis contecti, laniatu canum interirent aut crucibus adfixi, aut flammandi, atque' ubi defecisset dies, in usum nocturni luminis urerentur. Hortos suos 15 ei spectaculo Nero obtulerat et circense ludicrum edebat, habitu aurigae permixtus plebi vel curriculo insistens. Unde quamquam adversus sontes et novissima exempla meritos miseratio oriebatur, tamquam non utilitate publica sed in saevitiam unius absumerentur. TACITUS, Ann. xv. 44. 20 II. Διὰ τὰς αἰφνιδίους καὶ ἐπαλλήλους γενομένας 2 ἡμῖν συμφορὰς καὶ περιπτώσεις, ἀδελφοί, βράδιον νομίζομεν ἐπιστροφὴν πεποιῆσθαι περὶ τῶν ἐπιζητουμένων παρ' ὑμῖν 1 adfixi, aut flammandi, atque] adfixi sunt flammandi, utque Franklin Arnold. 2 . . . ένας Α ; γενομένας CL; γινομένας S. The Neronian Persecution (Tacitus). So to stifle the report, Nero put in his own place as culprits and punished with every refinement of cruelty the men whom the common people hated for their secret crimes. They called them Christians. Christ, from whom the name was given, had been put to death in the reign of 5 Tiberius by the procurator Pontius Pilate, and the pestilent superstition checked for awhile. Afterwards it began to break out afresh, not only in Judaea, where the mischief first arose, but also at Rome, where all sorts of murder and filthy shame meet together and become 10 fashionable. In the first place then some were seized and made to confess; then on their information a vast multitude was convicted not so much of arson as of hatred for the human race. And they were not only put to death, but put to death with insult, in that they were either 15 dressed up in the skins of beasts to perish by the worrying of dogs or else put on crosses to be set on fire, and when the daylight failed, to be burnt for use as lights by night. Nero had thrown open his gardens for that spectacle, and was giving a circus exhibition, mingling with the people 20 in a jockey's dress, or driving a chariot. Hence com miseration arose, though it was for men of the worst character and deserving of the severest punishment, on the ground that they were not destroyed for the good of the state, but to satisfy the cruelty of an individual. Opening of Clement's Letter to the Corinthians. By reason of the sudden and repeated calamities and reverses which are befalling us, brethren, we consider that we have been somewhat tardy in giving heed to the 25 πραγμάτων, ἀγαπητοί, τῆς τε ἀλλοτρίας καὶ ξένης τοῖς ἐκλεκτοῖς τοῦ Θεοῦ, μιαρᾶς καὶ ἀνοσίου στάσεως, ἣν ὀλίγα πρόσωπα προπετῆ καὶ αὐθάδη ὑπάρχοντα εἰς τοσοῦτον ἀπονοίας ἐξέκαυσαν, ὥστε τὸ σεμνὸν καὶ περιβόητον καὶ 5 πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις ἀξιαγάπητον ὄνομα ὑμῶν μεγάλως βλασφημηθῆναι. τίς γὰρ παρεπιδημήσας πρὸς ὑμᾶς τὴν πανάρετον καὶ βεβαίαν ὑμῶν πίστιν οὐκ ἐδοκίμασεν ; τήν τε σώφρονα καὶ ἐπιεικῆ ἐν Χριστῷ εὐσέβειαν οὐκ ἐθαύμασεν; καὶ τὸ μεγαλοπρεπὲς τῆς φιλοξενίας ὑμῶν το ἦθος οὐκ ἐκήρυξεν ; καὶ τὴν τελείαν καὶ ἀσφαλῆ γνῶσιν οὐκ ἐμακάρισεν ; ἀπροσωπολήμπτως γὰρ πάντα ἐποιεῖτε, καὶ τοῖς νομίμοις' τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐπορεύεσθε, ὑποτασσόμενοι τοῖς ἡγουμένοις ὑμῶν καὶ τιμὴν τὴν καθήκουσαν ἀπονέμοντες τοῖς παρ' ὑμῖν πρεσβυτέροις νέοις τε μέτρια καὶ 15 σεμνὰ νοεῖν ἐπετρέπετε γυναιξίν τε ἐν ἀμώμῳ καὶ σεμνῇ καὶ ἁγνῇ συνειδήσει πάντα ἐπιτελεῖν παρηγγέλλετε, στεργούσας καθηκόντως τοὺς ἄνδρας ἑαυτῶν· ἔν τε τῷ κανόνι τῆς ὑποταγῆς ὑπαρχούσας τὰ κατὰ τὸν οἶκον σεμνῶς οἰκουργεῖν ἐδιδάσκετε, πάνυ σωφρονούσας. 20 III. CLEMENS ROMANUS, Ad Cor. i. ̓Αλλ ̓ ἵνα τῶν ἀρχαίων ὑποδειγμάτων παυσώμεθα, ἔλθωμεν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἔγγιστα γενομένους ἀθλητάς· λάβωμεν τῆς γενεᾶς ἡμῶν τὰ γενναῖα ὑποδείγματα. διὰ ζῆλον καὶ φθόνον οἱ μέγιστοι καὶ δικαιότατοι στύλοι ἐδιώχθησαν καὶ ἕως θανάτου ἤθλησαν. λάβωμεν πρὸ ὀφθαλμῶν ἡμῶν 15 τοὺς ἀγαθοὺς ἀποστόλους Πέτρον, ὃς διὰ ζῆλον ἄδικον οὐχ ἕνα οὐδὲ δύο ἀλλὰ πλείονας ὑπήνεγκεν πόνους, καὶ οὕτω μαρτυρήσας ἐπορεύθη εἰς τὸν ὀφειλόμενον τόπον τῆς δόξης. διὰ ζῆλον καὶ ἔριν Παῦλος ὑπομονῆς βραβεῖον 1· τοῖς νομίμοις] Clem. Αlex., τοῖς νόμοις AC; in lege S |