The History of Christianity - John S. C. Abbott (bookstand for reading .txt) 📗

horrible and disgraceful flow from all quarters as to a common receptacle, and where they are encouraged. Accordingly, first those were seized who confessed that they were Christians; next, on their information, a vast multitude were convicted, not so much on the charge of burning the city, as of hating the human race.

“And in their deaths they were made the subject of sport; for they were covered with skins of wild beasts, and worried to death by dogs, or nailed to crosses, or set fire to, and, when day declined, burned to serve for nocturnal lights. Nero offered his own gardens for that spectacle, and exhibited a circensian game, indiscriminately mingling with the common people in the habit of a charioteer, or else standing in his chariot. Whence a feeling of compassion rose towards the sufferers, though guilty, and deserving to be made examples of by capital punishment, because they seem not to be cut off for the public good, but victims to the ferocity of one man.”167

It will be noticed in the above paragraph that Tacitus alludes to a charge which Nero brought against the Christians, of having set fire to the city of Rome. One day, some one repeated in conversation, in presence of the tyrant, the line, “When I am dead, let fire devour the world.” Nero replied, “It shall be said, ‘When I am living, let fire devour the world.’”

Rome then contained, according to the general estimate, about four million inhabitants. They were crowded together in narrow, winding streets. Nero ordered his emissaries to apply the torch in various sections of the city. The wind was fresh; the buildings, which were mostly of wood, were dry; the flames fierce. Nero ascended a neighboring tower to view the cruel, sublime, awful spectacle. Earth never witnessed such a scene before, has never since. For nine days and nights the flames raged in quenchless fury. Uncounted multitudes, caught in the narrow streets, perished miserably. The most magnificent specimens of architecture and priceless works of art were consumed.

The motives which led to this diabolical deed were probably complex. It is said that Nero, satiated with every conceivable indulgence, longed for some new excitement. The spectacle of the dwellings of four millions of people in flames; the frenzy, the dismay, the runnings to and fro, of the perishing millions,—men, women, and children; the rush and roar of the conflagration, flashing in billowy flames by night to the clouds,—all combined to present a spectacle such as mortal eye had never gazed upon before.

The estimated population of the Roman empire at this time was about a hundred and fifty millions. By the assessment of enormous taxes upon these millions, funds could easily be raised to rebuild Rome in hitherto unimagined splendor. It is said that this ambition was one of the motives which inspired Nero to his infamous deed.

Nero commenced with great energy, levying taxes, and rebuilding the city; but the cry of the starving, houseless millions could not be stifled. The tyrant was alarmed. To shield himself from obloquy, he accused the Christians of the crime, and visited them with the most terrible retribution.

“Not all the relief,” writes Tacitus, “that could come from man, not all the bounties that the prince could bestow, nor all the atonements which could be presented to the gods, availed to relieve Nero from the infamy of being believed to have ordered the conflagration. Hence, to suppress the rumor, he falsely charged with the guilt, and punished with the most exquisite tortures, the persons called Christians.”

To enter into the detail of the outrages to which the Christians were exposed would but harrow the feelings of the reader. Demoniac ingenuity was employed in inflicting the most revolting and terrible suffering; while at the same time the victims were so disguised, sewed up in skins of wild beasts, or wrapped in tarred sheets, as to deprive them of all sympathy, and expose them to the derision of the brutal mob. Tender Christian maidens passed through ordeals of exposure, suffering, and death, too dreadful for us, in these modern days, even to contemplate. That divine support which Christ promised to his followers in these predicted hours of persecution sustained them. The imagination cannot conceive of greater cruelty than Nero inflicted upon these disciples of Jesus: and yet in death they came off more than conquerors; and it proved then emphatically true, that “the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the Church.”

It was during this persecution by Nero that Paul suffered martyrdom at Rome. He had been there a prisoner in chains for some years. With his accustomed power and success, he had preached the gospel of Jesus; and those pure doctrines had gained access even to the palace of the Cæsars. A large and flourishing church had been gathered in that city, which in corruption equalled, even if it did not outvie, Sodom and Gomorrah. On no page of Holy Writ does the light of inspiration beam more brightly than in Paul’s Epistle to the Church at Rome.

Chrysostom says, that a cup-bearer of Nero, and one of the most distinguished females of his court, became, through the preaching of Paul, disciples of Jesus, and recoiled from the sin and the shame everywhere around them. This so enraged the tyrant, that he ordered Paul immediately to be beheaded.

It is one of the legends of the Romish Church, founded upon evidence which has not generally been entirely satisfactory to Protestants, that the apostle Peter visited Rome, where he was arrested, and imprisoned with Paul. It is said that the two apostles were incarcerated together in the prison of Mamertin, which was at the foot of the Capitoline Hill, and which was constructed of damp and gloomy underground vaults, extensive in their range, and crowded with the victims of tyranny. Two of the prison-guards and forty-seven of the prisoners, impressed by the character and by the teachings of these holy men, became converts. Peter baptized them. Nero ordered both of the apostles to be executed. Their death took place, according to the declaration of the Catholic fathers, on the same day,—the 29th of June, A.D. 67. St. Paul, being a Roman citizen, could not be subjected to the ignominy of crucifixion: he was beheaded. St. Peter, being a Jew, was regarded as a vile person, and doomed to the cross. Paul was led a distance of three miles from the city to a place called the Fountain of Salvienne, where the block of the executioner awaited him. On the way, forgetful of self, he preached the gospel of Jesus to the soldiers who guarded him. Three of them became converts, and soon after suffered martyrdom.

St. Peter was led across the Tiber to the quarter inhabited by the Jews, and was crucified on the top of Mount Janiculum. As they were preparing to nail him to the cross in the ordinary manner, he said that “he did not merit to be treated as was his Master,” and implored them to crucify him with his head downwards. His wish was granted.168

Nero had a half-brother, Britannicus, the son of Claudius and his own mother Agrippina. Legitimately, he was entitled to the throne rather than Nero. The tyrant became jealous of Britannicus. He was invited, with his mother and his sister Octavia, to a supper in the palace of Nero. A goblet of poisoned wine was placed before him: he drank, fell into convulsions, and died in the arms of his mother. Nero reclined listlessly upon a sofa, and, as he witnessed his agonizing convulsions, said “he did not think much was the matter with Britannicus; that it was probably merely a fainting-fit.” When it appeared that the prince was really dead, he ordered the body to be immediately removed and burned; while the entertainment went on undisturbed. It was a tempestuous night. Floods of rain were falling, and a tornado swept the city, as the funeral-pyre of the young prince blazed in the Campus Martius.

“The appointments for his burial,” writes Tacitus, “had been prepared beforehand. His ashes were entombed in the Campus Martius during such tempestuous rains, that the populace believed them to be denunciations of the wrath of the gods against the deed. Nero, by an edict, justified the hurrying of the obsequies, alleging that it was an institution of their ancestors to withdraw from the sight such as died prematurely, and not to lengthen the solemnity by encomiums and processions.”

The vast estates of Britannicus, consisting of palaces, villas, and other property, were seized by Nero, and divided among his partisans to purchase their support.

Agrippina understood full well that Britannicus had been poisoned by his brother Nero; but she feigned to be deceived, and to believe that he died accidentally in a fit. Agrippina was another Messalina. She hated Nero, and determined to secure his death. Nero hated her, and was plotting day and night how he might kill her, and yet not expose himself to the charge of being the murderer of his mother. They both affected the most cordial relations in their social intercourse, and addressed each other in the most endearing epithets.

Agrippina was immensely rich, had numerous and powerful partisans, and had formed the plan of effecting the assassination of Nero, and of placing upon the throne one of her favorites, Rubellius Plautus. Nero, whose suspicions were ever active, received some intimations of this plan. The following ingenious device he adopted to rid himself of his mother: He caused a vessel to be constructed with more than regal splendor, but so arranged, that, by the withdrawal of a few bolts, the heavy canopy which overhung the royal couch would fall with a fatal crash; and at the same time planks would give way, which would cause the vessel immediately to founder.

Agrippina was residing at her magnificent country-seat at Antium, near Rome. Nero invited his mother to an entertainment, such as only a Roman emperor could provide, at Baiæ, near Naples. It is probable that the mother was somewhat deceived by the marvellous affection manifested for her by her son. She accepted his invitation. She was conveyed to Baiæ in a sedan. Nero met her upon her approach, embraced her affectionately, and led her to the villa of Bauli, washed by the sea, where her reception was as magnificent as imperial wealth and power could give. Agrippina was assigned a seat by the side of her son. He loaded her with caresses, amused her with anecdotes, and honored her by pretending to seek her counsel upon the most serious affairs of state.

It was a late hour when the banquet came to a close. Nero conducted his mother to the beach, and assisted her into the imperial barge, which, driven by three banks of oars, was appointed to convey her to Antium. It was a brilliant night. The unclouded sky was resplendent with stars, while not a breath of wind rippled the polished surface of the sea. With lusty sinews the well-trained seamen pushed the barge from the shore. The hired assassins of Nero on board had made all the arrangements for the destruction of the empress, her attendants, and the seamen; while precautions had been adopted for their own escape. They had proceeded but a short distance on their voyage, when suddenly the heavy-laden imperial canopy fell, with such force as to crush to death one of the female attendants who reclined at Agrippina’s feet; but it so happened that some of the timbers fell in such a way as to protect Agrippina from serious harm, though she was slightly wounded. Instantly apprehending the treachery of her son, she had sufficient presence of mind to remain perfectly quiet. One of her maids, who was thrown into the sea, in her drowning terror cried out that she was Agrippina, and implored of them to save the mother of the prince. The assassins smote her upon the