Now there was purity of life and doctrine, and, like Claudius, thousands were won over by the example of the converts rather than by the preaching of the priests. The witness in every man’s soul who turned to the living God made itself seen in the life and conversation, and there were dark places indeed in that year of Christian freedom which made the opening of the Christian life more beautiful by force of contrast. In this very year--313--the most shameful life of Maximian, and his treatment of the unhappy Valeria, the widow of Galerius, had made even the luxurious Roman shudder with horror. The story of the foul murders at Nicomedia reached Rome, and filled many hearts with sorrow. If the religion of Christ showed the way of escape from such wicked passions and low base deeds, there was safety in it. And then, on the lower ground of personal security, many professed themselves to be Christians; many who had not troubled themselves to inquire into the doctrines of Christ’s disciples, saw that they practised purity of life and manners, and now that there was no persecution or torture to dread, Christianity became more widely accepted, and the churches were thronged, while the temples were deserted. It is not possible to take a comprehensive view of the Roman empire at this time. The few incidents which are thrown together, directly or indirectly, affect the action of the story, but a careful study of these early days of Christianity, and the last days of heathenism, will well repay the student; and the secret of silent advance and growth of the faith of Christ will be found to be then, as now, more in the influence of individual character than in fierce controversy or angry invective. The Church of Rome, as it sprang to light when the edict of 313 was published, was indeed different from the Church, many centuries later, when the Monk of Erfurt entered the city by the Porta del Popoli, full of enthusiasm, and ready to climb the “Scala Santa” on his knees in expiation of his sins. He entered it a devout son of the Church of the Seven Hills; he left it depressed, disgusted, but determined to do battle, like the valiant soul that he was, against its corrupt practices. In ten years the young monk who had saluted the city on his first entrance as Holy Rome, Rome venerable with the blood of the martyrs, burned the Pope’s Bull in the square of Wittenberg, and with a loud voice, which echoed through Christendom, proclaimed that the Church of the Early Martyrs was so overlaid by the wickedness of a corrupt age, that she must be utterly purged of defilement, before she could be resorted to as the mother under whose wings the people might safely take refuge. CHAPTER XIII. A.D. 333--ALEXANDRIA. Again many years have passed away, and Casca, the son of Severus, is leaning back in his old languid fashion on a couch placed near a window commanding one of the loveliest views upon which the eyes of man have ever rested.