History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 2

Name: History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 2
Author: Gibbon, Edward

Gibbon, Edward

Byzantine Empire -- History -- To 527; Rome -- History -- Empire, 30 B.C.-476 A.D.

IV. Notwithstanding the general rules established for the
      conviction and punishment of the Christians, the fate of those
      sectaries, in an extensive and arbitrary government, must still
      in a great measure, have depended on their own behavior, the
      circumstances of the times, and the temper of their supreme as
      well as subordinate rulers. Zeal might sometimes provoke, and
      prudence might sometimes avert or assuage, the superstitious fury
      of the Pagans. A variety of motives might dispose the provincial
      governors either to enforce or to relax the execution of the
      laws; and of these motives the most forcible was their regard not
      only for the public edicts, but for the secret intentions of the
      emperor, a glance from whose eye was sufficient to kindle or to
      extinguish the flames of persecution. As often as any occasional
      severities were exercised in the different parts of the empire,
      the primitive Christians lamented and perhaps magnified their own
      sufferings; but the celebrated number of _ten_ persecutions has
      been determined by the ecclesiastical writers of the fifth
      century, who possessed a more distinct view of the prosperous or
      adverse fortunes of the church, from the age of Nero to that of
      Diocletian. The ingenious parallels of the _ten_ plagues of
      Egypt, and of the _ten_ horns of the Apocalypse, first suggested
      this calculation to their minds; and in their application of the
      faith of prophecy to the truth of history, they were careful to
      select those reigns which were indeed the most hostile to the
      Christian cause. 104 But these transient persecutions served only
      to revive the zeal and to restore the discipline of the faithful;
      and the moments of extraordinary rigor were compensated by much
      longer intervals of peace and security. The indifference of some
      princes, and the indulgence of others, permitted the Christians
      to enjoy, though not perhaps a legal, yet an actual and public,
      toleration of their religion.

      104 (return) [ See Mosheim, p. 97. Sulpicius Severus was the
      first author of this computation; though he seemed desirous of
      reserving the tenth and greatest persecution for the coming of
      the Antichrist.]




      Chapter XVI: Conduct Towards The Christians, From Nero To
      Constantine.—Part V.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 2Gibbon, Edward

History

History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 2

Gibbon, Edward

Byzantine Empire -- History -- To 527; Rome -- History -- Empire, 30 B.C.-476 A.D.

IV. Notwithstanding the general rules established for the
      conviction and punishment of the Christians, the fate of those
      sectaries, in an extensive and arbitrary government, must still
      in a great measure, have depended on their own behavior, the
      circumstances of the times, and the temper of their supreme as
      well as subordinate rulers. Zeal might sometimes provoke, and
      prudence might sometimes avert or assuage, the superstitious fury
      of the Pagans. A variety of motives might dispose the provincial
      governors either to enforce or to relax the execution of the
      laws; and of these motives the most forcible was their regard not
      only for the public edicts, but for the secret intentions of the
      emperor, a glance from whose eye was sufficient to kindle or to
      extinguish the flames of persecution. As often as any occasional
      severities were exercised in the different parts of the empire,
      the primitive Christians lamented and perhaps magnified their own
      sufferings; but the celebrated number of _ten_ persecutions has
      been determined by the ecclesiastical writers of the fifth
      century, who possessed a more distinct view of the prosperous or
      adverse fortunes of the church, from the age of Nero to that of
      Diocletian. The ingenious parallels of the _ten_ plagues of
      Egypt, and of the _ten_ horns of the Apocalypse, first suggested
      this calculation to their minds; and in their application of the
      faith of prophecy to the truth of history, they were careful to
      select those reigns which were indeed the most hostile to the
      Christian cause. 104 But these transient persecutions served only
      to revive the zeal and to restore the discipline of the faithful;
      and the moments of extraordinary rigor were compensated by much
      longer intervals of peace and security. The indifference of some
      princes, and the indulgence of others, permitted the Christians
      to enjoy, though not perhaps a legal, yet an actual and public,
      toleration of their religion.

      104 (return) [ See Mosheim, p. 97. Sulpicius Severus was the
      first author of this computation; though he seemed desirous of
      reserving the tenth and greatest persecution for the coming of
      the Antichrist.]




      Chapter XVI: Conduct Towards The Christians, From Nero To
      Constantine.—Part V.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 2

History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 2

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