But Jesus was not the Christ, the Savior of warrior-kings alone, in the
hour of death. On the battlefield of Inkerman an humble soldier fell
mortally wounded. He managed to crawl to his tent before he died. When
found he was lying face downward with the open Bible beside him. His
right hand was glued with his lifeblood to Chapter XI., Verse 25 of St.
John. When the hand was lifted, these words, containing the ever-living
promise of the Master, could be clearly traced: "I am the resurrection
and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he
live."
PART II
_GRÆCO-ROMAN PAGANISM_
[Illustration: JUPITER (ANTIQUE SCULPTURE)]
CHAPTER I
GRÆCO-ROMAN PAGANISM
_Extent of the Roman Empire at the Time of Christ._--The policy of
ancient Rome was to extend and hold her possessions by force of arms.
She made demands; and if they were not complied with, she spurned the
medium of diplomacy and appealed for arbitrament to the god of battles.
Her achievements were the achievements of war. Her glories were the
glories of combat. Her trophies were the treasures of conquered
provinces and chained captives bowed in grief and shame. Her theory was
that "might makes right"; and in vindication and support of this theory
she imbued her youth with a martial spirit, trained them in the use of
arms from childhood to manhood, and stationed her legions wherever she
extended her empire. Thus, military discipline and the fortune of
successful warfare formed the basis of the prosperity of Rome.
At the period of which we write, her invincible legions had accomplished
the conquest of the civilized earth. Britain, Gaul, Spain, Italy,
Illyria, Greece, Asia Minor, Africa, Egypt, and the islands of the
Mediterranean--six hundred thousand square leagues of the most fertile
territory in the world--had been subdued to the Roman will and had
become obedient to Roman decrees. "The empire of the Romans," says
Gibbon, "filled the world, and when that empire fell into the hands of a
single person, the world became a safe and dreary prison for his
enemies. The slave of imperial despotism, whether he was compelled to
drag his gilded chain in Rome and the Senate, or to wear out a life of
exile on the barren rock of Seriphus, or on the frozen banks of the
Danube, expected his fate in silent despair. To resist was fatal, and it
was impossible to fly. On every side he was encompassed by a vast extent
of sea and land, which he could never hope to traverse without being
discovered, seized, and restored to his irritated master. Beyond the
frontiers, his anxious view could discover nothing, except the ocean,
inhospitable deserts, hostile tribes of barbarians, of fierce manners
and unknown language, or dependent kings who would gladly purchase the
emperor's protection by the sacrifice of an obnoxious fugitive.
'Wherever you are,' said Cicero to the exiled Marcellus, 'remember that
you are equally within the power of the conqueror.'"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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