Thoughts Of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus by Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (e book free reading TXT) 📖
- Author: Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
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This Effect: "The Christians Are Attacked By The Jews As If
They Were Men Of A Different Race, And Are Persecuted By The
Greeks; And Those Who Hate Them Cannot Give The Reason Of Their
Enmity."
[B] And In Eusebius (E.H. Iv. 8, 9). Orosius (Vii. 13) Says
That Hadrian Sent This Rescript To Minucius Fundanus, Proconsul
Of Asia After Being Instructed In Books Written On The
Christian Religion By Quadratus, A Disciple Of The Apostles,
And Aristides, An Athenian, An Honest And Wise Man, And Serenus
Granius. In The Greek Text Of Hadrian's Rescript There
Is Mentioned Serenius Granianus, The Predecessor Of Minucius
Fundanus In The Government Of _Asia_.
This Rescript Of Hadrian Has Clearly Been Added To The Apology
By Some Editor. The Apology Ends With The Words: [Greek: Ho
Philon Tô Oeô, Touto Genesthô]
[C] Eusebius (E.H. Iv. 12), After Giving The Beginning Of
Justinus' First Apology, Which Contains The Address To T.
Antoninus And His Two Adopted Sons, Adds: "The Same Emperor
Being Addressed By Other Brethren In Asia, Honored The Commune
Of Asia With The Following Rescript." This Rescript, Which Is
In The Next Chapter Of Eusebius (E.H. Iv. 13) Is In The Sole
Name Of Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus Armenius,
Though Eusebius Had Just Before Said That He Was Going To Give
Us A Rescript Of Antoninus Pius. There Are Some Material
Variations Between The Two Copies Of The Rescript Besides The
Difference In The Title, Which Difference Makes It Impossible
To Say Whether The Forger Intended To Assign This Rescript To
Pius Or To M. Antoninus.
The Author Of The Alexandrine Chronicum Says That Marcus, Being
Moved By The Entreaties Of Melito And Other Heads Of The
Church, Wrote An Epistle To The Commune Of Asia In Which He
Forbade The Christians To Be Troubled On Account Of Their
Religion. Valesius Supposes This To Be The Letter Or Rescript
Which Is Contained In Eusebius (Iv. 13), And To Be The Answer
To The Apology Of Melito, Of Which I Shall Soon Give The
Substance. But Marcus Certainly Did Not Write This Letter Which
Is In Eusebius, And We Know Not What Answer He Made To Melito.
In The Time Of M. Antoninus The Opposition Between The Old And The New
Belief Was Still Stronger, And The Adherents Of The Heathen Religion
Urged Those In Authority To A More Regular Resistance To The Invasions
Of The Christian Faith. Melito In His Apology To M. Antoninus Represents
The Christians Of Asia As Persecuted Under New Imperial Orders.
Shameless Informers, He Says, Men Who Were Greedy After The Property Of
Others, Used These Orders As A Means Of Robbing Those Who Were Doing No
Harm. He Doubts If A Just Emperor Could Have Ordered Anything So Unjust;
And If The Last Order Was Really Not From The Emperor, The Christians
Entreat Him Not To Give Them Up To Their Enemies.[A] We Conclude From
This That There Were At Least Imperial Rescripts Or Constitutions Of M.
Antoninus Which Were Made The Foundation Of These Persecutions. The Fact
Of Being A Christian Was Now A Crime And Punished, Unless The Accused
Denied Their Religion. Then Come The Persecutions At Smyrna, Which Some
Modern Critics Place In A.D. 167, Ten Years Before The Persecution Of
Lyon. The Governors Of The Provinces Under M. Antoninus Might Have Found
Story 1 (Biographical Sketch Of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus) Pg 11Enough Even In Trajan's Rescript To Warrant Them In Punishing
Christians, And The Fanaticism Of The People Would Drive Them To
Persecution, Even If They Were Unwilling. But Besides The Fact Of The
Christians Rejecting All The Heathen Ceremonies, We Must Not Forget That
They Plainly Maintain That All The Heathen Religions Were False. The
Christians Thus Declared War Against The Heathen Rites, And It Is Hardly
Necessary To Observe That This Was A Declaration Of Hostility Against
The Roman Government, Which Tolerated All The Various Forms Of
Superstition That Existed In The Empire, And Could Not Consistently
Tolerate Another Religion, Which Declared That All The Rest Were False
And All The Splendid Ceremonies Of The Empire Only A Worship Of Devils.
[A] Eusebius, Iv. 26; And Routh's Reliquiae Sacrae, Vol. I, And
The Notes. The Interpretation Of This Fragment Is Not Easy.
Mosheim Misunderstood One Passage So Far As To Affirm That
Marcus Promised Rewards To Those Who Denounced The Christians;
An Interpretation Which Is Entirely False. Melito Calls The
Christian Religion "Our Philosophy," Which Began Among
Barbarians (The Jews), And Flourished Among The Roman Subjects
In The Time Of Augustus, To The Great Advantage Of The Empire,
For From That Time The Power Of The Romans Grew Great And
Glorious. He Says That The Emperor Has And Will Have As The
Successor To Augustus' Power The Good Wishes Of Men, If He Will
Protect That Philosophy Which Grew Up With The Empire And Began
With Augustus, Which Philosophy The Predecessors Of Antoninus
Honored In Addition To The Other Religions. He Further Says
That The Christian Religion Had Suffered No Harm Since The Time
Of Augustus, But On The Contrary Had Enjoyed All Honor And
Respect That Any Man Could Desire. Nero And Domitian, He Says,
Were Alone Persuaded By Some Malicious Men To Calumniate The
Christian Religion, And This Was The Origin Of The False
Charges Against The Christians. But This Was Corrected By The
Emperors Who Immediately Preceded Antoninus, Who Often By Their
Rescripts Reproved Those Who Attempted To Trouble The
Christians. Hadrian, Antoninus' Grandfather, Wrote To Many, And
Among Them To Fundanus, The Governor Of Asia. Antoninus Pius,
When Marcus Was Associated With Him In The Empire, Wrote To The
Cities That They Must Not Trouble The Christians; Among Others,
To The People Of Larissa, Thessalonica, The Athenians, And All
The Greeks. Melito Concluded Thus: "We Are Persuaded That Thou
Who Hast About These Things The Same Mind That They Had, Nay
Rather One Much More Humane And Philosophical, Wilt Do All That
We Ask Thee."--This Apology Was Written After A.D. 169, The
Year In Which Verus Died, For It Speaks Of Marcus Only And His
Son Commodus. According To Melito's Testimony, Christians Had
Only Been Punished For Their Religion In The Time Of Nero And
Domitian, And The Persecutions Began Again In The Time Of M.
Antoninus, And Were Founded On His Orders, Which Were Abused,
As He Seems To Mean. He Distinctly Affirms "That The Race Of
The Godly Is Now Persecuted And Harassed By Fresh Imperial
Orders In Asia, A Thing Which Had Never Happened Before." But
We Know That All This Is Not True, And That Christians Had Been
Punished In Trajan's Time.
If We Had A True Ecclesiastical History, We Should Know How The Roman
Emperors Attempted To Check The New Religion; How They Enforced Their
Principle Of Finally Punishing Christians, Simply As Christians, Which
Justin In His Apology Affirms That They Did, And I Have No Doubt That He
Story 1 (Biographical Sketch Of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus) Pg 12Tells The Truth; How Far Popular Clamor And Riots Went In This Matter,
And How Far Many Fanatical And Ignorant Christians--For There Were Many
Such--Contributed To Excite The Fanaticism On The Other Side And To
Embitter The Quarrel Between The Roman Government And The New Religion.
Our Extant Ecclesiastical Histories Are Manifestly Falsified, And What
Truth They Contain Is Grossly Exaggerated; But The Fact Is Certain That
In The Time Of M. Antoninus The Heathen Populations Were In Open
Hostility To The Christians, And That Under Antoninus' Rule Men Were Put
To Death Because They Were Christians. Eusebius, In The Preface To His
Fifth Book, Remarks That In The Seventeenth Year Of Antoninus' Reign, In
Some Parts Of The World, The Persecution Of The Christians Became More
Violent, And That It Proceeded From The Populace In The Cities; And He
Adds, In His Usual Style Of Exaggeration, That We May Infer From What
Took Place In A Single Nation That Myriads Of Martyrs Were Made In The
Habitable Earth. The Nation Which He Alludes To Is Gallia; And He Then
Proceeds To Give The Letter Of The Churches Of Vienna And Lugdunum. It
Is Probable That He Has Assiged The True Cause Of The Persecutions, The
Fanaticism Of The Populace, And That Both Governors And Emperor Had A
Great Deal Of Trouble With These Disturbances. How Far Marcus Was
Cognizant Of These Cruel Proceedings We Do Not Know, For The Historical
Records Of His Reign Are Very Defective. He Did Not Make The Rule
Against The Christians, For Trajan Did That; And If We Admit That He
Would Have Been Willing To Let The Christians Alone, We Cannot Affirm
That It Was In His Power, For It Would Be A Great Mistake To Suppose
That Antoninus Had The Unlimited Authority Which Some Modern Sovereigns
Have Had. His Power Was Limited By Certain Constitutional Forms, By The
Senate, And By The Precedents Of His Predecessors. We Cannot Admit That
Such A Man Was An Active Persecutor, For There Is No Evidence That He
Was,[A] Though It Is Certain That He Had No Good Opinion Of The
Christians, As Appears From His Own Words.[B] But He Knew Nothing Of
Them Except Their Hostility To The Roman Religion, And He Probably
Thought That They Were Dangerous To The State, Notwithstanding The
Professions, False Or True, Of Some Of The Apologists. So Much I Have
Said, Because It Would Be Unfair Not To State All That Can Be Urged
Against A Man Whom His Contemporaries And Subsequent Ages Venerated As A
Model Of Virtue And Benevolence. If I Admitted The Genuineness Of Some
Documents, He Would Be Altogether Clear From The Charge Of Even Allowing
Any Persecutions; But As I Seek The Truth And Am Sure That They Are
False, I Leave Him To Bear Whatever Blame Is His Due.[C] I Add That It
Is Quite Certain That Antoninus Did Not Derive Any Of His Ethical
Principles From A Religion Of Which He Knew Nothing.[D]
[A] Except That Of Orosius (Vii. 15), Who Says That During The
Parthian War There Were Grievous Persecutions Of The Christians
In Asia And Gallia Under The Orders Of Marcus (Praecepto Ejus),
And "Many Were Crowned With The Martyrdom Of Saints."
[B] See Xi. 3. The Emperor Probably Speaks Of Such Fanatics As
Clemens (Quoted By Gataker On This Passage) Mentions. The
Rational Christians Admitted No Fellowship With Them. "Some Of
These Heretics," Says Clemens, "Show Their Impiety And
Cowardice By Loving Their Lives, Saying That The Knowledge Of
The Really Existing God Is True Testimony (Martyrdom), But That
A Man Is A Self-Murderer Who Bears Witness By His Death. We
Also Blame Those Who Rush To Death; For There Are Some, Not Of
Us, But Only Bearing The Same Name, Who
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