Thoughts Of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus [best ereader for pc .TXT] 📗

Very Particular Description Of The Tortures Inflicted On The

Christians In Gallia,  And It States That While The Persecution Was Going

On,  Attalus,  A Christian And A Roman Citizen,  Was Loudly Demanded By The

Populace And Brought Into The Amphitheatre; But The Governor Ordered Him

To Be Reserved,  With The Rest Who Were In Prison,  Until He Had Received

Instructions From The Emperor. Many Had Been Tortured Before The

Governor Thought Of Applying To Antoninus. The Imperial Rescript,  Says

The Letter,  Was That The Christians Should Be Punished,  But If They

Would Deny Their Faith,  They Must Be Released. On This The Work Began

Again. The Christians Who Were Roman Citizens Were Beheaded; The Rest

Were Exposed To The Wild Beasts In The Amphitheatre. Some Modern Writers

On Ecclesiastical History,  When They Use This Letter,  Say Nothing Of The

Wonderful Stories Of The Martyrs' Sufferings. Sanctus,  As The Letter

Says,  Was Burnt With Plates Of Hot Iron Till His Body Was One Sore And

Had Lost All Human Form; But On Being Put To The Rack He Recovered His

Former Appearance Under The Torture,  Which Was Thus A Cure Instead Of A

Punishment. He Was Afterwards Torn By Beasts,  And Placed On An Iron

Chair And Roasted. He Died At Last.

 

The Letter Is One Piece Of Evidence. The Writer,  Whoever He Was That

Wrote In The Name Of The Gallic Christians,  Is Our Evidence Both For The

Ordinary And The Extraordinary Circumstances Of The Story,  And We Cannot

Accept His Evidence For One Part And Reject The Other. We Often Receive

Small Evidence As A Proof Of A Thing We Believe To Be Within The Limits

Of Probability Or Possibility,  And We Reject Exactly The Same Evidence,

When The Thing To Which It Refers Appears Very Improbable Or Impossible.

But This Is A False Method Of Inquiry,  Though It Is Followed By Some

Modern Writers,  Who Select What They Like From A Story And Reject The

Rest Of The Evidence; Or If They Do Not Reject It,  They Dishonestly

Suppress It. A Man Can Only Act Consistently By Accepting All This

Letter Or Rejecting It All,  And We Cannot Blame Him For Either. But He

Who Rejects It May Still Admit That Such A Letter May Be Founded On Real

Facts; And He Would Make This Admission As The Most Probable Way Of

Accounting For The Existence Of The Letter; But If,  As He Would Suppose,

The Writer Has Stated Some Things Falsely,  He Cannot Tell What Part Of

His Story Is Worthy Of Credit.

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The War On The Northern Frontier Appears To Have Been Uninterrupted

During The Visit Of Antoninus To The East,  And On His Return The Emperor

Again Left Rome To Oppose The Barbarians. The Germanic People Were

Defeated In A Great Battle A.D. 179. During This Campaign The Emperor

Was Seized With Some Contagious Malady,  Of Which He Died In The Camp At

Sirmium (Mitrovitz),  On The Save,  In Lower Pannonia,  But At Vindebona

(Vienna),  According To Other Authorities,  On The 17th Of March,  A.D.

180,  In The Fifty-Ninth Year Of His Age. His Son Commodus Was With Him.

The Body,  Or The Ashes Probably,  Of The Emperor Were Carried To Rome,

And He Received The Honor Of Deification. Those Who Could Afford It Had

His Statue Or Bust; And When Capitolinus Wrote,  Many People Still Had

Statues Of Antoninus Among The Dei Penates Or Household Deities. He Was

In A Manner Made A Saint. Commodus Erected To The Memory Of His Father

The Antonine Column Which Is Now In The Piazza Colonna At Rome. The

_Bassi Rilievi_ Which Are Placed In A Spiral Line Round The Shaft

Commemorate The Victories Of Antoninus Over The Marcomanni And The

Quadi,  And The Miraculous Shower Of Rain Which Refreshed The Roman

Soldiers And Discomfited Their Enemies. The Statue Of Antoninus Was

Placed On The Capital Of The Column,  But It Was Removed At Some Time

Unknown,  And A Bronze Statue Of St. Paul Was Put In The Place By Pope

Sixtus The Fifth.

 

The Historical Evidence For The Times Of Antoninus Is Very Defective,

And Some Of That Which Remains Is Not Credible. The Most Curious Is The

Story About The Miracle Which Happened In A.D. 174,  During The War With

The Quadi. The Roman Army Was In Danger Of Perishing By Thirst,  But A

Sudden Storm Drenched Them With Rain,  While It Discharged Fire And Hail

On Their Enemies,  And The Romans Gained A Great Victory. All The

Authorities Which Speak Of The Battle Speak Also Of The Miracle. The

Gentile Writers Assign It To Their Gods,  And The Christians To The

Intercession Of The Christian Legion In The Emperor's Army. To Confirm

The Christian Statement It Is Added That The Emperor Gave The Title Of

Thundering To This Legion; But Dacier And Others,  Who Maintain The

Christian Report Of The Miracle,  Admit That This Title Of Thundering Or

Lightning Was Not Given To This Legion Because The Quadi Were Struck

With Lightning,  But Because There Was A Figure Of Lightning On Their

Shields,  And That This Title Of The Legion Existed In The Time Of

Augustus.

 

Scaliger Also Had Observed That The Legion Was Called Thundering

([Greek: Keraunobolos],  Or [Greek: Keraunophoros]) Before The Reign Of

Antoninus. We Learn This From Dion Cassius (Lib. 55,  C. 23,  And The Note

Of Reimarus),  Who Enumerates All The Legions Of Augustus' Time. The Name

Thundering Of Lightning Also Occurs On An Inscription Of The Reign Of

Trajan,  Which Was Found At Trieste. Eusebius (V. 5),  When He Relates The

Miracle,  Quotes Apolinarius,  Bishop Of Hierapolis,  As Authority For This

Name Being Given To The Legion Melitene By The Emperor In Consequence Of

The Success Which He Obtained Through Their Prayers; From Which We May

Estimate The Value Of Apolinarius' Testimony. Eusebius Does Not Say In

What Book Of Apolinarius The Statement Occurs. Dion Says That The

Thundering Legion Was Stationed In Cappadocia In The Time Of Augustus.

Valesius Also Observes That In The Notitia Of The Imperium Romanum There

Is Mentioned Under The Commander Of Armenia The Praefectura Of The

Twelfth Legion Named "Thundering Melitene;" And This Position In Armenia

Will Agree With What Dion Says Of Its Position In Cappadocia.

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Accordingly Valesius Concludes That Melitene Was Not The Name Of The

Legion,  But Of The Town In Which It Was Stationed. Melitene Was Also The

Name Of The District In Which This Town Was Situated. The Legions Did

Not,  He Says,  Take Their Name From The Place Where They Were On Duty,

But From The Country In Which They Were Raised,  And Therefore What

Eusebius Says About The Melitene Does Not Seem Probable To Him. Yet

Valesius,  On The Authority Of Apolinarius And Tertullian,  Believed That

The Miracle Was Worked Through The Prayers Of The Christian Soldiers In

The Emperor's Army. Rufinus Does Not Give The Name Of Melitene To This

Legion,  Says Valesius,  And Probably He Purposely Omitted It,  Because He

Knew That Melitene Was The Name Of A Town In Armenia Minor,  Where The

Legion Was Stationed In His Time.

 

The Emperor,  It Is Said,  Made A Report Of His Victory To The Senate,

Which We May Believe,  For Such Was The Practice; But We Do Not Know What

He Said In His Letter,  For It Is Not Extant. Dacier Assumes That The

Emperor's Letter Was Purposely Destroyed By The Senate Or The Enemies Of

Christianity,  That So Honorable A Testimony To The Christians And Their

Religion Might Not Be Perpetuated. The Critic Has However Not Seen That

He Contradicts Himself When He Tells Us The Purport Of The Letter,  For

He Says That It Was Destroyed,  And Even Eusebius Could Not Find It. But

There Does Exist A Letter In Greek Addressed By Antoninus To The Roman

People And The Sacred Senate After This Memorable Victory. It Is

Sometimes Printed After Justin's First Apology,  But It Is Totally

Unconnected With The Apologies. This Letter Is One Of The Most Stupid

Forgeries Of The Many Which Exist,  And It Cannot Be Possibly Founded

Even On The Genuine Report Of Antoninus To The Senate. If It Were

Genuine,  It Would Free The Emperor From The Charge Of Persecuting Men

Because They Were Christians,  For He Says In This False Letter That If A

Man Accuse Another Only Of Being A Christian,  And The Accused Confess,

And There Is Nothing Else Against Him,  He Must Be Set Free; With This

Monstrous Addition,  Made By A Man Inconceivably Ignorant,  That The

Informer Must Be Burnt Alive.[A]

 

    [A] Eusebius (V. 5) Quotes Tertullian's Apology To The Roman

    Senate In Confirmation Of The Story. Tertullian,  He Says,

    Writes That Letters Of The Emperor Were Extant,  In Which He

    Declares That His Army Was Saved By The Prayers Of The

    Christians; And That He "Threatened To Punish With Death Those

    Who Ventured To Accuse Us." It Is Possible That The Forged

    Letter Which Is Now Extant May Be One Of Those Which Tertullian

    Had Seen,  For He Uses The Plural Number,  "Letters." A Great

    Deal Has Been Written About This Miracle Of The Thundering

    Legion,  And More Than Is Worth Reading. There Is A Dissertation

    On This Supposed Miracle In Moyle's Works,  London,  1726.

 

During The Time Of Antoninus Pius And Marcus Antoninus There Appeared

The First Apology Of Justinus,  And Under M. Antoninus The Oration Of

Tatian Against The Greeks,  Which Was A Fierce Attack On The Established

Religions; The Address Of Athenagoras To M. Antoninus On Behalf Of The

Christians,  And The Apology Of Melito,  Bishop Of Sardes,  Also Addressed

To The Emperor,  And That Of Apolinarius. The First Apology Of Justinus

Is Addressed To T. Antoninus Pius And His Two Adopted Sons,  M. Antoninus

And L. Verus; But We Do Not Know Whether They Read It.[A] The Second

Apology Of Justinus Is Entitled "To The Roman Senate;" But This

Superscription Is From Some Copyist. In The First Chapter Justinus

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Addresses The Romans. In The Second Chapter He Speaks Of An Affair That

Had Recently Happened In The Time Of M. Antoninus And L,. Verus,  As It

Seems; And He Also Directly Addresses The Emperor,  Saying Of A Certain

Woman,  "She Addressed A Petition To Thee,  The Emperor,  And Thou Didst

Grant The Petition." In Other Passages The Writer Addresses The Two

Emperors,  From Which We