probable, though there is perhaps no single martyrdom attributed to this period of which the date[1] is certain beyond cavil. That there was in any sense a general persecution of the Christians at this time is contrary to all the facts. There were numbers of them in Rome itself, with a Bishop at their head. There were actually Christians in the Emperor's household and probably (e.g. Apollonius) in the Senate itself. Of all these Roman Christians we only hear of Justin and his six companions being martyred, one of them being a slave of the Emperor. Other Christian slaves in the royal household survived him. If he wished to put down Christianity, why did he not begin with his own palace and with Rome?[2]
So far from persecuting them, we know that as subordinate ruler with Pius[3] he was responsible for the letter to the Greek cities forbidding outrages against the Christians. The letter to the Common Assembly of Asia, given below, if authentic, emanated from him in conjunction with Pius or from him alone. Its genuineness in the main has been upheld by Harnack, and is certainly capable of defence.
- ↑ Dr. Abbott has given plausible reasons for doubting the date of the Lyons martyrdom, and some (e.g. Havet) deny the authenticity of the letter in Eusebius.
- ↑ The famous caricature of the Christian religion found in the pages' quarters in the Palatine (see Lanciani, Ancient Rome 122) dates from this reign.
- ↑ Melito says distinctly σοῦ τὰ συμπάντα διοικοῦντος αὐτῷ, Euseb. iv. 26. 10 (? πάντα συνδιοικοῦντος).
