“This subject has seemed to me the more worthy of investigation in consequence of the great numbers of the accused. Many persons, of all ages, of both sexes, and of every condition in life, are placed in peril. The superstition has infested not only the cities, but the villages and the remote rural districts. But it seems to me that it can be arrested and exterminated. Certain it is that the temples of the gods, which had been almost abandoned, have begun to be frequented. Solemn sacrifices, after long interruption, are again celebrated. Even in the most sparsely-settled districts, the victims for sacrifice are to be seen. Hence one may judge of the large number of those who would return to the gods if an opportunity were given for repentance.”
This letter was written about the year of our Lord 106. Trajan, in his reply, says,—
“You have done perfectly right, my dear Pliny, in theinquiry you have made concerning Christians; for truly no one general rule can be laid down which can be applied to all cases. They must not be sought after. If they are brought before you, and convicted, let them be capitally punished; yet with this restriction,—that if any renounce Christianity, and evidence their sincerity by supplicating our gods, however suspected they may be for the past, they shall obtain pardon for the future on their repentance. But anonymous libels in no case ought to be noticed; for the precedent would be of the worst sort, and perfectly incongruous with the maxims of my government.”
This response of the emperor checked in some degree the persecutions with which the Christians were menaced; but it did not prevent their enemies from inflicting upon them, under various pretexts, all the injury in their power. In many places the populace, and in others the magistrates, pursued them with obloquy and oppression; so that, while there was no general and declared persecution, they were everywhere exposed to insult and outrage.
CHAPTER XI.
MARTYRDOM.
The Martyrdom of Ignatius.—Death of Trajan.—Succession of Adrian.—Infidel Assaults.—Celsus.—The Apology of Quadrat.—The Martyrdom of Symphorose and her Sons.—Character and Death of Adrian.—Antoninus.—Conversion of Justin Martyr.—His Apology.—Marcus Aurelius.—Hostility of the Populace.—The Martyrdom of Polycarp.
T the commencement of the second century, Ignatius was bishop or pastor of the church in Antioch, in Syria. He had occupied the post for forty years, and had obtained a very high reputation for devout character and Christian zeal. The Emperor Trajan, who had issued orders throughout the empire, that those refusing to worship the pagan gods, and persisting in Christianity, should be put to death, passing with his victorious army from the banks of the Danube to combat the barbarians of the East, stopped for a time at Antioch. Ignatius was brought before him, charged with the crime of being a Christian. The emperor sternly inquired of him, “Why do you disobey our orders, and influence others to ruin themselves by doing the same?”
Ignatius replied, “I must be obedient to God, whom I bear in my heart.”