ROME
167
ROME
than delay the movement towards monarchy. An-
other triumvirate was soon formed by Antony,
Lepidus, and Octavian; Antony and Octavian dis-
agreed, and at Actium (32) the issue was decided in
Octavian's favour. Roman power had meanwhile
been consolidated and extended in Spain, in Gaul,
and even as far as Pannonia, in Pontus, in Palestine,
and in Egypt. Henceforward Roman history is no
longer the history of the City of Rome, although it
was only under Caracalla (a. d. 211) that Roman
citizenship was accorded to all free subjects of the
empire.
In the midst of these poUtical vicissitudes the city was growing and being beautified with temples and other buildings, public and private. On the Campus Martius and beyond the Tiber, at the foot of the Janiculan, new and populous quarters sprang up, with theatres (those of Pompey and of Marcellus) and circuses (the Maximus and the Flaminius, 221 b. c). The centre of political life was the Forum, which had been the market before the centre of buying and sell- ing was transferred, in .388, to the Campus Martius {Forum Holitorium), leaving the old Forum Romanum to the business of the State. Here were the temples of Concord (366), Saturn (497), the Di Consentes, Castor and Pollux (484), the Basilica .Emiha (179), the Basilica Julia (45), the Curia Hostilia (S. Adriano), the Rostra, etc. Scarcely had the empire been con- solidated when Augustus turned his attention to the embellishment of Rome, and succeeding emperors followed his example : brick-built Rome became marble Rome. After the sixth decade b. c. many Hebrews had settled at Rome, in the Trastevcre quarter and that of the Porta Capena, and soon they became a financial power. They were inces.santly making proselytes, especially among the women of the upper classes. The names of thirteen synagogues are known as existing (though not all at the same time) at Rome during the Imperial Period. Thus was the way pre- pared for the Gospel, whereby Rome, already mis- tress of the world, was to be given a new, sublimer and more lasting, title to that dominion — the domin- ion over the souls of all mankind.
Even on the Day of Pentecost, "Roman strangers" (advencE Romani, Acts, ii, 10) were present at Jeru- salem, and they surely must have carried tiie good news to their fellow-citizens at Rome. Ancient tradition assigns to the year 42 the first coming of St. Peter to Rome, though, according to the pseudo- Clementine Epistles, St. Barnabas was the first to preach the Gospel in the Eternal City. Under Claudius (c. a. d. 50), the name of Christ had become such an occasion of discord among the Hebrews of Rome that the emperor drove tiiem all out of the city, though they were not long in returning. About ten years later Paul also arrived, a prisoner, and ex- ercised a vigorous apostolate during his sojourn. The Christians were numerous at that time, even at the imperial Court. The burning of the city — by order of Nero, who wished to effect a thorough renovation — was the pretext for the first official persecution of the Christian name. Moreover, it was very natural that persecution, which had been oc- casional, should in course of time have become general and systematic; hence it is unnecessary to transfer the date of the Apostles' martyrdom from the year 67, assigned by tradition, to the year 64 (see Peter, Saint; Paul, Saint). Domitian's reign took its victims both from among the opponents of absolutism and from the Christians; among them some who were of very exalted rank — Titus Flavius Clemens, Acilius Glabrio (Cemetery of Priscilla), and Flavia Domitilla, a relative of the emperor. It must have been then, too, that St. John, according to a very ancient legend (Tertullian) , was brought to Rome.
The reign of Trajan and Adrian was the culminat- ing point of the arts at Rome. The Roman martyr-
doms attributed to this period are, with the exception
of St. Ignatius's, somewhat doubtful. At the same
time the heads of various Gnostic sects settled at
Rome, notably Valentinus, Cerdon, and Marcion;
but it does not appear that they had any great fol-
lowing. Under Antoninus, Marcus Aurehus, and
Commodus, several Roman martjTs are known —
Pope St. Telesphorus, Sts. Lucius, Ptolemajus, Justin
and companions, and the Senator ApoUonius. Under
Commodus, thanks to Martia, his morganatic wife,
the condition of the Christians improved. At the
same time the schools of Rhodon, St. Justin, and
others flourished. But three new heresies from the
East brought serious trouble to the internal peace of
the Church: that of Theodotus, the shoemaker of
Byzantium; that of Noetus, brought in by one
Epigonus; and Montanism. In the struggle against
these heresies, particularly the last-named, the priest
Hippolytus, a disciple of St. Irenaeus, bore a dis-
tinguished part, but he, in his turn, incurred the cen-
sures of Popes Zephyrinus and CaUistus, and became
the leader of a schismatical party. But the con-
troversies between Hippolytus and Callistus were not
confined to theological questions, but also bore upon
discipline, the pope thinking proper to introduce
certain restrictions. Another sect transplanted to
Rome at this period was that of the Elcesaites.
The persecution of Septiinius Severus does not ap- pear to have been very acute at Rome, where, before this time, many persons of rank — even of the imperial household — had been Christians. The long period of tranquillity, hardly interrupted by Maximinus (235-38), fostered the growth of Roman church organization; so much so that, under Cornelius, after the first fury of the Decian persecution, the city num- bered about 50,000 Christians. The last-named per- secution produced many Roman martyrs — Pope St. Fabian among the first — and many apostates, and the problem of reconcihng the latter resulted in the schism of Xovatian. The persecution of Valerian, too, fell first upon the Church of Rome. Under Aurehan (271-76), the menace of an invasion of the Germans, who had already advanced as far as Pesaro, compellea the emperor to restore and extend the walls of Rome. The persecution of Diocletian also had its victims in the city, although there are no trustworthy records of them; it did not last long, however, in the West. Maxentius went so far as to restore to the Christians their cemeteries and other landed property, and, if we are to believe Eusebius, ended by showing them favour, as a means of winning popularity. At this period several pretentious buildings were erected — baths, a circus, a basilica, etc. In the fourth and fifth centuries the city began to be embellished with Christian buildings, and the moribund art of antiquity thus received a new accession of vitaUty.
Of the heresies of this period, Arianism alone dis- turbed the religious peace for a brief space; even Pelagianism failed to take root. The conflict between triumphant Christianity and dying Paganism was more bitter. Symmachus, Prajtextatus, and Nico- machus were the most zealous and most powerful de- fenders of the ancient religion. At Milan, St. Am- brose kept watch. By the end of the fourth century the deserted temples were becoming filled with cob- webs; pontiffs and vestals were demanding baptism. The statues of the gods served as public ornaments; precious objects were seldom plundered, and until the year 526 not one temple was converted to the uses of Christian worship. In 402 the necessity once more arose of fortifying Rome. The capital of the world, which had never beheld a hostile army since the days of Hannibal, in 408 withstood the double siege of Alaric. But the Senate, mainly at the instigation of a pagan minority, treated with Alaric, deposed Honorius, and enthroned a new emperor, Attalus. Two years later, Alaric returned, succeeded
