MARTTE
738
MABTTB
Trajan's order: canquirendi non 8uni. And that the
emperor did not regard Christians as a menace to the
State is apparent fipm the general tenor of his in-
structions. Their only crime was that they were
Christians, adherents of an ill^pal religion. Under
this regime of proscription the Uhnrch existed from
the year 112 to the reign of Septimius Severus (193-
211). The position of the faithful was always one of
grave danger, being as they were at the mercy of
every malicious person who might, without a moment's
warning, cite them before the nearest tribunal. It is
true indeed, that the delator was an unpopular person
in the Roman Empire, and, besides, in accusing a
Christian he ran the risk of incurring severe pimish-
ment if imable to make good his charge against his
intended victim. In spite of the danger, however,
instances are known, in the persecution era, of Chris-
tian victims of delation. •
The prescriptions of Trajan on the subject of Chris- tianity were modified by Septimius Severus by the addition of a clause forbidding any person to become a Christian. The existing law of Trajan against Chris- tians in general was not, indeed, repealed by Severus, though for the moment it was evidently the intention of the emperor that it should remain a dead letter. The object aimed at by the new enactment was, not to disturb those already Christians, but to check the
growth of the Church by preventing conversions, ome illustrious convert martyrs, the most famous being Sts. Perpetua and Felicitas. were added to the roll of champions of religious freedom by this prohibi- tion, but it effected nothing of consequence in regard to its primary purpose. The persecution came to an end in the second year of the reign of Caracalla (211- 17). From this date to the reign of Decius (250-53) the Christians enjoyed comparative peace, with the exception of the short period when Maximinus the Thracian (235-38) occupied the throne. The eleva- tion of Decius to the purple began a new era in the relations between Christianity and the Roman State. This emperor, thou^ a native of Illyria^ was never- theless profoundly imbued with the spirit of Roman conservatism. He ascended the throne with the firm intention of restoring the prestige which the empire was fast losing, and he seems to nave been convinced that the chief difficulty in the way of effecting his pur- pose was the existence of Christianity. The conse- Quenoe was that in the year 250 he issued an edict, tne tenor of which is known only from the documents relating to its enforcement, prescribing that all Chris- tians of the empire should on a certain day offer sacri- fice to the gods.
This new law was quite a different matter from the existing legislation against Christianity. Proscribed though they were lewdly, Christians had hitherto en- (oyed comparative security under a regime which clearly laid down the principle that they were not to be sought after officially by the civil authorities. The edict of Decius was exacti>r the opposite of this: the magistrates were now constituted religious inquisitors, whose duty it was to punish Christians who refused to apostatize. The emperor's aim, in a word, was to annihilate Christianity by compelling every Christian in the empire to renounce his faith. The first effect of the new legislation seemed favourable to the wishes of its author. During the long interval of peace since the reign of Septimius Severus — nearly lorty years — a considerable amount of laxity had crept into the Church's discipline, one consequence of which was, that on the publication of the edict of persecution, multitudes of Christians besieged the magistrates everywhere in their eagerness to comply with its de- mands. Many other nominal Christians procured by bribery certificates stating that they had complied with the law, while still others apostatised imder torture. Yet after this first throng ofweaklings had put them- 9e)ve8 outside the pale of Christianity there still re-
mained, in every part of the empire, numerous Chris-
tians worthy of tfa^r religion, who endured all maimer
of torture, and death itself, for their convictions. The
persecution lasted about eighteen months, and wrought
mcalculable harm.
Before the Church had time to repair the damage thus caused, a new conflict with the State was inaugu- rated by an edict of Valerian published in 257. This enactment was directed against the clergy, bishops, priests, and deacons, who were directed under pain ot exile to offer sacrifice. Christians were also forbidden, imder pain of death, to resort to their cemeteries. The results of this first edict were of so little moment that the following year, 258, a new edict appeared requirixig the clergy to offer sacrifice imder penalty of death. Christian senators, knights, and even the ladies of their families, were also affected by an order to offer sacrifice under penalty of confiscation of their goods and reduction to plebeian rank. And in the event of thc»9e severe measiu^ proving ineffective the law pre- scribed further punismnent: execution for the men, for the women exile. Christian slaves and freedmen of the emperor's household also were punished by confiscation of their possessions and reduction to the lowest ranks of slavery. Among the martyrs of this persecution were Pope Sixtus II and St. Cyprian of Carthage. Of its further effects little is known, for want <» documents, bu|; it seems safe to surmise that, besides adding many new martyrs to the Church's roll^ it must have caused enormous suffering to the Christian nobility. The persecution came to an end with the capture (260) of Valerian by the Persians; his successor, GalUenus (260-68), revoked the edict and restored to the bishops the cemeteries and meet- ing places.
From this date to the last persecution inaugurated by Diocletian (284-305) the Church, 9a ve for a short period in the reign of Aurelian (270-75), remained in the same legal situation as in the second century. The fibrst edict ctf Diocletian was promulgated at Nicomedia in the year 303, and was of the following tenor: Chris- tian assemblies were forbidden; churches and sacred books were ordered to be destroyed, and all Christians were commanded to abjure their religion forthwith. The penalties for failure to comply with these demands were degradation and civil deatn for the higher classes, reduction to slavery for freemen of the humbler sort, and for slaves incapacity to receive the gift of freedom. Later in the same year a new edict ordered the impris- onment of eccledastics of all grades, from bishops to exorcists. A third edict imposed the death-penalty for refusal to abjure^ and granted freedom to those who would offer sacrifice; while a fourth enactment, published in 304, commanded everybody without ex- ception to offer sacrifice publicly. This was the last and most determined effort of the Roman State to destroy Christianity. It gave to the Church countless martjrrs, and ended in her triumph in the reign of Const antine.
Number of the Marttbs. — Of the 249 years from the first persecution under Nero (64) to the jrear 313, when Constantine established lasting peace, it is cal- culated that the Christians suffered persecuUon about 129 yeara and enjoyed a certain degree oi toleration about 120 years. Yet it must be borne in mind that even in the years of comparative tranquillity Chris- tians were at all times at the mercy of every peraon fll-disposed towards them or their religion in the em- pire. Whether or not delation of Christians occurred frequently during the era of persecution is not known, but taking into consideration the irrational hatred 01 the pagan population for Christians, it may safely be surmised tnai not a few Christians suffered niartyr- dom through betraval. An example of the kind re- lated by St. Justin Martyr shows how swift and terri- ble were the conseouences of delation. A woman who had been convertea to Christianity was accused by ber
