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EUROPEAN MORALS.
voL. L
HISTORY
OF
EUROPEAN MOR. AUGUSTUS TO CHARLEMAGNE.
BY
WILLIAM EDWARD HARTPOLE LECKY, MA.
IN TWO VOLUMES
NEW YORK: D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 649 & 551 BROADWAY. i876.
PREFACE.
oe
& QUESTIONS with which an historian of Morals is afly concerned, are the changes that have taken place the moral standard and in the motal type. By the t, I understand the degrees in which, in different ages, ognised virtues have been, enjoined and practised. the second, I understand the“relative importance that different ages has been attached to different virtues. as, for example, a Roman of the agé of Pliny, an zlishman of the age of Henry VIIL, and an English- a of our own day, would all agree in regarding nanity as a virtue, and its opposite as a vice; but ir judgments of the acts which are compatible with a nane disposition would be widely different. A hu- ae man of the first period might derive a keen enjoy- at from those gladiatorial games, which an English- a, even in the days of the Tudors, would regard as sciously barbarous; and this last would, in his turn, uiesce in many sports which would now be em- tically condemned. And, in addition to this change standard, there is a continual change in the order precedence which is given to virtues. Patriotism, stity, charity, and humility are examples of virtues h of which has in some ages been brought forwe
of the most supreme and transcendent importar
the very basis of a virtuous character; and, in oth
PREFACE. i
which have sprung from their own reflections, from those which have been derived from books.
There is one writer, however, whom I must especially mention, for his name occurs continually in the following pages, and his memory has been more frequently, and in these later months more sadly, present to my mind than any other. Brilliant and numerous as are the works of the late Dean Milman, it was those only who had the great privilege of his friendship who could fully realise the amazing extent and-variety of his knowledge; the calm, luminous, and delicate judgment which he carried into so many spheres ; the inimitable grace and tact of his conversation, coruscating with the happiest anecdotes, and the brightest and yet the gentlest humour ; and what was perhaps more remarkable than any single faculty, the admirable harmony and symmetry of his mind and character, so free from all the disproportion, and eccen- tricity, and exaggeration, that sometimes make even genius assume the form of a splendid disease. They can never forget those yet higher attributes, which rendered him so unspeakably reverent to all who knew him well— his fervent love of truth, his wide tolerance, his large, generous, and masculine judgments of men and things ; his almost instinctive perception of the good that is latent in each opposing party, his disdain for the noisy triumphs and the fleeting popularity of mere sectarian strife, the fond and touching affection with which he dwelt upon the images of the past, combining, even in extreme old age, with the keenest and most hopeful insight into the progressive movements of his time, and with a rare power of winning the confidence and reading the thoughts of the youngest about him. That such a writer should have devoted himself to the department of history, which more than any other has been distorted by ignorance, pucrility,
x PREFACE,
and dishonesty, LT conceive to be one of the happiest facts in English literature, and (though sometimes diverging from his views) in many parts of the following work T have largely availed myself of his researches,
T cannot conceal from myself that this book, if it should have the fortune to find readers, may encounter much, and probably angry, contradiction from different quarters and on different grounds, It is strongly opposed to a school of moral philosophy which is at present extremely influential in England, and in addition to the many faults that may be found in its execution, its very plan must make it displeasing to many. Its subject necessarily includes questions on which it is exceedingly difficult for an English writer to touch, and the portion of history with which it is concerned has been obscured by no common measure of misrepresentation and passion. I have endeavoured to carry into it a judicial impartiality, and I trust that the attempt, however imperfect, may not be wholly useless to my readers,
Lospox: March 1803.
CONTENTS
oF
THE FIRST VOLUME
CHAPTER I. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF MORALS.
Fundamental division of moral theories. Necessity of imputing immoral consequences to false theories
The Utilitarian Schoot Mandeville . . . oo. . . . Hobbes and his followers , rr "Theological Utilitarians Enlargement of the school by the recognition of benevolence
And by Hartley's doctrine of association oe How far selfish. . . . . . . . . Objections to the Schoot
From the common language and feelings of men.
From the impossibility of virtue bringing Pleasure if preted only with that end 3
From the separation of, moral from all other means to enj y: ment. ees
Intuitive moralists do not deny the utility of virtue |
The degrees of virtue and vice do not correspond to the agrees of utility or the reverse. we F
Consequence of Acting on Utilitarian Principles Weaknem ofthe doctrine of remote consequences Secret sins . Eee, he ‘
Sinsofimaginstion 2 3; 0) ll kt Infanticide . . . . . . . . . . Crutytosnimls 5 1 1 yf Lt
THE FIRST VOLUME xiii
age Summary of the relations of virtue and interest . 9. 0. 121 Two senses of the word natural . 9. =. 0. ws 128 The ethics of savages... ew ee 1
Each of the Two Schools of Morale related to the General Condition of Society
Their relations to metaphysical schools. 197 ‘To the Baconian philosophy.—Contrast between ancient and modern civilisation . . . . . + « 180 Practical consequences of each school . «6 «9 188 The Order in which Moral Feelings are developed 4 Decline of ascetic and saintly qualities . 186 Growth of the gentler rrinee> Relaibat of the imagination to benevolence . . . . 187 Callous and vindictive cruelty woe ee 0 Indulgent judgments towards criminals | 141
Moral enthusiasms appropriate to different stages of civilimtion 142 Growth of reracity—indutrin,polien, and philowphical 148-146
+ Theological influences have retarded the last . . . 146 ! The thrifty and the speculating character . . . 146,147 \ Forethought . . . . . .
Decline of reverence . . . . .
Female virtue . . - eet
Influenced by climate... :
Bylargetowns . sw wee
By tardy marriages Z
Each stage of civilisation is specially appropri
virtues. ae Relations of intellectual to moral progress ‘The moral standard of most men lower in 1 pol private judgments . oe 1% . . . .
National vices. . . . . . .
Qualities of corporations . 2. . - Coy
French and English types a esieate “ast hee HL 0)
‘The manner in which virtues are grouped ee eee |
Rudimentary virtues . pram ee
‘All characters cannot be moulded into one type. ss 163
Concluding remarks on moral types. . =. 9. =. 168-168
CHAPTER II. THE PAGAN EMPIRE.
Pagan religion had little influence on'morals. . . 169 Greck scepticism. ~ + 169 Its extension to Rome—Opinions of the philosophers: 170-175
)
4 :.
THE FIRST VOLUME
‘Three popular errors concerning the conversion of Rome
‘amination of the Theory which ascribes Part of the Teaching of the luter Pagan Moralists to Christian Influence
Two opinions in the early Church concerning the Pegi writings .
The * seminal logos’ |
Pagan writings supposed to be plagiarisms from the Old Testa ment, or to be receptacles of demoniacal traditions .
But these theories were applied only to the ancient Greck writers, and not to contemporary moralists . . .
‘heory awhich attributes the Conversion of the Empire to the Evidences of Miracles
To catimate this it is mesewary to review the causea of the
belief in miracles. a tg 46 Rapid decline of thebeliof - se eek Miracles not impossible 5 se Established by much evidence : mae
The histories of them always decline with eduention :
Illustrated by the belief in fairies
First conception of the universe formed hy the savage—he regards the whole world as governed by isolated acts of intervention
Latent fetishism |; i
Fecbleness of the imagination a source of legends—myths |
Miraculous stories the natural expression of a certain theory of the universe
Education destroys these stories by teaching men to exact greater severity of proof . By strenzthening their power of abstraction, and thus dosing the age of myths. ;
By physical science, which establishes the reign of law |
‘Three ways in which physial science affects the belief in
miracles. . . . . Theological netjons about rain and. epidemics. et # * phere of inductive reasoning in theology =. 5
Common error in reasoning about miracles.
In some states of society this predisposition towards the mi- ractilvus is no strong as to accumulate round legends more
evidence tun is required to establish even improbable na- tural facto
Mlustratione of this from divination, witcheraft, and the king's evi
Beate of opinion ot on this subject i in the Roman Empire.
Extreme credulity even in matters of natural history.
Great increase of eredulity through the influence of Egyptian philosophy—miracles of tho Pythagorean school +
Attitude of Christians towards the pagan miracles. =.
2
i
HISTORY
oF
EUROPEAN MORALS.
—+—
CHAPTER I. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF MORALS.
A BRIEF INquiry into the nature and foundations of morals appears an cbvious, and, indeed, almost an indispensable preliminary, to any examination of the moral progress of Europe. Unfortunately, however, such an inquiry is beset with serious difficulties, arising in part from the extreme nnultiplicity of detail which systems of moral philosophy egsent, and in part from a fundamental antagonism of ‘ciples, dividing them into two opposing groups. The controversy, springing from the rival claims of intui- and utility to be regarded as the supreme regulator
y ..anoral distinctions, may be dimly traced in the division
tween Plato and Aristotle; it appeared more clearly in -e division between the Stoics and the Epicurcans; but has only acquired its full distinctness of definition, and “a importance of the questions depending onit has only en fully appreciated,in modern times, under the influence such writers as Cudworth, Butler and Clarke upon th - side,and Hobbes, Helvetius, and Bentham on the othe:
1
o HUSTORY OF EUROPEAN MORALS,
motive to virtue, we are told that it is an enlightened self-interest. The words huppiness, utility, and interest include, however, many different kinds of enjoyment, and have given rise to many different modifications of the
theory.
Perhaps the lowest and most repulsive form of this theory is that which was propounded by Mandeville, in his ‘Enquiry into the Origin of Moral Virtue.’* Accord- ing to this writer, virtue sprang in the first instance from the cunning of rulers. These, in order to govern men, found it necessary to persuade them that it was a noble thing to restrain, instead of indulging their passions, and to devote themselves entirely to the good of the com- munity. The mannerin which they attained this end was by acting upon the fecling of vanity. ‘hey persuaded men that human nature was something nobler than the nature of animals, and that devotion to the community rendered a man pre-eminently great. By statues, and titles, and honours; by continually extolling such men as Regulus or Decius; by representing those who were addicted to useless enjoyments as a low and despicable class, they at last so inflamed the vanity of men as to Kindle an intense emulation, and inspire the most herpi¢
4 ¢The chief thing therefore which lawgivers and other wise men that hare laboured for the establishment of society have endeavoured, has been to mako the peoplo they wern to govern bellove that it was moro beneficial for everybody to conquer than to indulge his appetites, and much better to mind the public than what seemed his private intercst . . . observing thot none were vither so tavage ae not to be charmed with prsise, or oo despicabln ‘ts patiently to bear contempt, they justly concluded that fiottery must bo the most powerful argument that could be used to haman creatures, Moding use of this bewitching eugive, they extolled the excellency of our nature above other animala ... by the help of which wo were capable of performing the most noblo achievements Having, by this artfal Hattery, insinuated themselves into the hearts of meo, they began to instruct them: in the notions of hoavur and slame, &o,'— Enquiry into the Origin of Mowat Virtue.
1 HISTORY OF EUROPEAN MORALS.
"ing from a vivid realisation of sorrow that may befall our- selves, suggested by the sight of the sorrows of others,
> We pity especially those who have not deserved calamity, because we consider ourselves to belong to that category;
and the spectacle of suffering against which no fore- thought could provide, reminds us most forcibly of what may happen to ourselves.’ Friendship is the sense of the need of the person befriended.*
intention af good to hisnenlf, becanso gift ia voluntary; and of all voluntary. nots, the object to every man is hie own good.—Hobbes’ Leviathan, part i. chxr. ‘Drenm not that men will move their little finger to servis you, unless thelr ntvuntago in xo doing be obvious to them. Men nover did <0, and nover will whilo human nature § mado of ite progent snutoriala'— Bentham's Devntolayy, vol. ii, ps 183,
* «Pity fs imagination o fiction of futare calamity to ourselves, proceeding from the eeneo of another man’s calamity, But when it lighteth on suck a wo think have not deserved the same, the compassion is grontor, because there thon appeareth more probability that tho same may happen to us; for tho evil that happencth to an innocent man may happen to every imun.'—Hobbes On Hunt Nel, ch, ix. § 10, ‘La pitié est souvent um sea~ timent dence propres manx dang les maux Wantrui, C'est une habile pré= voyance des milheurs oi nous pourons tomber, Nous donnons des secours nix: ‘utres pour lea enguger A nous en donuer en de somblablos occasions, st cea worvices quo nous lour rendons sont, & propromont parlor, dos blens quo nous nous faisons A nous-nsiémes par avance’—La Rochefoucauld, Maries, 264, Butler hus remarked that if Hobbes’ account were true, the most fewrful would be tho most compassionate nature; but this ie perhaps not quite jumt, | for Hobbes" notion of pity implics the union of two not absolutely identical, though nearly allio, influences, timidity and imagination, The theory of Adam Smith, though eloroly connected with, differs totally £n consoquénces from that of Hobbea, Ho says, When I condole with you for the Joss of your son, in onder to enter into your grief, I do not consider what T, a person of such a charnater and profersion, should suffor if I hnd a som, snd iE that som should dio—I consider what I should suffer if I was really you, [not only change circumstances with you, but I changa penons and charactors. My griof, thorefore, is entirely upon your account...» A man ay eympathiso with # woman in child-bed, though it is impossible he should conesive hineelf suffering her pains in his own proper ‘person and charactor.’ — Moral Sentiments, part vii. ch. i. § 8.
£ 1Q¢ que lea hommes ont nommé amitié n'est qu'une société, quiun mig nagement xéelproque d'intéréts et qu'un échange da bons aftices. Ce ntost enfin qu’un commerce of l'amour-propre so propor toujours quelqus chose nega Rochefoucsald, Mar. 69, See this iden developed at large in
tian,
<a a
26 HISTORY OF EUROPEAN NORALS,
Whatever may be thought of the truth, it is impos- sible to withhold some admiration from the intellectual grandeur of a system which starting from a conception of human nature as low and as base as that of Mandeville or Hobbes professes without the introduction of a single new or nobler element, by a strange process of philosophic alchemy, to evolye out of this original selfishness the most heroic and most sensitive virtue, The manner in which this achievement is effected is commonly illustrated by the passion of avarice. Money in itself possesses ab- solutely nothing that is admirable or pleasurable, but being the means of procuring us many of the objects of our desire, it becomes associated in our minds with the idea of pleasure; it is therefore itself loved; and it is possible for the love of moncy so completely to eclipse or supersede the love of all those things which money procures, that the miser will forego thein all, rather than part with a fraction of his gold.*
The same phenomenon may be traced, it is said, in a multitude of other forms? Thus we seek power, because it gives us the means of gratifying many desires. It becomes associated with those desires, and is, at last, itself passionately loved. Praise indicates the affection of the eulogist, and marks us out for the affection of others.
expoeted from so enthusiastic an ndmiror of Tucker. In our own day it has boon much wed by Mr. J. 8, Mill.
! Chis WMusteatlon, which was fest employed by Hutcheson, ie very happily developed by Gay (p. Ui). It wan then wed by Hartley, oxi finally Tucker reprodueed the whole theory with the usual illustration withe out any acknowledgment of the works of his predecessors, omploying, haw ever, tho term ‘translation’ instead of ‘associntion’ of ideas Seo his curious chapter on the subject, Ziyht of Nature, book 1. ch xviil.
? «It ia the naturo of translation to throw desire from the end upon the means, which thenceforwand become an end capable of exciting an appetite without prospect of the consequences whersto they lend. Our habits and. most of the desieea thet occupy human life are of this translated kkind.— Tucker's Light of Nature, vol. si. (od. 1842), p. 261
. uw HISTORY OF EUROPEAN MORALS,
ful account of the different modifications of the inductive theory, Ishail proceed to state some of the principal ob- jections that have been and may be brought against it. I. shall then endeavour to define and defend the opinions of those who believe that our moral feelings are an essen- tial part of our constitution, developed by but not derived from eilucation, and I shall conclude this chapter, by an enquiry into the order of their evolution ; so that having obtained some notion of the natural history of morals, we may be able in the ensuing chapters to judge, how far their normal progress has been accelerated or retarded by religious or political agencies.
‘Psychology,’ it has been truly said, ‘is but developed consciousness."* When moralists assert, that what we call virtue derives its reputation solely from its utility, and that the interest of the agent is the one motive to practise it, our first question is naturally how far this theory agrees with the feelings and with the language of mankind. But if tested by this criterion, there never was a doctrine more emphatically condemned than utilitarianism, In all its stages, and in all its assertions, it is in direct oppost- tion to common Janguage and to common sentiments. Tn all nations and in all ages, the ideas of interest and utility on the one hand and virtue on the other, have been re garded by the multitude as perfectly distinct, and all languages recognise the distinction. The terms honour, jus- tice, rectitude or virtue, and their equivalents in every lan- guage, present to the mind ideas essentially and broadly differing from the terms prudence, sagacity, or interest, The two lines of conduct may coincide, but they are never confused, and we haye not the slightest difficulty in imagining them antagonistic. When we say a man ia
* Sir W. Hamilton,
THE NATURAL HISTORY OF MORALS. 35
governed by a high sense of honour, or by strong meral feeling, we do not mean that he is prudently pursuing either his own interests or the interests of society. The universal sentiment of mankind represents self-sacrifice as an essential element of a meritorious act, and means by self-sacrifice the deliberate adoption of the least plea- surable course without the prospect of any pleasure in return. A selfish act may be innocent, but cannot be virtuous, and to ascribe all good deeds to selfish motives, is not the distortion but the negation of virtue. No Epicurean could avow before a popular audience that the one end of his life was the pursuit of his own happiness without an outburst of indignation and con- tempt.! No man could consciously make this—which ac- cording to the selfish theory is the only rational and indeed possible motive of action—the deliberate object of all his undertakings, without his character becoming despicable and degraded. Whether we look within ourselves or examine the conduct either of our enemies or of our friends or adjudicate upon the characters in history or in fiction, our feelings on these matters are the same. In exact’ proportion as we believe a desire for personal enjoyment: to be the motive of a good act is the merit of the agent diminished. If we believe the motive to be wholly selfish the merit is altogether destroyed. If we believe it to be wholly disinterested the merit is alto- gether unalloyed. Hence, the admiration bestowed upon Prometheus, or suffering virtue constant beneath the blows of Almighty malice, or on the atheist who with no prospect of future reward suffered a fearful death, rather than abjure an opinion which could be of no benefit to society because he believed it to be the truth. Selfish
4 Cle. De Fin. lib. ii.
no
THE NATURAL HISTORY OF MORALS, 47
tinually practised with the most absolute callousness, without exercising any appreciable influence upon the respect for adult life. In the same manner what may be termed religious unveracity, or the habit of propagating what are deemed useful superstitions, with the conscious- ness of their being false, or at least suppressing or mis- representing the facts that might invalidate them, does not in any degree imply industrial unveracity. Nothing is more common than to find extreme dishonesty in spe- culation coexisting with scrupulous veracity in business. If any vice might be expected to conform strictly to the utilitarian theory, it would be cruelty; but cruelty to animals may esist without leading to cruelty to men, and even where spe:tacles in which animal suffering forms a leading elemeni exercise an injurious influence on character, it is more than doubtful whether the measure of human unhappiness they mey ultimately produce is at all equivalent to the passionate enjoyment they immedi- ately afford.
This last consideration, however, makes it necessary to notice a new, and as it appears to me, almost gro- tesque development of the utilitarian theory. The duty of humanity to animals, though for a long period too much neglected, may, on the principles of the intui- tive moralist, he easily explained and justified. Our circumstances and characters produce in us many and various affections towards all with whom we come in contact, and our consciences pronounce these affections to be good or bad. We feel that humanity or benevo- lence is a good affection, and also that it is due in dif- ferent degrees to different classes. Thus it is not only natural but right that a man should care for his own family more than for the world at large, and this obligation applies not only to parents who are responsible for having
5
THE PAGAN EMPIRE, 175
the ignorant. Seneca! and the whole school of Pytha- goras objected to the sacrifices,
These examples will be sufficient to show how widely the philosophic classes in Rome were removed from the professed religion of the State, and how necessary it is to seek elsewhere the sources of their moral life. But the opinions of learned men never reflect faithfully those of the vulgar, and the chasm between the two classes was even wider than at present before the dawn of Christianity and the invention of printing. The atheistic enthusiasm of Lucretius and thé sceptical enthusiasm of some of the disciples of Carneades were isolated phenomena, and the great majority of the ancient philosophers, while specu- lating with the utmost freedom in private, or in writings that were read by the few, countenanced, practised, and even defended the religious rites that they despised. It was believed that many different paths adapted to different nations and grades of knowledge converge to the same Di- vinity, and that the most erroneous religion is good i it forms good dispositions and inspires virtuous actions. The oracle of Delphi had said that the best religion is that of a man’s own city. Polybius and Dionysius of
former defended the Greek fashion of worshipping the Divinity under the form of the human image, sculptured by Phidias and Praxiteles, this being the noblest form we can conceive, and therefore the least inadequate to the Divine perfections, The latter defended the Egyptian custom of worship- Ping animals, because, as he eaid, it is blasphemous to attempt to conceive an image of the Deity, and the Egyptians therefore concentrate the imagination of the worshipper on objects that are plainly merely allegorical or symbolical, and do not pretend to offer any such image (Philoe. Apoll. of Tyana, vi. 19). Pliny shortly eays, ‘Effigiem Dei formamque quicrere imbecillitatia humans reor? (Hist, Nat. i. 5). Soo too Max. Tyrius, Dies, xxviii, There wasa legend that Numa forbade all idols, and that for 200 years they were unknown in Rome (Plutarch, Life of Numa). Dio Chrysostom anid that the Gods need no statues or sacrifices, but that by these means we attest our devotion to them (Orat, xxxi.). On the vanity of rich idola, see Plutarch, De Superati= tione; ‘Benecs, Ep. xxxi. * Lact, Inst. Dio, vi. 25. 18
THE PAGAN EMPIRE. 237
steadily and fearlessly towards an unpopular end. A sense of duty was very widely diffused, and a deep attach- ment to the interests of the city became the parent of many virtues.
Such was the type of excellence the Roman people had attained at a time when its intellectual cultivation produced philosophical discussions, and when numerous Greek professors, attracted partly by political events, and partly by the patronage of Scipio milianus, arrived at Rome, bringing with them the tenets of the great schools of Zeno and Epicurus, and of the many minor sects that clustered around them. Epicureanism being essentially opposed to the pre-existing type of virtue, though it spread greatly, never attained the posi- tion of a school of virtue. Stvicism, taught by Panmtius of Rhodes, and soon after by the Syrian Posidonius, be- came the true religion of the educated classes. It fur- nished the principles of virtue, coloured the noblest literature of the time, and guided all the developments of moral enthusiasm.
The stoical system of ethics was in the highest sense a system of independent morals. It taught that our reason reveals to us a certain law of nature, and that a desire to conform to this law, irrespectively of all considerations of reward or punishment, of happiness or the reverse, is a possible and a sufficient motive of virtue. It was also in the highest sense a system of discipline. It taught that the will, acting under the complete control of the reason, is the sole principle of virtue, and that all the emotional part of our being is of the nature of « disease. Its whole tendency was therefore to dignify and strengthen the will, and to degrade and suppress the desires. It taught, more- over, that man is capable of attaining an extremely high degree of mora. excellence, that he has nothing to feas
THE PAGAN EMPIRE. 239
motives, their judgments of character were wavering and uncertain, their whole teaching was of the nature ofa com- promise. But in ancient Rome, if the teachers of virtue acted but feebly upon the surrounding corruption, their own tenets were at least unstained. The splendour of the genius of Cesar never eclipsed the moral grandeur of the vanquished Cato, and amid all the dramatic vicissitudes of civil war and of political convulsion, the supreme au- thority of moral distinctions was never forgotten. The eloquence of Livy was chiefly employed in painting virtue, the eloquence of Tacitus in branding vice. The Stoics never lowered their standard because of the depravity around them, and if we trace in their teaching any reflection of the prevailing worship of enjoyment, it is only in the passionate intensity with which they dwelt upon the tranquillity of the tomb.
But it is not sufficient for a moral system to forma bulwark against vice, it must also be capable of admitting those extensions and refinements of moral sympathies
“ which advancing civilisation produces, and the inflexibility of its antagonism to evil by no means implies its in- capacity of enlarging its conceptions of good. During the period which elapsed between the importation of stoical tenets into Rome and the ascendency of Chris- tianity, an extremely important transformation of moral ideas had been effected by political changes, and it became a question how far the new clements could coalesce with the stoical ideal, and how far they tended to replace it by an essentially different type. These changes were twofold, but were very closely connected. They consisted of the increasing prominence of the benevolent or amiable, as distinguished from the heroic qualities, and of the enlargement of moral sympathies, which having at first comprised only a class or a nation, cama
7
THE CONVERSION OF ROME. 403
enemies, but stretched out its hands to the east and to the west; . . . but at last the long peace was broken. After many years, that hateful monster Decius arose, who troubled the Church.’?
We have here three separate passages, from which we may conclusively infer that the normal and habitual con- dition of the Christians during the eighty-four years we are considering, and, if we accept the two last passages, during a much longer period, was a condition of peace, but that peace was not absolutely unbroken. The Chris- tian Church, which was at first regarded simply as a branch of Judaism, had begun to be recognised as a separate body, and the Roman law professedly tolerated only those religions which were expressly authorised. It is indeed true that with the extension of the empire, and especially of the city, the theory, or at least the practice, of religious legislation had been profoundly modified. First of all, certain religions, of which the Jewish was one, were officially recognised, and then many others, without being expressly authorised, were tolerated. In this manner all attempts to resist the torrent of Oriental superstitions proving vain, the legislator had desisted from his efforts, and every form of wild superstition was practised with the utmost publicity and the most absolute impunity. Still the laws forbidding them were unre- voked, although they were suffered to remain for the most part obsolete, or were at least only put in action on the occasion of some special scandal, or of some real or apprehended political danger. The municipal and pro- vincial independence in the empire was, however, so large, that very much depended on the character of the local governor ; and it continually happened that in one
1 Lactant. De Mort. Persec. 3-4. a1
THE CONVERSION OF ROME. 407
appear to have been entirely unmolested; but many of them suffered dreadful tortures at the hands of the Jewish insurgents, who in this reign, with a desperate but ill-fated heroism, made one last effort to regain their freedom.!| The mutual hostility exhibited at this time by the Jews and Christians contributed to separate them in the eyes of the Pagans, and it is said that when Hadrian forbade the Jews ever again to enter Jerusalem, he recognised the distinction by granting a full permission to the Christians.”
Antoninus, who succeeded Hadrian, made new efforts to restrain the passions of the people against the Christians. He issued an edict commanding that they should not be molested, and when, as a consequence of some earth- quakes in Asia Minor, the popular anger was fiercely roused, he commanded that their accusers should be punished.’ If we except these riots, the twenty-three years of his reign appear to have been years of absolute peace, which seems also to have continued during several years of the reign of Marcus Aurelius; but at last perse- cuting edicts, of the exact nature of which we have no knowledge, were issued. Of the reasons which induced one of the best men who have ever reigned to persecute the Christians, we know little or nothing. That it was
* Justin Mart, Ap.i. 81, Euschins quotes a passngo from Hegesippus to the same effect. (iv. 8.)
* «Prascepitque ne cui Judo introcundi Wierosolymam esset licenti, Christianis tantum civitnte permisca.’ 4
# A letter which Eusebius gives at fall (iv. 13), and ascribes to Anto- ninus Pius, hes created a good deal of controversy. Justin Mart. (Apol. i. 71) and Tertullian (Apol. 5) ascribe it to Marcus Aurelius, It is now generally believed to be a forgery by a Christian hand, being more like a Christian apology than the letter of a Pagan emperor. St. Melito, however, writing to Marcus Aurelius, expressly states that Antoninus had written # letter forbidding the persecution of Christians. (Euseb. iv. 20.)
THE CONVERSION OF ROME. aT
“was the just boast of the Romans, that no refinement of ‘cruelty, no prolongations of torture, were admitted in their stern but simple penal code. But all this was changed. Those hateful games, which made the spectacle of human suffering and death the delight of all classes, had spread their brutalising influence wherever the Roman name was known, had rendered millions abso- lutely indifferent to the sight of human suffering, had produced in many, in the very centre of an advanced civilisation, a relish and a passion for torture, a rapture | -and an exultation in watching the spasms of extreme agony, such.as an African or an American savage alone ! can equal. The most horrible recorded instances of torture were usually inflicted, either by the populace, or in their presence, in the arena.' We read of Christians bound in chairs of red-hot iron, while the stench of their | shalf-consumed flesh rose in a suffocating cloud to heaven ; of others who were torn to the very bone by shells, or hooks of iron; of holy virgins given over to the lust of the gladiator or to the mercies of the pander ; of two hun- dred and twenty-seven converts sent on one occasion to the mines, each with the sinews of one leg severed by a red-hot iron, and with an eye scooped from its socket ; of * fires so slow that the victims writhed for hours in their agonies ; of bodies torn limb from limb, or sprinkled with burning lead; of mingled salt and vinegar poured over i the flesh that was bleeding from the rack ; of tortures ‘ ** prolonged and varied through entire days. For the love + of their Divine Master, for the cause they believed to be true, men, and even weak girls, endured these things with- '
1 This was the case in the persecutions at Lyons and Smyrna, under Marcus Aurelius. In the Diocletian persecution at Alexandria the popu- lace were allowed to torture the Christians as they pleased. (Eusebius, viii 10.)
498 HISTORY OF EUROPEAN MORALS.
out flinching, when one word would have freed them from their sufferings. No opinion we may form of the proceedings of priests in a later age should impair the reverence with which we bend before the martyr’s tomb.
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