implied that the emperors, Decius and his son,
being determined to give peace to their subjects, found the Christians
alone an impediment to the fulfilment of their purpose; and that, by
reason of the enmity which those sectaries entertained towards the gods of
Rome,--an enmity which was bringing down upon the world multiplied
misfortunes. Desirous, then, above all things, of appeasing the divine
anger, they made an irrevocable ordinance that every Christian, without
exception of rank, sex, or age, should be obliged to sacrifice. Those who
refused were to be thrown into prison, and in the first instance submitted
to moderate punishments. If they conformed to the established religion,
they were to be rewarded; if not, they were to be drowned, burned alive,
exposed to the beasts, hung upon the trees, or otherwise put to death.
This edict was read in the camp of the praetorians, posted up in the
Capitol, and sent over the empire by government couriers. The authorities
in each province were themselves threatened with heavy penalties, if they
did not succeed in frightening or tormenting the Christians into the
profession of paganism.

St. Fabian, as we have said, was the first-fruits of the persecution, and
eighteen months passed before his successor could be appointed. In the
course of the next two months St. Pionius was burned alive at Smyrna, and
St. Nestor crucified in Pamphylia. At Carthage some perplexity and delay
were occasioned by the absence of the proconsul. St. Cyprian, its bishop,
took advantage of the delay, and retired into a place of concealment. The
populace had joined with the imperial government in seeking his life, and
had cried out furiously in the circus, demanding him "ad leonem," for the
lion. A panic seized the Christian body, and for a while there were far
more persons found to compromise their faith than to confess it. It seemed
as if Aristo's anticipation was justified, that Christianity was losing
its hold upon the mind of its subjects, and that nothing more was needed
for those who had feared it, than to let it die a natural death. And at
Sicca the Roman officials, as far as ever they dared, seemed to act on
this view. Here Christians did no harm, they made no show, and there was
little or nothing in the place to provoke the anger of the mob or to
necessitate the interference of the magistrate. The proconsul's absence
from Carthage was both an encouragement and an excuse for delay; and hence
it