But we possess a much more dependable foundation for our statement that the last years of Hadrian and the prolonged reigns of Hadrian’s two successors, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Antoninus, were periods of bitter persecution for the Christian sect in Rome and in the provinces; that the years which elapsed between A.D. 135 and A.D. 180 were years of a persecution graver and more sustained than anything endured previously by the followers of Jesus.
There has come down to us a group of contemporary Christian writings,[34] the authenticity of which no critic friendly or hostile ventures to impugn. It is from these writings that we obtain our knowledge of what was the condition of the Christians in the Empire.
There is no question but that doubtful “Acts of Martyrdom,” many of which purport to belong to this period, i.e., from the last years of Hadrian to the death of Marcus Antoninus, have given colour to the theory which has found favour with certain writers, some even of the first rank, that, after all, the number of martyrs was but small. Recent study has, however, completely set aside this theory. In the first place, the scientific investigation of the Roman catacombs has shown that in many cases the heroes and heroines of the doubtful “Acts” were real historical persons; and, secondly, a careful study of the fragments of contemporary writers above referred to, has given us an exact and accurate picture of the period in question,[35] and the largest estimate of the number of sufferers during this period which has been made is probably too small.
Most melancholy was the close of the brilliant life of the great Emperor. Shortly after the close of the Jewish war, Hadrian returned to Italy and settled in the magnificent and fantastic palace he amused himself by building in the neighbourhood of Rome at Tibur. The vast group of buildings and parks and gardens of the so-called Villa of Hadrian was a copy of the more famous temples, baths, and villas he had visited during his long travels. Egypt, Greece, Italy, supplied him with models. But the seeds of a fatal malady were already sapping his strength. He was a sufferer from dropsy in its worst form; his life, too, had long been enfeebled by his wild excesses, to which ever and again he had given way. Then the strange mental sickness, the fatal heritage of so many absolute sovereigns, came over him. Nothing pleased him; no ray of hope lightened his ailing, suffering life; the present and the future were both dark.
His government became cruel, arbitrary, tyrannical. Many executions, not a few of them striking the highest in rank and authority, disfigured the closing years of the Emperor. The Christian sect, which lately, as we have explained already, had become in a specific manner feared and dreaded by the State, largely suffered during these sad closing years of his reign, and the dread persecution to which it was subjected during the reigns of his successors began in good earnest.
One dominant thought seems to have haunted Hadrian—the longing for death. Those who were nearest to his person, under the influence of the wise prince his adopted successor, generally known as Antoninus Pius, restrained him on several occasions from laying violent hands on himself; but it was no avail, and Hadrian died at Baiæ, A.D. 138, the death no doubt hastened, if not absolutely caused, by his own act.
The following little table will explain the succession of the Antonines to the Empire:
Hadrian first adopted Ælius Verus—a patrician, but a voluptuous and carelessly living man; he died, however, in the lifetime of Hadrian, leaving a son Verus, afterwards associated in the Empire with Marcus, whom, however, he predeceased by many years.
Hadrian subsequently adopted as his successor Aurelius Antoninus, known in history as Antoninus Pius.
Antoninus Pius belonging to a Gallic family of Nîmes, had filled the highest offices in the State, and later became a trusted counsellor of the Emperor Hadrian, and his devoted friend. He was a patrician of the highest character. When Hadrian adopted him he required him to secure the imperial succession by adopting Verus the son of Ælius Verus, whom he had originally adopted but who had died, and also Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, his young kinsman, a nephew of his (Hadrian’s) wife.
Antoninus Pius became Emperor in A.D. 138. Marcus Aurelius Antoninus succeeded him in A.D. 161.