otive of the persecutors is usually
represented as wanton cruelty, while in fact it frequently was the case
that the civil magistrate honestly deemed himself to be carrying out
necessary precautions for the welfare of society. This assertion, which
tends to the defence of the credit of human nature, can confidently be
made in regard to most cases of official persecution. "Revere the gods
in everyway according to ancestral laws," said Maecenas to Augustus,
"and compel others so to revere them. Those, however, who introduce
anything foreign in this respect, hate and punish, not only for the sake
of the gods,--want of reverence toward whom argues want of reverence
toward everything else,--but because such, in that they introduce new
divinities, mislead many also to adopt foreign laws. Thence come
conspiracies and secret leagues which are in the highest degree opposed
to monarchy." Julius Paulus laid down as a fundamental principle in
Roman law: "Such as introduce new religions, whose bearing and nature
are not understood, by which the minds of men are disquieted, should, if
they are of the higher ranks, be transported; if of the lower, be
punished with death." To a Roman the state was everything; individual
liberty could only run in such courses as were parallel with the policy
of the state. Those who retained a sincere belief in the ancient deities
worshipped them as the patrons and guardians of the imperial destinies;
the philosophical sceptics were no less inclined to insist upon that
worship as a thing of political necessity, a means of binding the
unintelligent in loyalty to the government.

In view of this, it is not to be wondered at that the contemptuous
attitude which the Christians manifested to the ancient religions seemed
to some of the wisest Romans to be nothing other than a stubborn
fanaticism, concealing a hateful antagonism to society. Their meetings,
which persecution necessarily made secret, were believed to be
treasonable; their resolute isolation from the common amusements, which
were deeply tainted with vice, caused them to be stigmatized as haters
of mankind; the mystery which surrounded their worship provided a ready
acceptance for the popular slander that in their secret gatherings the
worst atrocities were perpetrated. To such men as Trajan and Marcus
Aurelius, all this seemed a spreading evil to be determinedly stamped
out.

On the other hand, it is true that the persecution of the Christians wa