by his own example that there were even times and seasons when a Christian by flight might rightly avoid arrest and suffering for the Name's sake.
In this gentler, more acommodating school it was clear that heathen art was not forbidden. The decoration of even the earlier sepulchral chambers in the Roman catacombs plainly indicates this freedom.
That this policy of the gentler school of early teaching, which countenanced, perhaps suggested, many allowances, especially in matters of purely ceremonial idolatry, was adopted by the majority of believers, is clear from the numbers of Christians who we know lived in the imperial court, served in the army, and occupied positions in the civil service.
For instance, in the imperial court, in the days of S. Paul, we meet with salutations from Christians in Cæsar's household (Phil. iv. 22).
The well-known "graffito" on the Palatine, of the caricature of a crucifix, is an indication that there were Christians among the imperial pages in the reign of Marcus,[1] A.D. 161-80.
Irenæus (iv. 30) in the last quarter of the second century expressly writes as follows: "And what of those who in the royal palace are believers?"
Marcia, the favourite of Commodus, if not a Christian, was more than kind to the Christian sect; that many Christians were in her circle is certain. Even Tertullian testifies (Apol. xxxvi.) to the fact that there were Christians in the palace of the Emperor Septimius Severus, A.D. 193-212.
In the court of Alexander Severus (A.D. 222-35) were many Christians; and it has been supposed, not without some reason, that the Emperor himself was secretly a believer.
Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria (quoted in Euseb. H. E. vii. 10), writing of the favourable disposition of the Emperor Valerian towards Christians in the earlier part of his reign, A.D. 253, says: "All his house (court) was filled with pious persons; it was indeed a congregation of the Lord."
In the first part of Diocletian's reign, A.D. 284-96, the court of Nicomedia was in great measure composed of Chris-*
- ↑ Some put this graffito a little later, perhaps in the days of Alexander Severus, A.D. 222-35.
