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CENT.
IV.

III. Not long after the publication of this first edict against the Christians, a fire broke out, at ᏢᎪᎡᎢ 1, two different times, in the palace of Nicomedia, where Galerius lodged with Diocletian. The and severity Christians were accused, by their enemies, as the of this per- authors of this [f]; and the credulous Diocle

The causes

secution.

tian, too easily persuaded of the truth of this charge, caused vast numbers of them to suffer at Nicomedia, the punishment of incendiaries, and to be tormented in the most inhuman and infa mous manner [g]. About the same time, there arose certain tumults and seditions in Armenia and in Syria, which were also attributed to the Christians by their irreconcileable enemies, and dexterously made use of to arm against them the emperor's fury. And, accordingly, Diocletian, by a new edict, ordered all the bishops and ministers of the Christian church to be cast into prison. Nor did his inhuman violence end here; for a third edict was soon issued out, by which it was ordered, that all sorts of torments should be employed, and the most insupportable punishments invented, to force these venerable captives to renounce their profession, by sacrificing to the heathen gods [h]; for it was hoped, that, if the bishops and doctors of the church could be brought to yield, their respective flocks would be

easily

✪[ƒ] Lanctantius assures us, that Galerius caused fire to be privately set to the palace, that he might lay the blame of it upon the Christians, and by that means incense Diocletian still more against them; in which horrid stratagem he suc ceeded, for never was any persecution so bloody and inhuman, as that which this credulous emperor now set on foot against them.

[g] Euseb. Hist. Eccles. lib. viii. cap. vi. p. 297. Lactant. De mortibus persequut. cap. xix. p. 948. Constantinus M. Oratio ad sanctor. cœtum. cap. xxv. p. 601.

[h] Euseb. Hist. Eccles. lib. viii. cap. vii. p. 298. Idem, De martyribus Palestina.

easily induced to follow their example. An immense number of persons, illustriously distinguished by their piety and learning, became the victims of this cruel stratagem throughout the whole Roman empire, Gaul excepted, which was under the mild and equitable dominion of Constantius Chlorus [i]. Some were punished in such a shameful manner, as the rules of decency oblige us to pass in silence; some were put to death after having had their constancy tried by tedious and inexpressible tortures; and some were sent to the mines to draw out the remains of a miserable life in poverty and bondage.

CENT.

IV. PART I.

Christians

crisis.

IV. In the second year of this horrible perse- The affairs cution, the 304th of the Christian æra, a fourth of the edict was published by Diocletian, at the insti- reduced to gation of Galerius, and the other inveterate ene- a dangerous mies of the Christian name. By it the magistrates were ordered and commissioned to force all Christians, without distinction of rank or sex, to sacrifice to the gods, and were authorized to employ all sorts of torments, in order to drive them to this act of apostasy [k]. The diligence and zeal of the Roman magistrates, in the execution of this inhuman edict, had liked to have proved fatal to the Christian cause [7].

Galerius now made no longer a mystery of the ambitious project he had been revolving in his mind. Finding his scheme ripe for execution, he obliged Diocletian and Maximian Herculeus to resign the imperial dignity, and declared himself emperor of the east; leaving in the west Constantius Chlorus, with the ill state of whose health

[i] Lactantius, De mortibus persequut. cap. xv. p. 951. Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. lib. viii. cap. xiii. p. 309. cap. xviii. p. 317.

[k] Eusebius, De martyribus Palæstinæ. cap. iii. p. 321, &c.

[1]Lactantius, Institut, divin. lib. v. cap. xi. p. 449.

CENT. health he was well acquainted. He chose colIV. leagues according to his own fancy, and rejectᏢᎪᎡᎢ 1. ing the proposal of Diocletian, who recom

The tranquillity of

the acces

the empire;

mended Maxentius, and Constantine the son of Constantius to that dignity, his choice fell upon Severus, and Daza, his sister's son, to whom he had a little before given the name of Maximin [m]. This revolution restored peace to those Christians who lived in the western provinces, under the administration of Constantius [n]; while those of the east, under the tyranny of Galerius had their sufferings and calamities dreadfully augmented [o].

V. The divine providence, however, was prethe church paring more serene and happy days for the restored, church. In order to this, it confounded the sion of Con- schemes of Galerius, and brought his counsels stantine to to nothing. In the year 306, Constantius Chlorus dying in Britain, the army saluted with the title of Augustus, his son Constantine, surnamed afterwards the Great, on account of his illustrious exploits, and forced him to accept the purple. This proceeding, which must have stung the tyrant Galerius to the heart, he was, nevertheless obliged to bear with patience, and even to confirm with the outward marks of his approbation. Soon after, a civil war broke out, the occasion of which was as follows; Maximin Galerius, inwardly enraged at the election of Constantine by the soldiers, sent him, indeed, the purple, but gave him only the title of Caesar, and created Severus emperor. Maxentius, the son of Maximian Herculeus, and son-in-law to Galerius, provoked at the preference given to

Severus,

xvii.

p. 954.

[m] Lactant. De mortibus persequut. cap. cap. xx. p. 961. [n] Euseb. De martyribus Palestina, cap. xiii. p. 345. [o Lactant. De mortibus persequut. cap. xxi. p. 964.

IV. PART I.

Severus, assumed the imperial dignity, and CENT. found the less difficulty in making good this usurpation, that the Roman people hoped, by his means, to deliver themselves from the unsupportable tyranny of Galerius. Having caused himself to be proclaimed emperor, he chose his father Maximian for his colleague, who, receiving the purple from the hands of his son, was universally acknowledged in that character by the senate and the people. Amidst all these troubles and commotions, Constantine, beyond all human expectation, made his way to the imperial throne.

The western Christians, those of Italy and Africa excepted [p], enjoyed a tolerable degree of tranquillity and liberty during these civil tumults. Those of the east seldom continued for any considerable time in the same situation; subject to various changes and revolutions; their condition was sometimes adverse and sometimes tolerably easy, according to the different scenes that were presented by the fluctuating state of public affairs. At length, however, Maximin Galerius, who had been the author of their heaviest calamities, being brought to the brink of the grave by a most dreadful and lingering disease [g], whose complicated horrors no language can express, published in the year 311, a solemn edict, ordering the persecution to cease, and restoring freedom and repose to the Christians, against whom he had exercised such unheardof cruelties [r].

VI.

[P] The reason of this exception is, that the provinces. of Italy and Africa, though nominally under the government of Severus, were yet in fact ruled by Galerius with an iron sceptre.

[9] See a lively description of the disease of Galerius in the Universal History, vol. xv. p. 359. of the Dublin edition.

[r] Euseb. Hist. Eccles. lib. viii. cap. xvi. p. 314. Lactantius, De mortibus persequut. cap. xxxiii. p. 182.

CENT.

and by the

VI. After the death of Galerius, his dominions IV. fell into the hands of Maximin and Licinius, PART I. who divided between them the provinces he had possessed. At the same time, Maxentius, defeat of who had usurped the government of Africa, and Italy, determined to make war upon Constantine, who was now master of Spain and the Gauls, and with this the ambitious view of reducing, under his dominion, the whole western empire. Constantine, apprised of this design, marched with a part of his army into Italy, gave battle to Maxentius at a small distance from Rome, and defeated totally that abominable ty rant, who, in his precipitate flight, fell into the Tiber, and was drowned. After this victory, which happened in the year 312, Constantine, and his colleague Licinius, immediately granted to the Christians a full power of living according to their own laws and institutions; which power was specified still more clearly in another edict, drawn up at Milan, in the following year [s]. Maximin, indeed, who ruled in the east, was preparing new calamities for the Christians, and threatening also with destruction the western emperors. But his projects were disconcerted by the victory which Licinius gained over his army, and, through distraction and despair, he ended his life by poison, in the year 313.

Different opinions

VII. About the same time, Constantine the Great, who had hitherto discovered no religious the faith of principles of any kind, embraced Christianity,

concerning

Constan

tine.

in consequence, as it is said, of a miraculous cross, which appeared to him in the air, as he was marching towards Rome to attack Maxentius. But that this extraordinary event was the reason of his conversion, is a matter that has never yet

been

[S] Euseb. Hist. Eccles. lib. x. cap. v. p. 388. Lactantius, De mortibus persequut. cap. xlviii. p. 1007.

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