Antoninus showed himself no less friendly towards the Jews now that they no longer threatened the empire. The laws forbidding circumcision, which had been the result of the revolt of Bar Kosiba, were repealed so far as they were vexatious. The Jew could freely circumcise his sons, but if he practised the operation on a non-Jew he was severely punished. As to civil jurisdiction within the community, it appears only to have been accorded to the Israelites later. Such was the severity of the established legal order, such was the popular effervescence against Christians, that even during this reign there were unhappily many martyrs. Polycarp and Justin are the most illustrious; they were not the only ones. Asia Minor was stained with the blood of many judicial murders, all occasioned by revolts; we shall see Montanism born like a hallucination from this intoxication of martyrdom.
In Rome the book of the pseudo Hermas will appear as if from a bath of blood. The absorbing idea of martyrdom, with questions respecting renegades or those who had shown any weakness, fill the entire book. On every page Justin describes the Christians as victims who only wait for death; their name alone, as in the time of Pliny, is a crime. “Jews and pagans persecute us on all sides; they deprive us of our property, and only allow us to live when they cannot do otherwise. They behead us, crucify us, throw us to the beasts, torment us with chains, with fire, with the most horrible tortures. But the more they make us suffer, the more the numbers of the faithful increase. The vinedresser prunes his vine to make it grow again, he removes those branches which have borne fruit so that others stronger and more fruitful shall grow; the same thing happens to God’s people, who are like a fertile vine, planted by his hand and by that of our Saviour Jesus Christ.”[d]
Marcus Aurelius (M. Ælius Aurelius Antoninus), 161-180 A.D.
[161-163 A.D.]
Marcus Aurelius, though left sole successor to the throne, took Lucius Verus as his associate and equal in governing the state. The two emperors had scarce been settled on the throne when the empire seemed attacked on every side from the barbarous nations by which it was surrounded. The Chatti invaded Germany and Rætia, ravaging all with fire and sword; but were, after some time, repelled by Victorinus. The Britons likewise revolted, but were repressed by Califurnius. But the Parthians, under their king Vologeses, made an irruption still more dreadful than either of the former, destroying the Roman legions in Armenia; then entering Syria, and driving out the Roman governor, and filling the whole country with terror and confusion. In order to stop the progress of this barbarous irruption, Verus himself went in person, being accompanied by Aurelius part of the way, who did all in his power, both by giving him advice and proper attendants, to correct or restrain his vices.
MARCVS AVRELIVS
However, these precautions were fruitless; Verus soon grew weary of all restraint; he neglected every admonition; and, thoughtless of the urgency of his expedition, plunged himself into every kind of debauchery. These excesses brought on a violent fever on his journey, which his constitution was sufficiently strong to get over, but nothing could correct his vicious inclinations. Upon his entering Antioch, he resolved to give an indulgence to every appetite, without attending to the fatigues of war. There, in one of its suburbs, which was called Daphne, which, from the sweetness of the air, the beauty of its groves, the richness of its gardens, and the freshness of its fountains, seemed formed for pleasure, he rioted in excesses unknown even to the voluptuous Greeks, leaving all the glory of the field to his lieutenants, who were sent to repress the enemy. These, however, fought with great success: Statius Priscus took Artaxata; Cassius put Vologeses to flight, took Seleucia, plundered and burned Babylon and Ctesiphon, and demolished the magnificent palace of the kings of Parthia. In a course of four years, during which the war continued, the Romans entered far into the Parthian country, and entirely subdued it; but upon their return their army was wasted to less than half its former number by pestilence and famine. However, this was no impediment to the vanity of Verus, who resolved to enjoy the honours of a triumph so hardly earned by others. Wherefore, having appointed a king over the Armenians, and finding the Parthians entirely subdued, he assumed the titles of Armenicus and Parthicus; and then returned to Rome to partake of a triumph with Aurelius, which was accordingly solemnised with great pomp and splendour.
[163-166 A.D.]
During the course of this expedition, which continued for some years, Aurelius was sedulously intent upon distributing justice and happiness to his subjects at home. He first applied himself to the regulation of public affairs, and to the correction of such faults as he found in the laws and policy of the state. In this endeavour he showed a singular respect for the senate, often permitting them to determine without appeal; so that the commonwealth seemed in a manner once more revived under his equitable administration. Besides, such was his application to business that he often employed ten days together upon the same subject, maturely considering it on all sides, and seldom departing from the senate house till, night coming on, the assembly was dismissed by the consul. But while thus gloriously occupied, he was daily mortified with accounts of the enormities of his colleague, being repeatedly assured of his vanity, lewdness, and extravagance. However, feigning himself ignorant of these excesses, he judged marriage to be the best method of reclaiming him; and therefore sent him his daughter Lucilla, a woman of great beauty, whom Verus married at Antioch. But even this was found ineffectual: Lucilla proved of a disposition very unlike her father; and instead of correcting her husband’s extravagances, only contributed to inflame them. Yet Aurelius still hoped that, upon the return of Verus to Rome, his presence would keep him in awe, and that happiness would at length be restored to the state. But in this also he was disappointed. His return only seemed fatal to the empire; for his army carried back the plague from Parthia, and disseminated the infection into all the provinces through which it passed.