Thoughts Of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus - Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (novels to read for beginners .TXT) 📗

Must Conclude That The Apology Was Directed To

Them. Eusebius (E.H. Iv. 18) States That The Second Apology Was

Addressed To The Successor Of Antoninus Pius,  And He Names Him Antoninus

Verus,  Meaning M. Antoninus. In One Passage Of This Second Apology (C.

8),  Justinus,  Or The Writer,  Whoever He May Be,  Says That Even Men Who

Followed The Stoic Doctrines,  When They Ordered Their Lives According To

Ethical Reason,  Were Hated And Murdered,  Such As Heraclitus,  Musonius In

His Own Times,  And Others; For All Those Who In Any Way Labored To Live

According To Reason And Avoided Wickedness Were Always Hated; And This

Was The Effect Of The Work Of Daemons.

 

    [A] Orosius,  Vii. 14,  Says That Justinus The Philosopher

    Presented To Antonius Pius His Work In Defence Of The Christian

    Religion,  And Made Him Merciful To The Christians.

 

Justinus Himself Is Said To Have Been Put To Death At Rome,  Because He

Refused To Sacrifice To The Gods. It Cannot Have Been In The Reign Of

Hadrian,  As One Authority States; Nor In The Time Of Antoninus Pius,  If

The Second Apology Was Written In The Time Of M. Antoninus; And There Is

Evidence That This Event Took Place Under M. Antoninus And L. Verus,

When Rusticus Was Praefect Of The City.[A]

 

    [A] See The Martyrium Sanctorum Justini,  &C.,  In The Works Of

    Justinus,  Ed. Otto,  Vol. Ii. 559. "Junius Rusticus Praefectus

    Urbi Erat Sub Imperatoribus M. Aurelio Et L. Vero,  Id Quod

    Liquet Ex Themistii Orat. Xxxiv Dindorf. P. 451,  Et Ex Quodam

    Illorum Rescripto,  Dig. 49. 1. I,  § 2" (Otto). The Rescript

    Contains The Words "Junium Rusticum Amicum Nostrum Praefectum

    Urbi." The Martyrium Of Justinus And Others Is Written In

    Greek. It Begins,  "In The Time Of The Wicked Defenders Of

    Idolatry Impious Edicts Were Published Against The Pious

    Christians Both In Cities And Country Places,  For The Purpose

    Of Compelling Them To Make Offerings To Vain Idols. Accordingly

    The Holy Men (Justinus,  Chariton,  A Woman Charito,  Paeon,

    Liberianus,  And Others) Were Brought Before Rusticus,  The

    Praefect Of Rome."

 

    The Martyrium Gives The Examination Of The Accused By Rusticus.

    All Of Them Professed To Be Christians. Justinus Was Asked If

    He Expected To Ascend Into Heaven And To Receive A Reward For

    His Sufferings,  If He Was Condemned To Death. He Answered That

    He Did Not Expect: He Was Certain Of It. Finally,  The Test Of

    Obedience Was Proposed To The Prisoners; They Were Required To

    Sacrifice To The Gods. All Refused,  And Rusticus Pronounced The

    Sentence,  Which Was That Those Who Refused To Sacrifice To The

    Gods And Obey The Emperor's Order Should Be Whipped And

    Beheaded According To The Law. The Martyrs Were Then Led To The

    Usual Place Of Execution And Beheaded. Some Of The Faithful

    Secretly Carried Off The Bodies And Deposited Them In A Fit

    Place.

 

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The Persecution In Which Polycarp Suffered At Smyrna Belongs To The Time

Of M. Antoninus. The Evidence For It Is The Letter Of The Church Of

Smyrna To The Churches Of Philomelium And The Other Christian Churches,

And It Is Preserved By Eusebius (E.H. Iv. 15). But The Critics Do Not

Agree About The Time Of Polycarp's Death,  Differing In The Two Extremes

To The Amount Of Twelve Years. The Circumstances Of Polycarp's Martyrdom

Were Accompanied By Miracles,  One Of Which Eusebius (Iv. 15) Has

Omitted,  But It Appears In The Oldest Latin Version Of The Letter,  Which

Usher Published,  And It Is Supposed That This Version Was Made Not Long

After The Time Of Eusebius. The Notice At The End Of The Letter States

That It Was Transcribed By Caius From The Copy Of Irenaeus,  The Disciple

Of Polycarp,  Then Transcribed By Socrates At Corinth; "After Which I

Pionius Again Wrote It Out From The Copy Above Mentioned,  Having

Searched It Out By The Revelation Of Polycarp,  Who Directed Me To It,"

&C. The Story Of Polycarp's Martyrdom Is Embellished With Miraculous

Circumstances Which Some Modern Writers On Ecclesiastical History Take

The Liberty Of Omitting.[A]

 

    [A] Conyers Middleton,  An Inquiry Into The Miraculous Powers,

    &C. P. 126. Middleton Says That Eusebius Omitted To Mention The

    Dove,  Which Flew Out Of Polycarp's Body,  And Dodwell And

    Archbishop Wake Have Done The Same. Wake Says,  "I Am So Little

    A Friend To Such Miracles That I Thought It Better With

    Eusebius To Omit That Circumstance Than To Mention It From Bp.

    Usher's Manuscript," Which Manuscript However,  Says Middleton,

    He Afterwards Declares To Be So Well Attested That We Need Not

    Any Further Assurance Of The Truth Of It.

 

In Order To Form A Proper Notion Of The Condition Of The Christians

Under M. Antoninus We Must Go Back To Trajan's Time. When The Younger

Pliny Was Governor Of Bithynia,  The Christians Were Numerous In Those

Parts,  And The Worshipers Of The Old Religion Were Falling Off. The

Temples Were Deserted,  The Festivals Neglected,  And There Were No

Purchasers Of Victims For Sacrifice. Those Who Were Interested In The

Maintenance Of The Old Religion Thus Found That Their Profits Were In

Danger. Christians Of Both Sexes And All Ages Were Brought Before The

Governor Who Did Not Know What To Do With Them. He Could Come To No

Other Conclusion Than This,  That Those Who Confessed To Be Christians

And Persevered In Their Religion Ought To Be Punished; If For Nothing

Else,  For Their Invincible Obstinancy. He Found No Crimes Proved Against

The Christians,  And He Could Only Characterize Their Religion As A

Depraved And Extravagant Superstition,  Which Might Be Stopped If The

People Were Allowed The Opportunity Of Recanting. Pliny Wrote This In A

Letter To Trajan (Plinius,  Ep. X. 97). He Asked For The Emperor's

Directions,  Because He Did Not Know What To Do. He Remarks That He Had

Never Been Engaged In Judicial Inquiries About The Christians,  And That

Accordingly He Did Not Know What To Inquire About,  Or How Far To Inquire

And Punish. This Proves That It Was Not A New Thing To Examine Into A

Man's Profession Of Christianity And To Punish Him For It.[A]

 

    [A] Orosius (Vii. 12) Speaks Of Trajan's Persecution Of The

    Christians,  And Of Pliny's Application To Him Having Led The

    Emperor To Mitigate His Severity. The Punishment By The Mosaic

    Law For Those Who Attempted To Seduce The Jews To Follow New

    Gods Was Death. If A Man Was Secretly Enticed To Such New

    Worship,  He Must Kill The Seducer,  Even If The Seducer Were

    Brother,  Son,  Daughter,  Wife,  Or Friend. (Deut. Xiii.)

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Trajan's Rescript Is Extant. He Approved Of The Governor's Judgment In

The Matter,  But He Said That No Search Must Be Made After The

Christians; If A Man Was Charged With The New Religion And Convicted,  He

Must Not Be Punished If He Affirmed That He Was Not A Christian,  And

Confirmed His Denial By Showing His Reverence To The Heathen Gods. He

Added That No Notice Must Be Taken Of Anonymous Informations,  For Such

Things Were Of Bad Example. Trajan Was A Mild And Sensible Man; And Both

Motives Of Mercy And Policy Probably Also Induced Him To Take As Little

Notice Of The Christians As He Could,  To Let Them Live In Quiet If It

Were Possible. Trajan's Rescript Is The First Legislative Act Of The

Head Of The Roman State With Reference To Christianity,  Which Is Known

To Us. It Does Not Appear That The Christians Were Further Disturbed

Under His Reign. The Martyrdom Of Ignatius By The Order Of Trajan

Himself Is Not Universally Admitted To Be An Historical Fact.[A]

 

    [A] The Martyrium Ignatii,  First Published In Latin By

    Archbishop Usher,  Is The Chief Evidence For The Circumstances

    Of Ignatius' Death.

 

In The Time Of Hadrian It Was No Longer Possible For The Roman

Government To Overlook The Great Increase Of The Christians And The

Hostility Of The Common Sort To Them. If The Governors In The Provinces

Were Willing To Let Them Alone,  They Could Not Resist The Fanaticism Of

The Heathen Community,  Who Looked On The Christians As Atheists. The

Jews Too,  Who Were Settled All Over The Roman Empire,  Were As Hostile To

The Christians As The Gentiles Were.[A] With The Time Of Hadrian Begin

The Christian Apologies,  Which Show Plainly What The Popular Feeling

Towards The Christians Then Was. A Rescript Of Hadrian To Minucius

Fundanus,  The Proconsul Of Asia,  Which Stands At The End Of Justin's

First Apology,[B] Instructs The Governor That Innocent People Must Not

Be Troubled,  And False Accusers Must Not Be Allowed To Extort Money From

Them; The Charges Against The Christians Must Be Made In Due Form,  And

No Attention Must Be Paid To Popular Clamors; When Christians Were

Regularly Prosecuted And Convicted Of Illegal Acts,  They Must Be

Punished According To Their Deserts; And False Accusers Also Must Be

Punished. Antoninus Pius Is Said To Have Published Rescripts To The Same

Effect. The Terms Of Hadrian's Rescript Seem Very Favorable To The

Christians; But If We Understand It In This Sense,  That They Were Only

To Be Punished Like Other People For Illegal Acts,  It Would Have Had No

Meaning,  For That Could Have Been Done Without Asking The Emperor's

Advice. The Real Purpose Of The Rescript Is That Christians Must Be

Punished If They Persisted In Their Belief,  And Would Not Prove Their

Renunciation Of It By Acknowledging The Heathen Religion. This Was

Trajan's Rule,  And We Have No Reason For Supposing That Hadrian Granted

More To The Christians Than Trajan Did. There Is Also Printed At The End

Of Justin's First Apology A Rescript Of Antoninus Pius To The Commune Of

([Greek: To Koinon Tês Asias]),  And It Is Also In Eusebius (E.H. Iv.

13). The Date Of The Rescript Is The Third Consulship Of Antoninus

Pius.[C] The Rescript Declares That The Christians--For They Are Meant,

Though The Name Christians Does Not Occur In The Rescript--Were Not To

Be Disturbed Unless They Were Attempting Something Against The Roman

Rule; And No Man Was To Be Punished Simply For Being A Christian. But

This Rescript Is Spurious. Any Man Moderately Acquainted With Roman

History Will See By The Style And Tenor That It Is A Clumsy Forgery.

 

    [A] We Have The Evidence Of Justinus (Ad Diognetum,  C. 5) To

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