even favorable to the new religion, which his wife and daughter are said to have secretly embraced, and which was openly professed by the imperial eunuchs Lucianus, Dorotheus, Gorgonius, and Andreas, and by most of the principal officers of the palace. The Christian bishops were treated with respect, and new and more stately churches were rising in all the cities of the empire. But amid this seeming prosperity, a close observer might discern the distant approach of a tempest. Maximian and Galerius were both inveterately hostile to the Christian faith, while the zeal and jealousy of the polytheists were alarmed at its rapid progress. They clung more closely to the religion of their ancestors when they saw it menaced with destruction, and the new philosophy, which had based itself on the ancient superstition, inspired its professors with hatred for its enemies and opponents. The philosophers saw plainly that by reasoning and eloquence alone its sinking cause could not be maintained, and that its only resource was the employment of violent measures. We therefore find that the philosophers were the directors of the subsequent persecution, and the chief suggestors of the means for giving it efficacy. Galerius passed the winter after the conclusion of the Persian war at Nicomedia; and during that period he had frequent conferences with Diocletian on the subject of Christianity. He represented to the emperor how utterly incompatible it was with the ancient institutions of the state, forming, as it did, an empire within the empire, all whose members were regularly organized, and ready to act at any time as one man. Diocletian confessed that he saw the danger, and agreed to exclude the Christians from offices in the army and the palace; but he expressed his disinclination to shed their blood, as not merely cruel, but impolitic. Galerius, not content, prevailed on him to summon a council of the principal civil and military officers, to take the important matter into consideration; and the council, when it met, seconded the views of the Cæsar, into whose hands the reins of power were likely soon to fall. Diocletian, we may suppose, yielded to the arguments that were employed, as a man of superior mind does when he gives way to his inferiors in intellect, foreseeing the consequences, but unable to prevent them. A system of persecution was therefore projected, and preparations were made for carrying it into effect. From a motive probably of superstition, the day of the Terminalia, or festival of Terminus, the god of boundaries, (Feb. 23,) was fixed for that of commencing to set limits to the inroads made on the ancient faith of Rome. At dawn on that day, (303,) the prætorian prefect, accompanied by some of the higher officers of the army and the revenue, proceeded to the principal church of Nicomedia. The doors were broken open, the holy books were taken out and committed to the flames, and the sacred edifice was demolished. Next day, (24th,) an edict was published, ordering the demolition of all the churches throughout the empire, and forbidding any secret religious assemblies to be held; the bishops and presbyters were commanded to deliver up the sacred books to the magistrates, by whom they were to be burnt, and all the property of the church was declared to be confiscate. Christians were pronounced incapable of holding any office, and Christian slaves were excluded from the boon of manumission. The judges might determine any action brought against a Christian, but no legal remedy was granted to the Christian when the object of injury. The whole Christian body was thus degraded, robbed of its public property, and put without the pale of the law; but the persecution still stopped short of blood. This edict was, in the usual manner, exposed to public view. But it had scarcely been displayed, when a zealous Christian tore it down, uttering invectives against its authors. His offence was treason; and he expiated it with his life, being burnt at a slow fire. In the course of the following fortnight, flames burst out twice in the palace; and, as it was clear that they were not accidental, they were ascribed to the vengeance of the Christians, by whose writers the guilt is transferred to Galerius, who thus, they say, sought to irritate Diocletian against them. Whatever was the truth, the effect which Galerius desired was produced on the emperor's mind. The imperial eunuchs were tortured and put to death with circumstances of the utmost barbarity. Anthemus, the bishop of Nicomedia, was beheaded, and several of his flock perished at the same time. A series of cruel edicts succeeded. By one, the governors of provinces were ordered to cast all the Christian ecclesiastics into prison; by a second, they were enjoined to employ every kind of severity in order to make them abandon their superstition, and sacrifice to the gods; by a third, LL (304,) the magistrates were commanded to force all Christians, without distinction of age or sex, to sacrifice to the gods, and to employ every kind of torture for that purpose. The issuing of this edict was one of the last public acts of Diocletian, as his resignation took place in the course of the year. The efforts of Diocletian and Galerius were seconded by Maximian, who hated the Christians; and the persecution raged in Italy and Africa as in the East; but the mild Constantius protected the persons of his Christian subjects, though he found it necessary to consent to the demolition of their churches. The entire duration of the persecution was ten years, (303-313;) it was more or less violent in different times and places, and according to the characters and political circumstances of the princes. On the part of the persecutors, every refinement of barbarity was practised; on that of the persecuted, there was an abundant display of zeal and courage, though in many cases adulterated with fanaticism. At the same time, there were many, even bishops and presbyters, who gained the opprobrious title of Traditors, by delivering the sacred Scriptures into the hands of the heathen. From the vague language employed by the ecclesiastical writers, it is difficult to form any clear idea of the number of those who suffered martyrdom in the space of these ten years. Gibbon estimates it at two thousand persons; but his prejudices would lead him to put it at the lowest possible amount. Supposing it, however, to be five, or even ten times that number, it would still be far short of that of the victims in any one of the religious massacres perpetrated by the church of Rome. CHAPTER II.* GALERIUS, CONSTANTIUS, SEVERUS, MAXENTIUS, MAXIMIAN, LICINIUS, MAXIMIN, CONSTANTINE. A. U. 1057-1090. A. D. 304-337. CONSTAN THE EMPERORS AND CESARS. CONSTANTINE. -MAXENTIUS. Galerius and Constantius. A. U. 1058-1059. A. D. 305-306. THE task of appointing Cæsars, in the place of himself and Constantius, was assumed by the haughty Galerius. For his own associate he selected his nephew Daza or Maximin, and an Illyrian, named Severus, was appointed to the same dignity under Constantius; the government of Egypt and Syria was committed to Maximin; that of Italy and Africa, to Severus. Little more than a year elapsed after the retirement of Diocletian, when events occurred which proved the futility of his plan for governing the Roman world by emperors, with subordinate Cæsars. The first took place on the occasion of the death of Constantius, who expired at York, on the 25th of July, 306. According to the rule established by Diocletian, Severus should have become the Augustus, and a new Cæsar have been appointed; but the soldiers of the army of Britain insisted that the eldest son of the deceased emperor should succeed to his rank and power. This son was Constantine, afterwards so renowned. His mother, * Authorities: Zosimus, the Epitomators and Panegyrists, Lactantius, Eusebius, and the Ecclesiastical Historians. named Helena, was the daughter of an innkeeper; and Constantius had been obliged to divorce her on the occasion of his elevation to the rank of Cæsar. Constantine, who was then about eighteen years of age, engaged in the service of Diocletian, and distinguished himself in the Egyptian and Persian wars. He rose to high rank in the army; his appearance, manners, and qualities were such as were sure to win the favor of the people and the soldiery, and Galerius, when emperor, marked him out as the object of his jealousy. Alarmed at the dangers to which he knew him to be exposed, Constantius earnestly besought of Galerius to allow his son to repair to him. After many delays, that emperor gave a reluctant consent; and Constantine, fearful of treachery, travelled with the utmost speed, and joined his father as he was embarking for Britain. There can be no doubt that the succession was not the mere spontaneous offer of the soldiery, and that Constantine had employed the usual artifices, and made the usual promises, on this occasion; for, in fact, his only safety now lay in empire. He, however, affected a decent degree of reluctance; and he wrote to Galerius, excusing himself for what had occurred. The first emotions of the emperor were those of surprise and fury; but, on calm reflection, he saw the danger of a contest with the hardy legions of the West, and he consented to allow Constantine a share of the imperial power, giving him, however, only the humbler title of Cæsar, while he conferred the vacant dignity of Augustus on Severus. Satisfied with the substance of power, Constantine was careless of titles; he devoted himself to the improvement of his dominions, and he discharged the duties of an affectionate brother to his six half-brothers and sisters, whom his father, when dying, had committed to his care. Galerius, Constantine, Maxentius, Licinius.* A. U. 1059-1066. A. D. 306-313. The next event which proved the instability of the new form of government, commenced with an insurrection at Rome. From the time of the conquest of Macedonia, a period of nearly five centuries, the people of Rome had been * We only mention here the principal emperors. |