an inquisitor, anxious to discover the most minute par- had shaken, or if the temperate order of the seasons ticles of heresy, and exulting in the number of his vic- had been interrupted, the superstitious pagans were tims, the emperor expresses much more solicitude to convinced, that the crimes and the impiety of the chrisprotect the security of the innocent, than to prevent tians, who were spared by the excessive lenity of the the escape of the guilty. He acknowledges the diffi- government, had at length provoked the Divine justice. culty of fixing any general plan; but he lays down It was not among a licentious and exasperated poputwo salutary rules, which often afforded relief and sup- lace, that the forms of legal proceedings could be obport to the distressed christians. Though he directs served; it was not in an amphitheatre, stained with the the magistrates to punish such persons as are legally blood of wild beasts and gladiators, that the voice of convicted, he prohibits them, with a very humane in- compassion could be heard. The impatient clamours consistency, from making any inquiries concerning the of the multitude denounced the christians as the enesupposed criminals. Nor was the magistrate allowed mies of gods and men, doomed them to the severest to proceed on every kind of information. Anonymous tortures, and venturing to accuse by name some of the charges the emperor rejects, as too repugnant to the most distinguished of the new sectaries, required with equity of his government; and he strictly requires, for irresistible vehemence that they should be instantly the conviction of those to whom the guilt of chris-apprehended and cast to the lions. The provincial tianity is imputed, the positive evidence of a fair and governors and magistrates who presided in the public open accuser. It is likewise probable, that the persons spectacles were usually inclined to gratify the inclinawho assumed so invidious an office, were obliged to tions, and to appease the rage, of the people, by the declare the grounds of their suspicions, to specify (both sacrifice of a few obnoxious victims. But the wisdom in respect to time and place) the secret assemblies, of the emperors protected the church from the danger which their christian adversary had frequented, and to of these tumultuous clamours and irregular accusadisclose a great number of circumstances, which were tions, which they justly censured as repugnant both to concealed with the most vigilant jealousy from the eye the firmness and to the equity of their administration. of the profane. If they succeeded in their prosecu- The edicts of Hadrian and of Antoninus Pius expressly tion, they were exposed to the resentment of a consi- declared, that the voice of the multitude should never derable and active party, to the censure of the more be admitted as legal evidence to convict or to punish liberal portion of mankind, and to the ignominy which, those unfortunate persons who had embraced the enin every age and country, has attended the character of thusiasm of Christians. an informer. If, on the contrary, they failed in their III. Punishment was not the inevita- Trials of the proofs, they incurred the severe and perhaps capital ble consequence of conviction, and the christians. penalty, which, according to a law published by the christians, whose guilt was the most clearly proved emperor Hadrian, was inflicted on those who falsely by the testimony of witnesses, or even by their volunattributed to their fellow-citizens the crime of chris-tary confession, still retained in their own power the tianity. The violence of personal or superstitious alternative of life or death. It was not so much the animosity might sometimes prevail over the most natural apprehensions of disgrace and danger; but it cannot surely be imagined, that accusations of so unpromising an appearance were either lightly or frequently undertaken by the pagan subjects of the Roman empire." Popular clamours.

past offence, as the actual resistance, which excited the indignation of the magistrate. He was persuaded that he offered them an easy pardon, since if they consented to cast a few grains of incense upon the altar, they were dismissed from the tribunal in safety and with applause. It was esteemed the duty of a humane judge to endeavour to reclaim, rather than to punish, those deluded enthusiasts. Varying his tone according to the age, the sex, or the situation of the prisoners, he frequently condescended to set before their eyes every circumstance which could render life more pleasing, or death more terrible; and to solicit, nay to entreat, them, that they would show some compassion to themselves, to their families, and to their friends. If threats and persuasions proved ineffectual, he had often recourse to violence; the scourge and the rack were called in to supply the deficiency of argument, and every art of cruelty was employed to subdue such inflexible, and, as it appeared to the pagans, such criminal, obstinacy. The ancient apologists of christianity have censured with equal truth and severity, the irregular conduct of their persecutors, who, contrary to every principle of judicial proceeding, admitted the use of torture, in order to obtain, not a confession, but a denial, of the crime which was the object of their inquiry. The monks of the succeeding ages, who, in their peaceful solitudes, entertained themselves with diversifying the deaths and sufferings of the primitive martyrs, have frequently invented torments of a much more refined and ingenious nature. In particular, it has pleased them to suppose that the zeal of the Roman magistrates, disdaining every consideration of moral virtue or public decency, endeav

The expedient which was employed to elude the prudence of the laws, affords a sufficient proof how effectually they disappointed the mischievous designs of private malice or superstitious zeal. In a large and tumultuous assembly the restraints of fear and shame, so forcible on the minds of individuals are deprived of the greatest part of their influence. The pious christian, as he was desirous to obtain, or to escape, the glory of martyrdom, expected, either with impatience or with terror, the stated returns of the public games and festivals. On those occasions, the inhabitants of the great cities of the empire were collected in the circus of the theatre, where every circumstance of the place, as well as of the ceremony, contributed to kindle their devotion, and to extinguish their humanity. Whilst the numerous spectators, crowned with garlands, perfumed with incense, purified with the blood of victims, and surrounded with the altars and statues of their tutelar deities, resigned themselves to the enjoyment of pleasures, which they considered as an essential part of their religious worship; they recollected, that the christians alone abhorred the gods of mankind, and by their absence and melancholy on these solemn festivals, seemed to insult or to lament the public felicity. If the empire had been afflicted by any recent calamity, by a plague, a famine, or an unsuccessful war; if the Tyber had, or the Nile had not, risen beyond its banks; if the earth parte frustratus est;" and yet Tertullian, in another part of his Apologists, exposes the inconsistency of prohibiting inquiries, and en-usually fomented by the palace of the Jews. joining punishments.

Eusebius (Hist. Ecclesiast. I. iv. c. 9.) has preserved the edict of Hadrian. He has likewise (c. 13.) given us one still more favourable under the name of Antoninus; the authenticity of which is not so universally allowed. The second Apology of Justin contains some curious particulars relative to the accusation of christians. [Professor Hegelmayer has proved the authenticity of the edict of Antoninus in his comm. hist. theol. in edictum imp. Antonini. (P. Tubing. 1777, in quarto.)—G.]

p See Tertullian. (Apolog. c. 40.) The acts of the martyrdom of Polycarp exhibit a lively picture of these tumults, which were

q These regulations are inserted in the above-mentioned edicts of Hadrian and Pius. See the apology of Melito (apud Euseb. 1. iv. c. 26.)

See the rescript of Trajan, and the conduct of Pliny. The most authentic acts of the martyrs abound in these exhortations.

In particular, see Tertullian (Apolog. c, 2, 3.) and Lactantins (Institut. Divin. v. 9.) Their reasonings are almost the same; but we may discover, that one of these apologists had been a lawyer, and the other a rhetorician.

oured to seduce those whom they were unable to van- | triumph of an emperor, might speedily restore them by quish, and that by their orders the most brutal vio- a general pardon to their former state. Inconsiderable lence was offered to those whom they found it impos- The martyrs, devoted to immediate exe- number of marsible to seduce. It is related, that pious females, who cution by the Roman magistrates, ap- tyrs. were prepared to despise death, were sometimes con- pear to have been selected from the most opposite exdemned to a more severe trial, and called upon to de- tremes. They were either bishops and presbyters, termine whether they set a higher value on their reli- the persons the most distinguished among the chrisgion or on their chastity. The youths to whose tians by their rank and influence, and whose example licentious embraces they were abandoned, received might strike terror into the whole sect; or else they a solemn exhortation from the judge, to exert their were the meanest and most abject among them, particmost strenuous efforts to maintain the honour of Venus ularly those of the servile condition, whose lives were against the impious virgin who refused to burn in- esteemed of little value, and whose sufferings were cense on her altars. Their violence, however, was viewed by the ancients with too careless an indiffercommonly disappointed, and the seasonable interposi-ence. The learned Origen, who, from his experience tion of some miraculous power preserved the chaste spouses of Christ from the dishonour even of an involuntary defeat. We should not indeed neglect to remark, that the more ancient as well as authentic memorials of the church,' are seldom polluted with these extravagant and indecent fictions.""

trates.

as well as reading, was intimately acquainted with the history of the christians, declares in the most express terms, that the number of martyrs was very inconsiderable. His authority would alone be sufficient to annihilate that formidable army of martyrs, whose relics, drawn for the most part from the catacombs of Rome, have replenished so many churches, and whose marvellous achievements have been the subject of so many volumes of holy romance. But the general assertion of Origen may be explained and confirmed by the particular testimony of his friend Dionysius, who, in the immense city of Alexandria, and under the rigorous persecution of Decius, reckons only ten men and seven women who suffered for the profession of the christian name.'

epistles, or the acts, of Ignatius, (they may be found in the 2nd volume of the Apostolic Fathers,) yet we may quote that bishop of Antioch as one of these exemplary martyrs. He was sent in chains to ceived the pleasing intelligence, that the persecution of Antioch was Rome as a public spectacle; and when he arrived at Troas, he realready at an end.

a Though we cannot receive with entire confidence, either the

Humanity of the The total disregard of truth and proRomau magis bability in the representation of these primitive martyrdoms was occasioned by a very natural mistake. The ecclesiastical writers of the fourth and fifth centuries ascribed to the magistrates of Rome the same degree of implacable and unrelenting zeal which filled their own breasts against the heretics or the idolaters of their own times. It is not improbable that some of those persons who were raised to the dignities of the empire, might have imbibed the prejudices of the populace, and that the cruel disposition of others might occasionally be stimulated by motives of avarice or of personal resentment. But it is certain, and we may appeal to the grateful confessions of the first christians, that the greatest part of those magistrates who exercised in the provinces the authority of the emperor, or of the senate, and to whose hands alone the jurisdiction of life and death was intrusted, behaved like men of polished manners and liberal education, who respected the rules of justice, and who were conversant with the precepts of philosophy. They frequently declined the odious task of persecution, dismissed the charge with contempt, or suggested to the accused christian some Among the martyrs of Lyons (Euseb. I. v. c. 1.) the slave Blan. legal evasion, by which he might elude the severity of dina was distinguished by more exquisite tortures. Of the five mar the laws. Whenever they were invested with a dis-tyrs so much celebrated in the acts of Felicitas and Perpetua, two cretionary power, they used it much less for the oppression, than for the relief and benefit, of the afflicted church. They were far from condemning all the christians who were accused before their tribunal, and very far from punishing with death, all those who were convicted of an obstinate adherence to the new superstition. Contenting themselves, for the most part, with the milder chastisements of imprisonment, exile, or slavery in the mines," they left the unhappy victims of their justice some reason to hope, that a prosperous event, the accession, the marriage, or the

[The most ancient and most authentic memorials of the church, do relate many examples of this fact which are no where contradicted. Among others Tertullian says, Nam proxime ad lenonem damnando christianam, potius quam ad leonem, confessi estis labem pudicitiæ apud nos atrociorem omni pœna et omni morte reputari. (Apol. cap. ult. p. 40.) Eusebius says also, "Many virgins dragged into infamous places, have lost their life rather than lose their virtue. (Eusebius. Hist, eccles, lib. viii, ch. 14. p. 235.)—G.]

See two instances of this kind of torture in the Acta Sincera Martyrum, published by Ruinart, p. 160, 399. Jerome, in his Le. gend of Paul the Hermit, tells a strange story of a young man, who was chained naked on a bed of flowers, and assaulted by a beautiful and wanton courtezan. He quelled the rising temptation by biting off his tongue.

▾ The conversion of his wife provoked Claudius Herminianus, governor of Cappadocia, to treat the Christians with uncommon severity. Tertullian ad Scapulam, c. 3.

x Tertullian, in his epistle to the governor of Africa, mentions several remarkable instances of lenity and forbearance, which had happened within his knowledge.

y Neque enim in universum aliquid quod quasi certam formam habeat, constitui potest: an expression of Trajan, which gave a very great latitude to the governors of provinces.

In metalla damnamur, in insulas relegemur. Tertullian, Apolog. c. 12. The mines of Numidia contained nine bishops, with a proportionable number of their clergy and people, to whom Cyprian addressed a pious epistle of praise and comfort. See Cyprian, Epis.

tol. 76, 77.

Seven of his letters also-Eusebius and St. Jerome make mention of [The acts of St. Ignatius are generally received as authentic. them. There are two editions of them, in one the letters are lunger and many passages seem to have been interpolated. The other edileast, is the opinion of the ablest and most enlightened critics. (See tion is that which contains the real letters of St. Ignatius. Such at Lardner. Cred. of the Gosp. hist. part 2. vol. i. p. 152. Less uber die vindicia ignatianæ.) 'It was during the reign of Trajan that the religion. vol. 1. p. 529; Usseri, Dissert. de Ignatii epistolis: Pearson bishop Ignatius was carried from Antioch to Rome, to be exposed to lions in the amphitheater, in the year of Christ 107 according to some, and 116 according to others..-G.]

were of a servile, and two others of a very mean, condition.

c Origen advers, Celsum, l. iii. p. 116. His words deserve to be transcribed. οι Ολιγοι κατα καιρός, και σφόδρα εναριθμητοι περί των Χρισ. τιανων θεοσέβειας τεθνήκασι. “ Those who have suffered death for the christian religion are few, and easily numbered."-G.]

[The words which follow ought also to have been cited. "God not permitting that all this class of men should become extinct," which seems to indicate that Origen found the number of martyrs inconsiderable, only when comparing it with the number of those who survived. He speaks moreover of the state of religion under Carasecute the christians; it was during the reign of the last that Origen calla, Elagabalus, Alexander Severus, and Philip who did not perwrote his books against Celsus.-G.]

tians, and that all the christians were not saints and martyrs, we a If we recollect that all the plebeians of Rome were not chrismay judge with how much safety religious honours can be ascribed to bones or urns, indiscriminately taken from the public burial-place. After ten centuries of a very free and open trade, some suspicions have arisen among the more learned catholics. They now require, as a proof of sanctity and martyrdom, the letters B. M., a vial full of red liquor supposed to be blood, or the figure of a palm tree. But the two former signs are of little weight, and with regard to the last, it is observed by the critics, 1. That the figure, as it is called, of a palm, is perhaps a cypress, and perhaps only a stop, the flourish of a comma, used in the monumental inscriptions. 2. That the palm was the symbol of victory among the pagans. 3. That among the christians it served as the emblein, not only of martyrdom, but in general of a joyful resurrection. See the epistle of P. Mabillon, on the worship of unknown saints, and Muratori, supra le Antichitá Italiane, Dissertat. Iviii.

As a specimen of these legends, we may be satisfied with 10,000 christian soldiers crucified in one day, either by Trajan or Hadrian, on Mount Ararat. See Baronius ad Martyrologium Romanum. Til lemont. Mem. Ecclesiast, tom. ii. part ii. p. 438. and Geddes's Miscel lanies, vol. ii. p. 203. The abbreviation of MIL. which may signify either soldiers or thousands, is said to have occasioned some extraordinary mistakes.

f Dionysius ap. Euseb. 1. vi. c. 41. One of the seventeen was likewise accused of robbery. [Gibbon ought to have said, "was falsely accused of theft"-for such is the original Greek. This christian named Nemesion falsely accused of theft before the centurion, was acquitted of a crime to which he was a stranger, (λTATE) but he was led before the governor as guilty of being a christian, and the governor inflicted upon him a double torture. (St. Denys ap. Eusebius, lib. vi. chap. 41-45.) It ought to be said also that St. Denys

h

Example of Cy During the same period of persecu- | there acquainted him with the imperial mandate which prian bishop of tion, the zealous, the eloquent, the am- he had just received, that those who had abandoned Carthage. bitious Cyprian governed the church, the Roman religion should immediately return to the not only of Carthage, but even of Africa. He pos- practice of the ceremonies of their ancestors. Cypsessed every quality which could engage the rever- rian replied without hesitation, that he was a christian ence of the faithful, or provoke the suspicions and re- and a bishop, devoted to the worship of the true and sentment of the pagan magistrates. His character as only Deity, to whom he offered up his daily supplicawell as his station seemed to mark out that holy pre- tions for the safety and prosperity of the two emperors, late as the most distinguished object of envy and of his lawful sovereigns. With modest confidence he danger.s The experience, however, of the life of pleaded the privilege of a citizen, in refusing to give Cyprian, is sufficient to prove, that our fancy has ex- any answer to some invidious and indeed illegal quesaggerated the perilous situation of a christian bishop; tions which the proconsul had proposed. A sentence and that the dangers to which he was exposed were of banishment was pronounced as the penalty of Cypless imminent than those which temporal ambition is rian's disobedience; and he was conducted without always prepared to encounter in the pursuit of hon-delay to Curubis, a free and maritime city of Zeugitaours. Four Roman emperors, with their families, nia, in a pleasant situation, a fertile territory, and at their favourites, and their adherents, perished by the the distance of about forty miles from Carthage." The sword in the space of ten years, during which the exiled bishop enjoyed the conveniences of life and the bishop of Carthage guided by his authority and elo- consciousness of virtue. His reputation was diffused quence the councils of the African church. It was over Africa and Italy; an account of his behaviour only in the third year of his administration, that he was published for the edification of the christian had reason, during a few months, to apprehend the world; and his solitude was frequently interrupted severe edicts of Decius, the vigilance of the magis- by the letters, the visits, and the congratulations of trate, and the clamours of the multitude, who loudly the faithful. On the arrival of a new proconsul in demanded, that Cyprian, the leader of the christians, the province, the fortune of Cyprian appeared for His danger and should be thrown to the lions. Pru- some time to wear a still more favourable aspect. He flight. dence suggested the necessity of a tem- was recalled from banishment; and though not yet porary retreat, and the voice of prudence was obeyed. permitted to return to Carthage, his own gardens in He withdrew himself into an obscure solitude, from the neighbourhood of the capital were assigned for the whence he could maintain a constant correspondence place of his residence.P with the clergy and people of Carthage; and conceal- At length, exactly one year after His condemnation. ing himself till the tempest was past, he preserved his Cyprian was first apprehended, Galelife, without relinquishing either his power or his rep- rius Maximus, proconsul of Africa, received the imutation. His extreme caution did not however escape perial warrant for the execution of the christian teachers. the censure of the more rigid christians who lamented, The bishop of Carthage was sensible that he should be or the reproaches of his personal enemies who insult- singled out for one of the first victims; and the frailty ed, a conduct which they considered as a pusillani- of nature tempted him to withdraw himself by a secret mous and criminal desertion of the most sacred duty. flight, from the danger and the honour of martyrdom: The propriety of reserving himself for the future ex-but soon recovering that fortitude which his character igencies of the church, the example of several holy bishops, and the divine admonitions which, as he declares himself, he frequently received in visions and ecstacies, were the reasons alleged in his justification. But his best apology may be found in the cheerful resolution, with which, about eight years afterwards, he suffered death in the cause of religion. The authentic history of his martyrdom has been recorded with unusual candour and impartiality. A short abstract therefore of its most important circumstances will convey the clearest information of the spirit, and of the forms, - of the Roman persecutions.1

A. D. 257.

When Valerian was consul for the His banishment. third, and Gallienus for the fourth, time; Paternus, proconsul of Africa, summoned Cyprian to appear in his private council-chamber. He

makes particular mention of the principal martyrs only, and that he remarks in general, that the rage of the pagans against the christians gave to Alexandria the appearance of a city taken by assault. Finally we remark that Origen wrote before the persecution of the Emperor Decius.-G.]

The letters of Cyprian exhibit a very curious and original pic ture both of the man and of the times. See likewise the two lives of Cyprian, composed with equal accuracy, though with very different views; the one by Le Clerc, (Bibliotheque Universelle, tom. xii, p. 208-378.) the other by Tillemont, Memoires Ecclesiastiques, tom. iv. part i. p. 76-459.

[Our fancy has not exaggerated the perilous situation of a christian bishop, since Gibbon himself says, "the mines of Numidia contained (at the same time) nine bishops, with a proportionate number of ecclesiastics and of the faithful of their diocess, (p. 206. note 3.) and he refers to St. Cyprian, ep. 76-77.-G.]

iSee the polite but severe epistle of the clergy of Rome to the bishop of Carthage (Cyprian. Epist. 8. 9.) Pontius labours with the greatest care and diligence to justify his master against the general censure,

j In particular those of Dionysius of Alexandria, and Gregory Thaumaturgus, of Neo Cæsarea. See Euseb. Hist. Ecclesiast, 1. vi. c. 40. and Memoires de Tillemont, tom. iv. part ii. p. 685.

See Cyprian, Epist. 16. and his life by Pontius. We have an original life of Cyprian by the deacon Pontius, the companion of his exile, and the spectator of his death; and we like wise possess the ancient proconsular acts of his martyrdom. These two relations are consistent with each other, and with probability; and what is somewhat remarkable, they are both unsullied by any miraculous circumstances.

required, he returned to his gardens, and patiently expected the ministers of death. Two officers of rank, who were intrusted with that commission, placed Cyprian between them in a chariot; and as the proconsul was not then at leisure, they conducted him, not to a prison, but to a private house in Carthage, which belonged to one of them. An elegant supper was provided for the entertainment of the bishop, and his christian friends were permitted for the last time to enjoy his society, whilst the streets were filled with a multitude of the faithful, anxious and alarmed at the approaching fate of their spiritual father. In the morn

time to all the governors. Dionysius (ap. Euseb. 1. vii. c. 11.) relates the history of his own banishinent from Alexandria almost in the same manner. But as he escaped and survived the persecution, we must account him either more or less fortunate than Cyprian.

m It should seem that these were circular orders, sent at the same

See Plin. Hist. Natur, v. 3. Cellarius, Geograph. Antiq, part iii. p. 96. Shaw's Travels, p. 90.; and for the adjacent country, (which is terminated by Cape Bona, or the promontory of Mercury, l'Afrique de Marmol. tom. ii. p. 494. There are the remains of an aqueduct near Curubis, or Curbis, at present altered into Gurbes; and Dr. Shaw read an inscription, which styles that city Colonia Fulvia. The deacon Pontius (in Vit. Cyprian. c. 12.) calls it "Apricum et competentem locum hospitium pro voluntate secretum, et quidquid apponi eis ante promissum est, qui regnum et justitiam Dei quærunt."

o See Cyprian. Epistol. 77. Edit. Fell.

p Upon his conversion, he had sold those gardens for the benefit of the poor. The indulgence of God (most probably the liberality of some christian friend) restored them to Cyprian. See Pontius, c. 15. q When Cyprian, a twelvemonth before, was sent into exile, he dreamt that he should be put to death the next day. The event made it necessary to explain that word, as signifying a year. Pontius, c. 12, T r [This was not, as it appears, the motive which induced St. Cyprian to conceal himself for a time. It was threatened that he should be taken to Utica, and he wished to remain at Carthage, that he might suffer martyrdom among his own flock, and that his death might serve to confirm and instruct those whom he had guided during his life. It is thus at least that he himself explains his conduct in one of his letters: Cum perlatum ad nos fuisset fratres carissimi, frumentarios esse missos qui me Uticam perducerent, consilioque carissimo. rum persuasum esset ut de hortis interim secederemus; justa interveniente causa consensi eo quod congruat episcopum in ea civitate in qua Ecclesiæ dominicæ præst, illic dominum confiteri et plebem universam præpositi præsentis confessione clarificari. (Ep. 81. p. 238.) G.]

Pontius (c. 15.) acknowledges that Cyprian, with whom he

ing he appeared before the tribunal of the proconsul, character which he had assumed; and, if he poswho, after informing himself of the name and situation sessed the smallest degree of manly fortitude, rather of Cyprian, commanded him to offer sacrifice, and to expose himself to the most cruel tortures, than by a pressed him to reflect on the consequences of his single act to exchange the reputation of a whole life, disobedience. The refusal of Cyprian was firm and for the abhorrence of his christian brethren, and the decisive; and the magistrate, when he had taken the contempt of the gentile world. But if the zeal of Cyopinion of his council, pronounced with some reluc- prian was supported by the sincere conviction of the tance the sentence of death. It was conceived in the truth of those doctrines which he preached, the crown following terms: "That Thascius Cyprianus should of martyrdom must have appeared to him as an object be immediately beheaded, as the enemy of the gods of of desire rather than of terror. It is not easy to extract Rome, and as the chief and ringleader of a criminal any distinct ideas from the vague though eloquent deassociation, which he had seduced into an impious re- clamations of the fathers, or to ascertain the degree of sistance against the laws of the most holy emperors, immortal glory and happiness which they confidently Valerian and Gallienus." The manner of his execu- promised to those who were so fortunate as to shed tion was the mildest and least painful that could be their blood in the cause of religion. They inculcated inflicted on a person convicted of any capital offence; with becoming diligence, that the fire of martyrdom nor was the use of torture admitted to obtain from the supplied every defect and expiated every sin; that bishop of Carthage either the recantation of his prin- while the souls of ordinary christians were obliged to ciples, or the discovery of his accomplices. pass through a slow and painful purification, the triumphant sufferers entered into the immediate fruition of eternal bliss, where, in the society of the patriarchs, the apostles, and the prophets, they reigned with Christ, and acted as his assessors in the universal judgment of mankind. The assurance of a lasting reputation upon earth, a motive so congenial to the vanity of human nature, often served to animate the courage of the martyrs. The honours which Rome or Athens bestowed on those citizens who had fallen in the cause of their country, were cold and unmeaning demonstrations of respect, when compared with the ardent gratitude and devotion which the primitive church expressed towards the victorious champions of the faith. The annual commemoration of their virtues and sufferings was observed as a sacred ceremony, and at length terminated in religious worship. Among the christians who had publicly confessed their religious principles, those who (as it very frequently happened) had been dismissed from the tribunal or the prisons of the pagan magistrates, obtained such honours as were justly due to their imperfect martyrdom, and their generous resolution. The most pious females courted the permission of imprinting kisses on the fetters which they had worn, and on the wounds which they had received. Their persons were esteemed holy, their decisions were admitted with deference, and they too often abused, by their spiritual pride and licentious manners, the pre-eminence which their zeal and intrepidity had acquired. Distinctions like these, whilst they display the exalted merit, betray the inconsiderable number, of those who suffered, and of those who died, for the profession of christianity.

As soon as the sentence was proclaimHis martyrdom. ed, a general cry of "We will die with him," arose at once among the listening multitude of christians who waited before the palace gates. The generous effusions of their zeal and affection were neither serviceable to Cyprian nor dangerous to themselves. He was led away under a guard of tribunes and centurions, without resistance and without insult, to the place of his execution, a spacious and level plain near the city, which was already filled with great numbers of spectators. His faithful presbyters and deacons were permitted to accompany their holy bishop." They assisted him in laying aside his upper garment, spread linen on the ground to catch the precious relics of his blood, and received his orders to bestow five and twenty pieces of gold on the executioner. The martyr then covered his face with his hands, and at one blow his head was separated from his body. His corpse remained during some hours exposed to the curiosity of the gentiles: but in the night it was removed, and transported in a triumphal procession, and with a splendid illumination, to the burial-place of the christians. The funeral of Cyprian was publicly celebrated without receiving any interruption from the Roman magistrates; and those among the faithful, who had performed the last offices to his person and his memory, were secure from the danger of inquiry or of punishment. It is remarkable, that of so great a multitude of bishops in the province of Africa, Cyprian was the first who was esteemed worthy to obtain the crown of martyrdom."

Various incite

dom.

It was in the choice of Cyprian, either ments to martyr to die a martyr, or to live an apostate: but on that choice depended the alternative of honour or infamy. Could we suppose that the bishop of Carthage had employed the profession of the christian faith only as the instrument of his avarice or ambition, it was still incumbent on him to support the supped. passed the night custodia delicata. The bishop exercised a last and very proper act of jurisdiction, by directing that the younger females, who watched in the street, should be removed from the dangers and temptations of a nocturnal crowd. Act. Proconsularia, c. 2.

See the original sentence in the Acts, c. 4. and in Pontius, c. 17. The latter expresses it in a more rhetorical manner. u [There is nothing in the life of St. Cyprian by Pontius, nor in the ancient manuscripts, which can lead to the supposition that the deacons and priests had, in their quality of deacons and priests, and known as such, the right of accompanying their holy bishop-setting aside all idea of religion it is impossible not to perceive the strange kind of complacency with which the historian here insists in favor of the persecutors upon some alleviations to the death of a man whose only crime was, that he defended with freedom and courage, his own opinions.-G.]

v Pontius, c. 19. M. de Tillemont (Memoires, tom. iv. part i. p. 450. note 50.) is not pleased with so positive an exclusion of any for mer martyrs of the episcopal rank. [M. de Tillemont, a man of integrity, exposes the difficulties which he found in the text of Pontius, and finishes by saying, that without doubt there is some mistake in it, and that it must be that Pontius meant only lesser Africa or Carthage, for St. Cyprian in his fiftysixth letter addressed to Pupianus, speaks expressly of many bishops, his colleagues. Qui proscripti sunt, vel apprehensi in carcere et ca tenis fuerunt, aut qui in exilium relegati, illustri itinere ad dominum profecti sunt; aut qui quibusdam locis animadversi cœlestes coronas de Domini clarificatione sumpserunt.-G.]

The sober discretion of the present Ardour of the first age will more readily censure than ad- christians.

w Whatever opinion we may entertain of the character or principles of Thomas Becket, we must acknowledge that he suffered death with a constancy not unworthy of the primitive martyrs. See Lord Lyttelton's History of Henry II. vol. ii. p. 592, &c.

See in particular the treatise of Cyprian de Lapsis, p. 87-98. Edit. Fell. The learning of Dodwell (Dissertat. Cyprianic. xii. xiii.) and the ingenuity of Middleton (Free Inquiry, p. 162, &c.) have left scarcely any thing to add concerning the merit, the honours, and the motives of the martyrs.

y Cyprian. Epistol. 5-7, 22, 24. and de Unitat. Ecclesiæ. The number of pretended martyrs has been very much multiplied, by the custom which was introduced of bestowing that honourable name on

confessors.

[The letters of St. Cyprian to which Gibbon refers, do not prove what he says about the spiritual pride and the licentious manners of those who had publicly confessed their faith. In his fifth letter, written during his retirement, St. Cyprian exhorts the deacons and the priests to supply his place, and not to permit the confessors or the poor to want any thing, and to visit the former in their prison. In the sixth addressed to Sergius, to Rogatianus and to other confes. sors he encourages them to suffer martyrdom, and complains that he was not with them that he might kiss their pure hands, and those lips which had glorified the Lord. He tells them to despise all the sufferings of this life in the hope of eternal glory, &c. The seventh is addressed to his deacons and his priests; he exhorts them in few words to relieve all the poor. The twenty-second is from Lucianus to Celerinus, and is written with the greatest modesty. Lucianus declares himself unworthy of the praises of his friend, and is in affliction for the death of his sisters, the victims of persecution. The twenty-fourth is from Caldonius to St. Cyprian, and to the priests of Carthage, and is written to consult them concerning the re-admission of such as had fallen into error. It is only in the Treatise de Antiquitate Ecclesiæ, that any reproaches are made against confessors.-G.]

was generally allowed to be innocent; the second was of a doubtful, or at least of a venial, nature; but the third implied a direct and criminal apostasy from the christian faith.

mire, but can more easily admire than imitate, the fer- love of life, the apprehension of pain, and the horror of vour of the first christians, who, according to the dissolution. The more prudent rulers of the church lively expression of Sulpicius Severus, desired martyr- found themselves obliged to restrain the indiscreet dom with more eagerness than his own contemporaries ardour of their followers, and to distrust a constancy solicited a bishopric. The epistles which Ignatius which too often abandoned them in the hour of trial. composed as he was carried in chains through the As the lives of the faithful became less mortified and cities of Asia, breathe sentiments the most repugnant austere, they were every day less ambitious of the to the ordinary feelings of human nature. He earnestly honours of martyrdom; and the soldiers of Christ, inbeseeches the Romans, that when he should be ex- stead of distinguishing themselves by voluntary deeds posed in the amphitheatre, they would not, by their of heroism, frequently deserted their post, and fled in kind but unseasonable intercession, deprive him of the confusion before the enemy whom it was their duty to crown of glory; and he declares his resolution to pro- resist. There were three methods, however, of esvoke and irritate the wild beasts which might be em-caping the flames of persecution, which were not atployed as the instruments of his death. Some stories tended with an equal degree of guilt: the first indeed are related of the courage of martyrs, who actually performed what Ignatius had intended; who exasperated the fury of the lions, pressed the executioner to hasten his office, cheerfully leaped into the fires which were kindled to consume them, and discovered I. A modern inquisitor would hear Three methods a sensation of joy and pleasure in the midst of the most with surprise, that whenever an informa- of escaping mar exquisite tortures. Several examples have been pre- tion was given to a Roman magistrate, tyrdom. served of a zeal impatient of those restraints which of any person within his jurisdiction who had emthe emperors had provided for the security of the braced the sect of the christians, the charge was comchurch. The christians sometimes supplied by their municated to the party accused, and that a convenient voluntary declaration the want of an accuser, rudely time was allowed him to settle his domestic concerns, disturbed the public service of paganism, and rushing and to prepare an answer to the crime which was imin crowds round the tribunal of the magistrates, called puted to him. If he entertained any doubt of his own upon them to pronounce and to inflict the sentence of the constancy, such a delay afforded him an opportunity of law. The behaviour of the christians was too remark-preserving his life and honour by flight, of withdrawable to escape the notice of the ancient philosophers; ing himself into some obscure retirement or some but they seem to have considered it with much less ad- distant province, and of patiently expecting the return miration than astonishment. Incapable of conceiving of peace and security. A measure so consonant to the motives which sometimes transported the fortitude reason was soon authorized by the advice and example of believers beyond the bounds of prudence or reason, of the most holy prelates; and seems to have been centhey treated such an eagerness to die as the strange sured by few, except by the Montanists, who deviated result of obstinate despair, of stupid insensibility, or of into heresy by their strict and obstinate adherence to superstitious phrenzy." Unhappy men!" exclaimed the rigour of ancient discipline. II. The provincial the proconsul Antoninus to the christians of Asia; "un- governors, whose zeal was less prevalent than their happy men! if you are thus weary of your lives, is it avarice, had countenanced the practice of selling cerso difficult for you to find ropes and precipices ?" He tificates, (or libels as they were called,) which attested, was extremely cautious (as it is observed by a learned that the persons therein mentioned had complied with and pious historian) of punishing men who had found the laws, and sacrificed to the Roman deities. no accusers but themselves, the imperial laws not producing these false declarations, the opulent and having made any provision for so unexpected a case: timid christians were enabled to silence the malice of condemning therefore a few, as a warning to their an informer, and to reconcile in some measure their brethren, he dismissed the multitude with indignation safety with their religion. A slight penance atoned and contempt. Notwithstanding this real or affected f See the Epistle of the Church of Smyrna, ap. Euseb. Hist. Eccles. disdain, the intrepid constancy of the faithful was pro-1. iv. c. 15. ductive of more salutary effects on those minds which [The fifteenth chapter of the iv. book of the Hist. Ecclesiast. of Eunature or grace had disposed for the easy reception of mentions other martyrs. One instance only of weakness is related. religious truth. On these melancholy occasions, there were many among the gentiles who pitied, who admired, and who were converted. The generous enthusiasm was communicated from the sufferer to the spectators; and the blood of martyrs, according to a well-known observation, became the seed of the church. But although devotion had raised, tutus." and eloquence continued to inflame, this fever of the mind, it insensibly gave way to the more natural hopes and fears of the human heart, to the

Gradual relaxation.

z Certatim gloriosa in certamina ruebatur; multique avidius tum martyria gloriosis mortibus quærebantur, quam nunc episcopatus pravis ambitionibus appetuntur. Sulpicius Severus, 1. ii. He might have omitted the word nunc.

a See Epist. ad Roman. c. 4, 5. ap. Patres Apostol. tom. ii. p. 27. It suited the purpose of Bishop Pearson (see Vindicia Ignatianæ, part ii. c. 9.) to justify, by a profusion of examples and authorities, the sentiments of Ignatius.

b The story of Polyeuctes, on which Corneille has founded a very beautiful tragedy, is one of the most celebrated, though not perhaps the most authentic, instances of this excessive zeal. We should observe that the 60th canon of the council of Illiberis refuses the title of martyrs to those who exposed themselves to death, by publicly de stroying the idols.

e See Epictetus, I. iv. c. 7. (though there is some doubt whether he alludes to the christians,) Marcus Antoninus de Rebus suis, I. xi. c. 3. Lucian in Peregrin.

By

sebius, treats principally of the martyrdom of St. Polycarp, and It is that of a Phrygian named Quintus, who, frightened at the sight of the ferocious beasts and the tortures, renounced his faith. This example proves little against the mass of christians, and this chapter of Eusebius' furnishes much stronger proof of their courage, than of their timidity.-G.]

curious instance of this legal delay. The same indulgence was g In the second apology of Justin, there is a particular and very granted to accused christians in the persecution of Decius: and Cyprian (de Lapsis) expressly mentions the "Dies negantibus præsti

[The examples which the historian has taken from Justin Martyr, and from St. Cyprian, are particular instances, and prove nothing as to the method which was generally pursued towards the accused. On the contrary, it is evident according to the same Apology of St. Justin, that they seldom obtained any delay. "A man named Lu. cius, himself a christian, being present at the unjust sentence given by the judge Urbicus against a christian, demanded of him why he thus punished a man who was neither an adulterer nor a thief, nor guilty of any other crime than that of confessing himself to be a christian. Urbicus answered only these words, "You also-you seem to be a christian." "Yes, doubtless," replied Lucius. The judge commanded that he should be put to death also. A third coming up was sentenced to be whipped. (Justin Martyr, Apol. sec. p. 90. ed. Bened. 1742.) Here then are three examples where no delay was granted-there are many others, such as those of Ptolemy, of Marcellus, &c. St. Justin expressly reproaches the judges with causing the accused to be executed before they had heard and decided their cause. The words of St. Cyprian are also very particular, and say simply that a day was fixed upon which the christians were to abjure their faith, those who did not do so at this time were condemned.-G.]

h Tertullian considers flight from persecution as an imperfect, but d Tertullian ad Scapul. c. 5. The learned are divided between very criminal, apostasy, as an impious attempt to elude the will of three persons of the same name, who were all proconsuls of Asia. I God, &c. &c. He has written a treatise on this subject (see p. 536 am inclined to ascribe this story to Antoninus Pius, who was after--544. Edit. Rigalt.) which is filled with the wildest fanaticism and wards emperor; and who may have governed Asia, under the reign of Trajan.

Mosheim, de Rebus Christ. ante Constantin. p. 235. VOL. I.-Z

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the most incoherent declamation. It is, however, somewhat remarkable, that Tertullian did not suffer martyrdom himself.

i [The penance was not so slight, for it was exactly equal to that