No More Learning

At Rome, discord shook the Prince's family: and, to begin the series of
destruction, which was to end in Agrippina, Claudia Pulchra her cousin
was accused; Domitius Afer the accuser. This man, just out of the
Praetorship, in estimation small, but hasty to signalise himself by
some notable exploit however heinous, alleged against her the "crimes
of prostitution, of adultery with Furnius, of magical execrations
and poison prepared against the life of the Emperor. " Agrippina ever
vehement, and then in a flame for the peril of her kinswoman, flew to
Tiberius, and by chance found him sacrificing to the Emperor his father.
Having got this handle for upbraiding him, she told him "that it ill
became the same man to slay victims to the deified Augustus and to
persecute his children: his divine spirit was not transfused into dumb
statues: the genuine images of Augustus were the living descendants
from his celestial blood: she herself was one; one sensible of impending
danger, and now in the mournful state of a supplicant. In vain were
foreign crimes pretended against Pulchra; when the only cause of her
concerted overthrow was her affection for Agrippina, foolishly carried
even to adoration; forgetful as she was of the fate of Sosia, a
condemned sufferer for the same fault. " All these bitter words drew
small answer from the dark breast of Tiberius: he rebuked her by quoting
a Greek verse; "That she was therefore aggrieved, because she did not
reign:" Pulchra and Furnius were condemned. Afer, having thus displayed
his genius, and gained a declaration from Tiberius, pronouncing him
_eloquent in his own independent right_, was ranked with the most
celebrated orators: afterwards in prosecuting accusations, or in
protecting the accused, he flourished more in the fame of eloquence than
in that of uprightness: however, old age eminently sunk the credit and
vigour of his eloquence; while, with parts decayed, he still retained
a passion for haranguing. [Footnote: Dum fessa mente, retinet silentii
inpatientiam. ]

Agrippina still fostering her wrath, and seized too with a bodily
disorder, received the Emperor, come purposely to see her, with
many tears and long silence. At last she accosted him with invidious
expostulations and prayers; "that he would relieve her solitude, and
give her a husband. She was still endowed with proper youth; to virtuous
women there was no consolation but that of marriage; and Rome afforded
illustrious men who would readily assent to entertain the wife of
Germanicus, and his children. " Tiberius was not ignorant to what mighty
power in the state, that demand tended; but, that he might betray no
tokens of resentment or fear, he left her, though instant with him,
without an answer. This passage, not related by the authors of our
annals, I found in the commentaries of her daughter Agrippina; her, who
was the mother of the Emperor Nero, and has published her own life with
the fortunes of her family.

As to Agrippina; still grieving and void of foresight, she was yet more
sensibly dismayed by an artifice of Sejanus, who employed such, as under
colour of friendship warned her, "that poison was prepared for her,
and that she must shun eating at her father-in-law's table. " She was a
stranger to all dissimulation: so that as she sat near him at table, she
continued stately and unmoved; not a word, not a look escaped her,
and she touched no part of the meat. Tiberius observed her, whether
accidentally, or that he was before apprised; and, to be convinced by
a more powerful experiment, praising the apples that stood before him,
presented some with his own hand to his daughter-in-law. This only
increased the suspicion of Agrippina; and, without ever putting them
to her mouth, she delivered them to the servants. For all this, the
reserved Tiberius let not a word drop from him openly; but, turning
to his mother; "There was no wonder," he said, "if he had really taken
harsh measures with her, who thus charged him as a poisoner. " Hence a
rumour spread, "that her doom was contrived; and that the Emperor not
daring to pursue it publicly, chose to have her despatched in secret. "

Tiberius, as a means to divert upon other matters the popular talk,
attended assiduously the deliberations of the Senate; and there heard
for many days the several Ambassadors from Asia, mutually contending,
"in what city should be built the temple lately decreed. " For this
honour eleven cities strove, with equal ambition, though different
in power: nor did the pleas urged by all, greatly vary; namely, "the
antiquity of their original, and their distinguished zeal for the Roman
People, during their several wars with Perseus, Aristonicus, and other
kings. " But the Trallians, the Laodiceans, the Magnesians and those of
the Hypaepis, were at once dismissed, as insufficient for the charge.
Nor, in truth, had they of Ilium, who represented, "that Troy was the
mother of Rome," any superior advantage, besides the glory of antiquity.
The plea of the Halicarnassians took some short consideration: they
asserted, "that for twelve hundred years, no earthquake had shaken their
town; and that they would fix in a solid rock the foundations of the
temple. " The same considerations were urged by the inhabitants of
Pergamus; where already was erected a temple to Augustus; a distinction
which was judged sufficient for them. The cities too of Ephesus and
Miletus seemed fully employed in the ceremonies of their own distinct
deities; the former in those of Diana; the other, in those of Apollo.
Thus the dispute was confined to Sardis and Smyrna. The first recited
a decree of the Etrurians, which owned them for kinsmen: "for that
Tyrrhenus and Lydus, sons of King Atys, having between them divided
their people, because of their multitude, Lydus re-settled in his
native country; and it became the lot of Tyrrhenus to find out a fresh
residence; and by the names of these chiefs the parted people came
afterwards to be called, Lydians in Asia, Tyrrhenians in Italy. That the
opulence of the Lydians spread yet farther, by their colonies sent
under Pelops into Greece, which from him afterwards took its name. " They
likewise urged "the letters of our Generals; their mutual leagues with
us during the war of Macedon; their plenty of rivers, temperate climate,
and the fertility of the circumjacent country. "

The Smyrnaeans having likewise recounted their ancient establishment,
"whether Tantalus, the son of Jupiter; or Theseus, the son also of
a God; or one of the old Amazons, were their founder;" proceeded to
considerations in which they chiefly trusted; their friendly offices
to the Roman People, having aided them with a naval force, not in their
foreign wars only, but in those which infested Italy. "It was they who
first reared a temple to the City of Rome, in the Consulship of Marcus
Porcius; then, in truth, when the power of the Roman People was already
mighty, but however not yet raised to its highest glory; for the city of
Carthage still stood, and potent kings governed Asia. Witness too their
generosity to Sylla, when the condition of his army ready to famish in a
cruel winter and a scarcity of clothes, being related to the citizens
of Smyrna then assembled; all that were present divested themselves of
their raiments, and sent them to our legions. " Thus when the votes of
the Senators were gathered, the pretensions of Smyrna were preferred. It
was also moved by Vibius Marsus, that Lentulus, to whom had fallen
the province of Asia, should be attended by a Legate extraordinary, to
supervise the building of the temple; and as Lentulus himself through
modesty declined to choose one, several who had been Praetors were drawn
by lot, and the lot fell upon Valerius Naso.

In the meantime, according to a purpose long meditated, and from time to
time deferred, Tiberius at last retired to Campania; in profession, to
dedicate a temple to Jupiter at Capua, and one at Nola to Augustus; but
in truth determined to remove, for ever, from Rome. The cause of his
departure, I have before referred to the stratagems of Sejanus; but
though in it I have followed most of our authors; yet, since after
the execution of Sejanus, he persisted for six years in the like dark
recess; I am rather influenced by a stronger probability, that the
ground of his absence is more justly to be ascribed to his own spirit,
while he strove to hide in the shades of solitude, what in deeds he
proclaimed, the rage of his cruelty and lust. There were those who
believed that, in his old age, he was ashamed of the figure of his
person; for he was very lean, long and stooping, his head bald, his face
ulcerous, and for the most besmeared with salves: he was moreover
wont, during his recess at Rhodes, to avoid the public, and cover his
debauches in secrecy. It is also related that he was driven from Rome by
the restless aspiring of his mother, whom he scorned to admit a partner
in the sovereignty; nor yet could entirely seclude, since as her gift he
had received the sovereignty itself. For, Augustus had deliberated
about setting Germanicus at the head of the Roman state; his sister's
grandson, and one adored by all men: but subdued by the solicitations of
his wife, he adopted Tiberius; and caused Tiberius to adopt Germanicus.
With this grandeur of her own procuring, Livia upbraided her son; and
even reclaimed it.

His going was narrowly accompanied; by one Senator, Cocceius Nerva,
formerly Consul, and accomplished in the knowledge of the laws; and,
besides Sejanus, by one dignified Roman knight, Curtius Atticus. The
rest were men of letters, chiefly Greeks; whose conversation pleased and
amused him. The skilled in astrology declared, "that he had left Rome in
such a conjunction of the planets, as for ever to exclude his return. "
Hence a source of destruction to many, who conjectured his end to be
at hand, and published their conjectures: for, it was an event too
incredible to be foreseen, that for eleven years he should of choice
be withdrawn from his country. The sequel discovered the short bounds
between the art and the falsehood of the art, and what obscurities
perplex even the facts it happens to foretell. _That he should never
return to Rome_, proved not to be falsely said: as to everything else
about him they were perfectly in the dark; since he still lived, never
far distant, sometimes in the adjacent champain, sometimes on the
neighbouring shore, often under the very walls of the city; and died at
last in the fulness and extremity of age.

There happened to Tiberius, about that time, an accident, which, as it
threatened his life, fired the empty prognostics at Rome; but to himself
proved matter of more confidence in the friendship and faith of Sejanus.
They were eating in a cave at a villa, thence called _Spelunca_, between
the Amyclean Sea and the mountains of Fondi: it was a native cave, and
its mouth fell suddenly in, and buried under it some of the attendants:
hence dread seized all, and they who were celebrating the entertainment
fled: as to Sejanus; he covered the Emperor's body with his own, and
stooping upon his knees and hands, exposed himself to the descending
ruin; such was the posture he was found in by the soldiers, who came to
their relief. He grew mightier from thence; and being now considered by
Tiberius as one regardless of himself, all his counsels, however bloody
and destructive, were listened to with blind credulity: so that he
assumed the office of a judge against the offspring of Germanicus, and
suborned such as were to act the parts of accusers, and especially to
pursue and blacken Nero, the next in succession; a young Prince modest
indeed, but forgetful of that restraint and circumspection which his
present situation required. He was misguided by his freedmen and the
retainers to his house; who eager to be masters of power, animated him
with intemperate counsels; "that he would show a spirit resolute and
assured; it was what the Roman People wished, what the armies longed
for: nor would Sejanus dare then to resist; though he now equally
insulted the tameness of an old man and the sloth of a young one. "

While he listened to these and the like suggestions, there escaped him,
no expressions, in truth, of any criminal purpose; but sometimes such as
were resentful and unguarded: these were catched up by the spies placed
upon him, and charged against him with aggravations; neither was
he allowed the privilege of clearing himself. Several threatening
appearances moreover dismayed him: some avoided to meet him; others
having just paid him the salute, turned instantly away: many, in the
midst of conversation, broke off and left him; while the creatures of
Sejanus stood still fearlessly by and sneered upon him. For Tiberius; he
always entertained him with a stern face, or a hollow smile; and whether
the youth spoke or said nothing, there were crimes in his words, crimes
in his silence: nor was he safe even at the dead of night; since his
uneasiness and watchings, nay, his very sighs and dreams were, by his
wife, divulged to her mother Livia, and by Livia to Sejanus; who had
also drawn his brother Drusus into the combination, by tempting him with
the immediate prospect of Empire, if his elder brother, already sinking,
were once set effectually aside. The genius of Druses naturally furious,
instigated besides by a passion for power, and by the usual hate and
competition between brothers, was further kindled by the partiality
of Agrippina, who was fonder of Nero. However, Sejanus did not so far
favour Drusus, but that against him too he was even then ripening the
studied measures of future destruction; as he knew him to be violent,
and thence more obnoxious to snares.

In the end of the year departed these eminent persons; Asinius Agrippa,
of ancestors more illustrious than ancient, and in his own character
not unworthy of them: and Quintus Haterius, of a Senatorian family, and
himself, while he yet lived, famous for eloquence: but the monuments
of his genius, since published, are not equally esteemed. In truth,
he prevailed more by rapidity than accuracy: insomuch that, as the
elaborate compositions of others flourish after them; so that enchanting
melody of voice in Haterius, with that fluency of words which was
personal to him, died with him.

In the Consulship of Marcus Licinius and Lucius Calpurnius, the casualty
of an instant, its beginning unforeseen, and ended as soon as begun,
equalled in calamity the slaughter and overthrow of mighty armies. One
Atilius had undertaken to erect an amphitheatre at Fidena, [Footnote:
Castel Giubileo, near Rome. ] there to exhibit a combat of gladiators:
he was of the race of freedmen, and as he began it from no exuberance of
wealth, nor to court popularity amongst the inhabitants, but purely
for the meanness of gain, he neither established solid foundations, nor
raised the timber-work with sufficient compactness. Thither thronged
from Rome those of every sex and age, eager for such shows; as during
the reign of Tiberius they were debarred from diversions at home; and,
the nearer the place, the greater the crowds: hence the calamity was the
more dreadful; for, as the theatre was surcharged with the multitude,
the structure burst, and sinking violently in, while its extremities
rushed impetuously out, huge was the press of people, who intent upon
the gladiators within, or gathered round the walls, were crushed by the
deadly ruin, and even buried under it. And verily, they who in the first
fury of the havoc were smitten with final death, escaped as far as in
such a doleful disaster they could escape, the misery of torture: much
more to be lamented were those, who bereft of joints and pieces of their
body, were yet not forsaken of life; those who by day could with their
eyes behold their wives and children imprisoned in the same ruins; and
by night could distinguish them by their groans, and howlings.

Now others from abroad excited by the sad tidings, found here their
several sorrows: one bewailed his brother, one his kinsman, another his
parents: even they whose friends or kindred were absent on a different
account, were yet terrified: for, as it was not hitherto distinctly
known upon whom the destruction had lighted, the dread was widened by
uncertainty. When the ruins began to be removed, great about the dead
was the concourse of the living; frequent the kisses and embraces
of tenderness and sorrow: and even frequent the contention about the
propriety of the dead; where the features distorted by death or bruises,
or where parity of age or resemblance of person, had confounded the
slain, and led into mistakes their several claimers. Fifty thousand
souls were destroyed or maimed by this sad stroke: it was therefore
for the future provided by a decree of Senate, "that no man under the
qualification of four hundred thousand sesterces, [Footnote: £3,300. ]
should exhibit the spectacle of gladiators; and no amphitheatre should
be founded but upon ground manifestly solid. " Atilius was punished with
exile. To conclude; during the fresh pangs of this calamity, the doors
of the Grandees were thrown open; medicines were everywhere furnished;
they who administered medicines, were everywhere employed to attend:
and at that juncture the city though sorrowful of aspect, seemed to
have recalled the public spirit of the ancient Romans; who, after great
battles, constantly relieved the wounded, sustained them by liberality,
and restored them with care.

The public agonies from this terrible blow, were not yet deadened, when
another supervened; and the city felt the affliction and violence of
fire, which with uncommon rage utterly consumed Mount Caelius. "It was a
deadly and mournful year," they said, "and under boding omens the
Prince had formed the design of his absence. " It is the way this of
the multitude; who to malignant counsels are wont to ascribe events
altogether fortuitous. But the Emperor dissipated their murmurs, by
bestowing on each sufferer money to the value of his sufferings: hence
he had the thanks of men of rank, in the Senate; and was by the populace
rewarded with applauses, "for that without the views of ambition,
without the application of friends, he had of his own accord even sought
out the unknown, and by his bounty relieved them. " It was likewise moved
and decreed in Senate, "that Mount Caelius should be for the future
styled _Mount Augustus_, since there the statue of Tiberius, standing
in the house of Junius the Senator, escaped unhurt in the flames,
though devouring all round them:" it was remembered, that the same rare
exemption had formerly happened to Claudia Pulchra; that her statue
being twice spared by the fury of fire, had thence been placed and
consecrated by our ancestors in the Temple of the Mother of the Gods.
Thus sacred were the Claudian race, and dear to the deities; and
therefore the place, where the Gods had testified such mighty honour
towards the Prince, ought to be dignified with consecration.

It will not be impertinent to insert here, that this mount was of old
named _Querquetulanus_, from a grove of oak which grew thick upon it. It
was afterwards called _Mount Caelius_, from Caeles Vibenna, who having
led to Rome a body of Tuscan auxiliaries, was presented with that
settlement by Tarquinius Priscus, or some other of our kings; for in
this particular, writers differ: about other circumstances there remains
no dispute; that these forces were very numerous, and extended their
dwellings all along the plain below, as far as the Forum. Hence the
_Tuscan Street_, so called after these strangers.

Tiberius, having dedicated the temples in Campania; though he had by
an edict warned the public, "that none should interrupt his quiet;"
and though soldiers were posted to keep off all confluence from the
neighbouring towns; nevertheless, hating the towns themselves, and
the colonies, and every part in the continent, imprisoned himself in
Capreae, [Footnote: Capri. ] an island disjoined from the point of the
Cape of Surrentum by a channel of three miles. I should chiefly believe
that he was taken with its solitude, as the sea above it is void of
havens, as the stations for the smallest vessels are few and difficult,
and as none could put in unperceived by the Guards. The genius of
the climate is mild in winter, from the shelter of a mountain which
intercepts the rigour of the winds: its summers are refreshed by gales
from the west; and the sea open all round it, makes a delightful view:
from thence too was beheld a most lovely landscape, before the eruptions
of Mount Vesuvius had changed the face of the prospect. It is the
tradition of fame that the Greeks occupied the opposite region, and
that Capreae was particularly inhabited by the Teleboi. However it were,
Tiberius then confined his retirement to twelve villas, their names
famous of old and their structure sumptuous. And the more intent he had
formerly been upon public cares, he became now so much the more buried
in dark debauches, and resigned over to mischievous privacy: for, there
remained still in him his old bent to suspicions, and rash faith in
informers; qualities which even at Rome Sejanus had always fostered, and
here inflamed more vigorously; his devices against Agrippina and Nero
being no longer a secret. About them guards were placed, by whom every
petty circumstance, the messages they sent or received, their visits and
company, their open behaviour, their private conversation, were all as
it were minuted into journals: there were others, too, instructed to
warn them to fly to the armies in Germany; or that embracing the statue
of the deified Augustus in the great Forum, they would there implore the
aid and protection of the Senate and People of Rome. And these counsels,
though rejected by them, were fathered and charged upon them, as just
ripe for execution.




BOOK V

A. D. 29-31.


In the Consulship of Rubellius and Fusius, each surnamed Geminus, died
Julia Augusta, the mother of Tiberius, in the extremity of age. She was
descended from the Claudian house; adopted through her father into the
Livian family; into the Julian, by Augustus; and both by adoption and
descent, signally noble: her first marriage was with Tiberius Nero; and
by him she had children: her husband, after the surrender of Perusia,
[Footnote: Perugia. ] in the Civil War, became a fugitive; but, upon
peace made between Sextus Pompeius and the Triumvirate, returned to
Rome. Afterwards, Octavius Caesar smitten with her beauty, snatched
her from her husband; whether with or against her own inclinations, is
uncertain; but with such precipitation, that, without staying for her
delivery, he married her yet big with child by Tiberius. Henceforward
she had no issue; but, by the marriage of Germanicus and Agrippina,
her blood came to be mixed with that of Augustus in their
great-grandchildren. In her domestic deportment, she conformed to
the venerable model of antiquity; but with more complaisance than was
allowed by the ladies of old: an easy courteous wife, an ambitious
mother; and well comporting with the nice arts of her husband, and the
dissimulation of her son: her funeral was moderate, and her last will
lay long unfulfilled: her encomium was pronounced in public by Caligula,
her grandson, [Footnote: Great-grandson. ] afterwards Emperor.

Tiberius by a letter excused himself to the Senate, for not having paid
his last offices to his mother; and, though he rioted in private
luxury without abatement, pleaded "the multitude of public affairs. "
He likewise abridged the honours decreed to her memory, and, of a
large number, admitted but very few: for this restriction he pretended
modesty, and added, "that no religious worship should be appointed her;
for that the contrary was her own choice. " Nay, in a part of the same
letter, he censured _feminine friendships_; obliquely upbraiding the
Consul Fusius, a man highly distinguished by the favour of Augusta, and
dexterous to engage and cajole the affections of women; a gay talker,
and one accustomed to play upon Tiberius with biting sarcasms; the
impressions of which never die in the hearts of Princes.

From this moment, the domination waxed completely outrageous and
devouring: for while she lived, some refuge still remained, as the
observance of Tiberius towards his mother was ever inviolate; nor durst
Sejanus arrogate precedence of the authority of a parent: but now, as
let loose from all restraint, they broke out with unbridled fury: so
that letters were despatched avowedly against Agrippina and Nero; and as
they were read in the Senate soon after the death of Augusta, the
people believed them to have been sent before and by her suppressed. The
expressions were elaborately bitter; and yet by them no hostile purpose
of taking arms, no endeavour to change the State, was objected to the
youth; but only "the love of boys, and other impure pleasures:" against
Agrippina he durst not even feign so much; and therefore arraigned
"her haughty looks, her impetuous and stubborn spirit. " The Senate
were struck with deep silence and affright: but, as particular men will
always be drawing personal favour from public miseries, there were
some who, having no hopes founded upon uprightness, demanded that "they
should proceed upon the letters:" amongst these the foremost in zeal was
Cotta Messalinus, with a terrible motion: but, the other leading men,
and chiefly the magistrates, were embarrassed by fear: for Tiberius,
though he had sent them a flaming invective, left all the rest a riddle.

In the Senate was one Junius Rusticus, appointed by the Emperor to keep
a journal of their proceedings, and therefore thought well acquainted
with his purposes. This man, by some fatal impulse (for he had never
before shown any instance of magnanimity) or blinded by deceitful
policy, while forgetful of present and impending dangers, he dreaded
future possibilities, joined the party that hesitated, and even warned
the Consuls "not to begin the debate:" he argued "that in a short moment
the highest affairs might take a new turn: and an interval ought to be
allowed to the old man to change his passion into remorse. " At the same
time, the people, carrying with them the images of Agrippina and Nero,
gathered about the Senate, and proclaiming their good wishes for the
prosperity of the Emperor, cried earnestly, "that the letters were
counterfeit; and, against the consent of the Prince, the doom of his
family was pursued:" so that nothing tragical was that day transacted.
There were also dispersed amongst them several speeches, said to have
been uttered in Senate by the Consulars, as their motions and advices
against Sejanus; but all framed, and with the more petulance as the
several authors exercised their satirical wit in the dark. Hence Sejanus
boiled with greater rage, and hence had a handle for branding the
Senate, "that by them the anguish and resentments of the Prince were
despised: the people were revolted; popular and disaffected harangues
were publicly read and listened to: new and arbitrary acts of Senate
were passed and published: what more remained, but to arm the populace
and place at their head, as leaders and Imperial commanders, those whose
images they had already chosen for standards? "

Tiberius having therefore repeated his reproaches against his grandson
and daughter-in-law: having chastised the people by an edict, and
complained to the Senate, "that by the fraud of a single Senator the
Imperial dignity should be battled and insulted, required that the whole
affair should be left to himself, entire and untouched. " The Senate
hesitated no longer, but instantly proceeded, not now in truth to
decree penalties and capital vengeance; for that was forbid them; but to
testify "how ready they were to inflict just punishments, and that they
were only interrupted by the power and pleasure of the Prince. ". . .

[_Here begins a lamentable chasm in this "Annal" for almost three years;
and by it we have lost the detail of the most remarkable incidents in
this reign, the exile of Agrippina into the Isle of Pandataria; of
Nero, into that of Pontia; and the murder of both there by the orders of
Tiberius: the conspiracy and execution of Sejanus, with that of all
his friends and dependents: the further wickedness of Livia, and her
death. _]

Now though the rage of the populace was expiring, and though most men
were mollified by former executions; it was determined to condemn the
other children of Sejanus. They were therefore carried both to prison,
the boy sensible of his impending doom; but the girl so ignorant, that
she frequently asked; "For what offence? and whither did they drag her?
she would do so no more; and they might take the rod and whip her. "
The writers of that time relate, "that as it was a thing unheard, for
a virgin to suffer capital punishment, she was deflowered by the
executioner just before he tied the rope; and that being both strangled,
the tender bodies of these children were cast into the place where the
carcasses of malefactors are exposed, before they are flung into the
Tiber. ". . .




BOOK VI

A. D. 32-37.


Cneius Domitius and Camillus Scribonianus had begun their Consulship,
when the Emperor, having crossed the channel between Capreae [Footnote:
Capri. ] and Surrentum, [Footnote: Sorrento. ] sailed along the shore
of Campania; unresolved whether he should proceed to Rome; or
counterfeiting a show of coming, because he had determined not to come.
He often approached to the neighbourhood of the city, and even visited
the gardens upon the Tiber; but at last resumed his old retirement,
the gloomy rocks and solitude of the sea, ashamed of his cruelties, and
abominable lusts; in which he rioted so outrageously, that after the
fashion of royal tyrants, the children of ingenuous parentage became the
objects of his pollution: nor in them was he struck with a lovely face
only, or the graces of their persons; but in some their amiable and
childish innocence, in others their nobility and the glory of their
ancestors, became the provocatives of his unnatural passion. Then
likewise were devised the filthy names, till then unknown, of the
_Sellarii_ and _Spintriae_, expressing the odious lewdness of the place,
and the manifold postures and methods of prostitution practised in it.
For supplying his lust with these innocent victims, he entertained, in
his service professed procurers, to look them out and carry them off.
The willing they encouraged with presents, the backward they terrified
with threats; and upon such parents or kindred as withheld the infants,
they exercised force, seizure, and, as upon so many captives, every
species of licentious rage.

At Rome in the beginning of the year, as if the iniquities of Livia
had been but just discovered, and not even long since punished, furious
orders were passed against her statues too, and memory; with another,
"that the effects of Sejanus should be taken from the public treasury,
and placed in that of the Emperor:" as if this vain translation could
any wise avail the State. And yet such was the motion of these great
names, the Scipios, the Silani, and the Cassii; who urged it, each
almost in the same words, but all with mighty zeal and earnestness: when
all on a sudden, Togonius Gallus, while he would be thrusting his own
meanness amongst names so greatly illustrious, became the object of
derision: for he besought the Prince "to choose a body of Senators
of whom twenty, drawn by lot and under arms, should wait upon him and
defend his person, as often as he entered the Senate. " He had been weak
enough to credit a letter from the Emperor, requiring "the guard and
protection of one of the Consuls, that he might return in safety from
Capreae to Rome. " Tiberius however returned thanks to the Senate for
such an instance of affection; but as he was wont to mix pleasantry with
things serious, he asked, "How was it to be executed? what Senators were
to be chosen? who to be omitted? whether always the same, or a continued
succession? whether young Senators, or such as had borne dignities?
whether those who were Magistrates, or those exercising no magistracy?
moreover what a becoming figure they would make, grave Senators, men of
the gown, under arms at the entrance of the Senate! in truth he held not
his life of such importance, to have it thus protected by arms. " So much
in answer to Togonius, without asperity of words; nor did he farther,
than this, press them to cancel the motion.

But Junius Gallio escaped not thus. He had proposed "that the Praetorian
soldiers, having accomplished their term of service, should thence
acquire the privilege of sitting in the fourteen rows of the theatre
allotted to the Roman knights. " Upon him Tiberius fell with violent
wrath, and, as if present, demanded, what business had he with the
soldiers? men whose duty bound them to observe only the orders of the
Emperor, and from the Emperor alone to receive their rewards. Gallio had
forsooth discovered a recompense which had escaped the sagacity of the
deified Augustus? Or was it not rather a project started by a mercenary
of Sejanus, to raise sedition and discord; a project tending to debauch
the rude minds of the soldiers with the show and bait of new honour; to
corrupt their discipline, and set them loose from military restrictions?
This reward, had the studied flattery of Gallio; who was instantly
expelled the Senate, and then Italy: nay, it became a charge upon him,
that his exile would be too easy, having for the place of it chosen
Lesbos, an island noble and delightful; he was therefore haled back to
Rome and confined a prisoner in the house of a Magistrate. Tiberius
in the same letter demanded the doom of Sextus Paconianus, formerly
Praetor, to the extreme joy of the Senate, as he was a man bold and
mischievous, one armed with snares, and continually diving into the
purposes and secret transactions of all men; and one chosen by Sejanus,
for plotting the overthrow of Caligula. When this was now laid open,
the general hate and animosities long since conceived against him, broke
violently out, and had he not offered to make a discovery, he had been
instantly condemned to death.

The next impeached was Cotta Messalinus, the author of every the
most bloody counsel, and thence long and intensely hated. The first
opportunity was therefore snatched to fall upon him with a combination
of crimes; as that he had called Caius Caligula by the feminine name of
_Caia Caligula_, and branded him with constuprations of both kinds; that
when he celebrated among the Priests the birthday of Augusta, he had
styled the entertainment a _funeral supper_; and that complaining of the
great sway of Marcus Lepidus, and of Lucius Arruntius, with whom he had
a suit about money, he had added; "they indeed will be supported by the
Senate, but I by my little Tiberius. " [Footnote: Tiberiolus meus. ] Of
all this he stood exposed to conviction by men of the first rank in
Rome; who being earnest to attack him, he appealed to Caesar: from whom
soon after a letter was brought in behalf of Cotta; in it he recounted
"the beginning of their friendship," repeated "his many good services
to himself," and desired "that words perversely construed, and humorous
tales told at an entertainment, might not be wrested into crimes. "

Most remarkable was the beginning of that letter; for in these words he
introduced it: "What to write you, Conscript Fathers, or in what
manner to write, or what at all not to write at this instant; if I can
determine, may all the Deities, Gods and Goddesses, doom me still
to more cruel agonies than those under which I feel myself perishing
daily. " So closely did the bloody horror of his cruelties and infamy
haunt this man of blood, and became his torturers! Nor was it at random
what the wisest of all men [Footnote: Socrates. ] was wont to affirm,
that if the hearts of tyrants were displayed, in them might be seen
deadly wounds and gorings, and all the butcheries of fear and rage;
seeing what the severity of stripes is to the body, the same to the
soul is the bitter anguish of cruelty, lust, and execrable pursuits.
To Tiberius not his imperial fortune, not his gloomy and inaccessible
solitudes could ensure tranquillity; nor exempt him from feeling and
even avowing the rack in his breast and the avenging furies that pursued
him.

After this, it was left to the discretion of the Senate to proceed as
they listed against Caecilianus the Senator, "who had loaded Cotta with
many imputations;" and it was resolved, "to subject him to the same
penalties inflicted upon Aruseius and Sanquinius, the accusers of
Lucius Annuntius. " A more signal instance of honour than this had never
befallen Cotta; who noble in truth, but through luxury indigent, and,
for the baseness of his crimes, detestable, was by the dignity of
this amends equalled in character to the most venerable reputation and
virtues of Arruntius.

About the same time died Lucius Piso, the Pontiff; and, by a felicity,
then rare in so much splendour and elevation, died by the course of
nature. The author he never himself was of any servile motion, and ever
wise in moderating such motions from others, where necessity enforced
his assent. That his father had sustained the sublime office of Censor,
I have before remembered: he himself lived to fourscore years, and for
his warlike feats in Thrace, had obtained the glory of triumph. But from
hence arose his most distinguished glory, that being created Governor
of Rome, a jurisdiction newly instituted, and the more difficult, as
not yet settled into public reverence, he tempered it wonderfully and
possessed it long.

For, of old, to supply the absence of the Kings, and afterwards of the
Consuls, that the city might not remain without a ruler, a temporary
Magistrate was appointed to administer justice, and watch over
exigencies: and it is said that by Romulus was deputed Denter Romulius;
Numa Marcius, by Tullus Hostilius; and by Tarquin the Proud, Spurius
Lucretius. The same delegation was made by the Consuls; and there
remains still a shadow of the old institution, when during the Latin
festival, one is authorised to discharge the Consular function.
Moreover, Augustus during the Civil Wars, committed to Cilnius Maecenas
of the Equestrian Order, the Government of Rome and of all Italy.
Afterwards, when sole master of the Empire, and moved by the immense
multitude of people and the slowness of relief from the laws, he chose
a Consular to bridle the licentiousness of the slaves, and to awe such
turbulent citizens as are only quiet from the dread of chastisement.
Messala Corvinus was the first invested with this authority, and in a
few days dismissed, as a man insufficient to discharge it. It was then
filled by Taurus Statilius, who, though very ancient, sustained it with
signal honour. After him Piso held it for twenty years, with a credit so
high and uninterrupted, that he was distinguished with a public funeral,
by decree of the Senate.

A motion was thereafter made in Senate by Quinctilianus, Tribune of the
People, concerning a Book of the Sibyl, which Caninius Gallus, one
of the College of Fifteen, had prayed "might be received by a decree
amongst the rest of that Prophetess. " The decree passed without
opposition, but was followed by letters from Tiberius. In them having
gently chid the Tribune, "as young and therefore unskilled in the
ancient usages," he upbraided Gallus, "that he who was so long practised
in the science of sacred ceremonies, should without taking the opinion
of his own college, without the usual reading and deliberation with
the other Priests, deal, by surprise, with a thin Senate, to admit a
prophetic book of an uncertain author. " He also advertised them "of
the conduct of Augustus, who, to suppress the multitude of fictious
predictions everywhere published under the solemn name of the Sibyl, had
ordained, that within a precise day, they should be carried to the City
Praetor; and made it unlawful to keep them in private hands. " The same
had likewise been decreed by our ancestors, when after the burning of
the capitol in the Social War, the Rhymes of the Sibyl (whether there
were but one, or more) were everywhere sought, in Samos, Ilium, and
Erythrae, through Africa too and Sicily and all the Roman colonies, with
injunctions to the Priests, that, as far as human wit could enable them,
they would separate the genuine. Therefore, upon this occasion also, the
book was subjected to the inspection of the Quindecimvirate.

Under the same Consuls, the dearth of corn had nigh raised a sedition.
The populace for many days urged their wants and demands in the public
theatre, with a licentiousness towards the Emperor, higher than usual.
He was alarmed with this bold spirit, and censured the Magistrates and
Senate, "that they had not by the public authority quelled the people. "
He recounted "the continued supplies of grain which he had caused to be
imported; from what provinces, and in how much greater abundance than
those procured by Augustus. " So that for correcting the populace,
a decree passed framed in the strain of ancient severity: nor less
vigorous was the edict published by the Consuls. His own silence, which
he hoped would be taken by the people as an instance of moderation, was
by them imputed to his pride.

In the meanwhile, the whole band of accusers broke loose upon those who
augmented their wealth by usury, in contradiction to a law of Caesar
the Dictator, "for ascertaining the terms of lending money, and holding
mortgages in Italy;" a law waxed long since obsolete, through the
selfish passions of men, sacrificing public good to private gain. Usury
was, in truth, an inveterate evil in Rome, and the eternal cause of
civil discord and seditions, and therefore restrained even in ancient
times, while the public manners were not yet greatly corrupted. For,
first it was ordained by a law of the twelve tables, "that no man should
take higher interest than twelve in the hundred;" when, before, it was
exacted at the pleasure of the rich. Afterwards by a regulation of the
Tribunes it was reduced to six, and at last was quite abolished. By the
people, too, repeated statutes were made, for obviating all elusions,
which by whatever frequent expedients repressed, were yet through
wonderful devices still springing up afresh. Gracchus the Praetor was
therefore now appointed to inquire into the complaints and allegations
of the accusers; but, appalled with the multitude of those threatened
by the accusation, he had recourse to the Senate. The Fathers also were
dismayed (for of this fault not a soul was guiltless) and sought and
obtained impunity from the Prince; and a year and six months were
granted for balancing all accounts between debtors and creditors,
agreeably to the direction of the law.

Hence a great scarcity of money: for, besides that all debts were at
once called in; so many delinquents were condemned, that by the sale of
their effects, the current coin was swallowed up in the public treasury,
or in that of the Emperor. Against this stagnation, the Senate had
provided, "that two-thirds of the debts should by every creditor be
laid out upon lands in Italy. " But the creditors warned in the whole;
[Footnote: Demanded payment in full. ] nor could the debtors without
breach of faith divide the payment. So that at first, meetings and
entreaties were tried; and at last it was contested before the Praetor.
And the project applied as a remedy; namely, that the debtor should
sell, and the creditor buy, had a contrary operation: for the usurers
hoarded up all their treasure for purchasing of lands, and the plenty
of estates to be sold, miserably sinking the price; the more men were
indebted, the more difficult they found it to sell.
Many were utterly
stripped of their fortunes; and the ruin of their private patrimony drew
headlong with it that of their reputation and all public preferment.
The destruction was going on, when the Emperor administered relief, by
lending a hundred thousand great sesterces [Footnote: About £830,000. ]
for three years, without interest; provided each borrower pawned to the
people double the value in inheritance. [Footnote: Gave a security to
the State, on landed property. ] Thus was credit restored; and by degrees
private lenders too were found.

About the same time, Claudia, daughter to Marcus Silanus, was given in
marriage to Caligula, who had accompanied his grandfather to Capreae,
having always hid under a subdolous guise of modesty, his savage and
inhuman spirit: even upon the condemnation of his mother, even for the
exile of his brothers, not a word escaped him, not a sigh, nor groan.
So blindly observant of Tiberius, that he studied the bent of his temper
and seemed to possess it; practised his looks, imitated the change and
fashion of his dress, and affected his words and manner of expression.
Hence the observation of Passienus the Orator, grew afterwards famous,
"that never lived a better slave nor a worse master. " Neither would I
omit the presage of Tiberius concerning Galba, then Consul. Having sent
for him and sifted him upon several subjects, he at last told him in
Greek, "and thou, Galba, shalt hereafter taste of Empire;" signifying
his late and short sovereignty. This he uttered from his skill in
astrology, which at Rhodes he had leisure to learn; and Thrasullus for
his teacher, whose capacity

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Arguments Of Celsus, Porphyry, And The
Emperor Julian, Against The Christians, by Thomas Taylor

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Title: Arguments Of Celsus, Porphyry, And The Emperor Julian, Against The Christians
Also Extracts from Diodorus Siculus, Josephus, and Tacitus,
Relating to the Jews, Together with an Appendix

Author: Thomas Taylor

Release Date: October 10, 2011 [EBook #37696]

Language: English


*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ARGUMENTS OF CELSUS ***




Produced by David Widger






ARGUMENTS OF CELSUS, PORPHYRY, and THE EMPEROR JULIAN, AGAINST THE
CHRISTIANS;

ALSO EXTRACTS FROM DIODORUS SICULUS, JOSEPHUS, AND TACITUS, RELATING TO
THE JEWS, TOGETHER WITH AN APPENDIX;

CONTAINING:

THE ORATION OF LIBANIUS IN DEFENCE OF THE TEMPLES

OF THE HEATHENS, TRANSLATED BY DR. LARDNER;

AND EXTRACTS FROM BINGHAM'S ANTIQUITIES

OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.


By [Thomas Taylor]


MDCCCXXX.


"For if indeed Julian had caused all those that were under his dominion
to be richer than Midas, and each of the cities greater than Babylon
once was, and had also surrounded each of them with a golden wall, but
had corrected none of the existing errors respecting divinity, he would
have acted in a manner similar to a physician, who receiving a body
full of evils in each of its parts, should cure all of them except the
eyes. "--Liban. Parental, in Julian, p. 285.




INTRODUCTION.

"I HAVE often wished," says Warburton in a letter to Dr. Forster,
October 15, 1749, "for a hand capable of collecting all the fragments
remaining of Porphyry, Celsus, Hierocles, and Julian, and giving them
to us with a just, critical and theological comment, as a defy to
infidelity. It is certain we want something more than what their ancient
answerers have given us. This would be a very noble work*. "

The author of the following Collectanea has partially effected what Dr.
Warburton wished

* See Barker's Parriana, vol. ii. p. 48.

{iv}

to see accomplished; for as he is not a _divine_, he has not attempted
in his Notes to confute Celsus, but has confined himself solely to an
illustration of his meaning, by a citation of parallel passages in other
ancient authors.

As the answer, however, of Origen to the arguments of Celsus is very
futile and inefficient, it would be admirable to see some one of the
learned divines with which the church at present abounds, leap into the
arena, and by vanquishing Celsus, prove that the Christian religion
is peculiarly adapted to the present times, and to the interest of the
priests by whom it is professed and disseminated.

The Marquis D'Argens published a translation in French, accompanied
by the Greek text, of the arguments of the Emperor Julian against
the Christians; and as an apology for the present work, I subjoin the
following translation of a part of his preliminary discourse, in which
he defends that publication.

"It may be that certain half-witted gentleman

{v}

may reproach me for having brought forward a work composed in former
times against the Christians, in the vulgar tongue. To such I might
at once simply reply, that the work was preserved by a Father of the
Church; but I will go further, and tell them with Father Petau, who gave
a Greek edition of the works of Julian, that if those who condemn the
authors that have published these works, will temper the ardour of their
zeal with reason and judgement, they will think differently, and will
distinguish between the good use that may be made of the book, and the
bad intentions of the writer.

"Father Petau also judiciously remarks, that if the times were not gone
by when dæmons took the advantage of idolatry to seduce mankind, it
would be prudent not to afford any aid, or give the benefit of any
invective against Jesus, or the Christian religion to the organs of
those dæmons; but since by the blessing of God and the help of the
cross, which have brought about our salvation, the monstrous dogmas of
Paganism are buried in oblivion,

{vi}

we have nothing to fear from that pest; there is no weighty reason for
our rising up against the monuments of Pagan aberration that now remain,
and totally destroying them. On the contrary, the same Father Petau
says, that it is better to treat them as the ancient Christians treated
the images and temples of the gods. At first, in the provinces in
which they were in power, they razed them to the very foundations, that
nothing might be visible to posterity that could perpetuate impiety, or
the sight of which could recall mankind to an abominable worship. But
when the same Christians had firmly established their religion, it
appeared more rational to them, after destroying the altars and statues
of the gods, to preserve the temples, and by purifying them, to make
them serviceable for the worship of the true God. The same Christians
also, not only discontinued to break the statues and images of the
gods, but they took the choicest of them, that were the work of the most
celebrated artists, and set them up in public places to ornament their
cities, as well as to recall to the memory of those who beheld them, how
gross

{vii}

the blindness* of their ancestors had been, and how powerful the grace
that had delivered them from it. "

The Marquis d'Argens further observes: "It were to be wished, that
Father Petau, having so judiciously considered the works of Julian, had
formed an equally correct idea of the person of that Emperor. I cannot
discover through what caprice he takes it amiss, that a certain learned
Professor** has praised the civil virtues of Julian, and condemned the
evidently false calumnies that almost all the ecclesiastical authors
have lavished upon him; and amongst the rest Gregory and Cyril, who
to the good arguments they have adduced against the false reasoning of
Julian, have added insults which ought never to have been used by any
defender of truth. They have cruelly

* The Heathens would here reply to Father Petau. Which is
the greater blindness of the two,-- ours, in worshipping the
images of deiform processions from the ineffable principle
of things, and who are eternally united to him; or that of
the Papists, in worshipping the images of worthless men

** Monsieur de la Bletric.

{viii}

calumniated this Emperor to favour _their good cause_, and confounded
the just, wise, clement, and most courageous prince, with the Pagan
philosopher and theologian; when they ought simply to have refuted him
with argument, in no case with insult, and still less with calumnies so
evidently false, that during fourteen centuries, in which they have
been so often repeated, they have never been accredited, nor enabled to
assume even an air of truth. "

A wise Christian philosopher, La Mothe, Le Vayer, in reflecting on
the great virtues with which Julian was endowed, on the contempt he
manifested for death, on the firmness with which he consoled those who
wept around him, and on his last conversation with Maximus and Priscus
on the immortality of the soul, says, "that after such testimonies of
a virtue, to which _nothing appears to be wanting but the faith to give
its professor a place amongst the blessed_*, we have cause to wonder
that

* According to this _wise Christian philosopher_ therefore,
not only all the confessedly wise and virtuous

Heathens that lived posterior, but those also who lived anterior to the
promulgation of the Christian religion, will have no place hereafter
among the blessed.

{ix}

Cyril should have tried to make us believe, that Julian was a mean and
cowardly prince*. Those who judge of men that lived in former ages by
those who have lived in more recent times, may feel little surprise at
the proceedings of Cyril. It has rarely happened that long animosity and
abuse have not been introduced into religious controversies. "

After what has been above said of Julian, I deem it necessary to
observe, that Father Petau is egregiously mistaken in supposing that
Cyril has preserved the whole of that Emperor's arguments against the
Christians: and the Marquis D'Argêns is also mistaken when he says, that
"the passages of Julian's text which are

* This is by no means wonderful in Cyril, when we consider
that he is, with the strongest reason, suspected of being
the cause of the murder of Hypatia, who was one of the
brightest ornaments of the Alexandrian school, and who was
not only a prodigy of learning, but also a paragon of
beauty.

{x}

abridged or omitted, aire very few. " For Hieronymus in Epist. 83. _Ad
Magnum Oratorem Romanum_, testifies that this work consisted of seven
books; three of which only Cyril attempted to confute, as is evident
from his own words, [--Greek--] "Julian wrote three books against the
holy Evangelists. " But as Fabricius observes, (in Biblioth. Græc. tom.
vii. p. 89. ) in the other four books, he appears to have attacked the
remaining books of the Scriptures, i. e. the books of the Old Testament.

With respect, however, to the three books which Cyril has endeavoured to
confute, it appears to me, that he has only selected such parts of these
books as he thought he could most easily answer. For that he has not
given even the substance of these three books, is evident from the
words of Julian himself, as recorded by Cyril. For Julian, after certain
invectives both against Christ and John, says, "These things, therefore,
we shall shortly discuss, when we come particularly to consider

{xi}

the monstrous deeds and fraudulent machinations of the Evangelists*. "
There is no particular discussion however of these in any part of the
extracts preserved by Cyril.

That the work, indeed, of Julian against the Christians was of
considerable extent, is evident from the testimony of his contemporary,
Libanius; who, in his admirable funeral oration on this most
extraordinary man, has the following remarkable passage: "But when the
winter had extended the nights, Julian, besides many other beautiful
works, attacked the books which make a man of Palestine to be a God, and
the son of God; and in _a long contest_, and with strenuous arguments,
evinced that what is said in these writings is ridiculous and nugatory.
And in the execution of this work he appears to have excelled in wisdom
the Tyrian old man. **

* [--Greek--]

** viz. Porphyry, who was of Tyre, and who, as is well
known, wrote a work against the Christians, which was
publicly burnt by order of the Emperor Constantine.

{xii}

In asserting this however, may the Tyrian be propitious to me, and
benevolently receive what I have said, he having been vanquished by his
son*. "

With respect to Celsus, the author of the following Fragments, he lived
in the time of the Emperor Adrian. and was, if Origen may be credited,
an Epicurean philosopher. That he might indeed, at some former period of
his life, have been an Epicurean maybe admitted; but it would be highly
absurd to suppose that he was so when he wrote this invective against
the Christians; for the arguments which he mostly employs show that he
was well skilled m the philosophy of Plato: and to suppose, as Origen
does, that he availed himself of arguments in

* [--Greek--]

[xiii]

which he did not believe, and consequently conceived to be erroneous, in
order to confute doctrines which he was persuaded are false, would be
to make him, instead of a philosopher, a fool. As to Origen, though he
abandoned philosophy for Christianity, he was considered as heterodox
by many of the Christian sect. Hence, with some of the Catholics,
his future salvation became a matter of doubt*; and this induced the
celebrated Johannes Picus Mirandulanus, in the last of his _Theological
conclusions according to his own opinion_, to say: "Rationabilius est
credere Uriginem esse salvum, quam credere ipsum esse damnatum," _i. e.
It is more reasonable to believe that Origen is saved, than that he is
damned. _

I shall conclude this Introduction with the following extract.

* 'In Prato Spiritual! , c. 26, quod citatur, à VIL Synodo,
et à Johanne Diacono, lib. ii. c. 45. vitas B. Gregorii
narratur fevelatio, qua Origines viras est in Gehenna ignis
cum Alio et Netftorio. "*--Fobric. BMiotk Grate torn. v. p.
216

{xiv}

Directions of Dr. Barlow, Bishop of Lincoln, to a young divine.

"It will be of great use for a divine to be acquainted with the arts,
knavery, and fraud of the Roman inquisitor, in purging, correcting, or
rather corrupting authors in all arts and faculties. For this purpose
we may consult the _Index Expurgatorius_. By considering this Index, we
come to know the best editions of many good books.

"1st. The best books; that is, those that are condemned.

"2nd. The best editions; viz. those that are dated before the _Index_,
and consequently not altered.

"3rd. The _Index_ is a good common place book, to point out who has
written well against the Church, p. 70.

"Ockam is damned in the _Index_, and therefore we may be sure he was
guilty of telling some great truth, p. 41. *"

* The Bishop's rule is as good for one church as for
another, and every church has its Index.




THE ARGUMENTS OF CELSUS AGAINST THE CHRISTIANS

[Illustration: Celsus]

"THE Christians are accustomed to have private assemblies, which are
forbidden by the law. For of assemblies some are public, and these are
conformable to the law of the land; but others are secret, and these are
such as are hostile to the laws; among which are the Love Feasts of the
Christians *.

* Why the Romans punished the Christians:

"It is commonly regarded as a very curious and remarkable
fact, that, although the Romans were disposed to tolerate
every other religious sect, yet they frequently persecuted
the Christians with unrelenting cruelty. This exception, so
fatal to a peaceable and harmless sect, must have originated
in circumstances which materially distin-. . .

{2}

"Men who irrationally assent to anything, resemble those who are
delighted with jugglers and enchanters, &c. For as most of these are
depraved characters, who deceive the vulgar, and persuade them to assent
to whatever they please, this also takes place with the Christians. Some
of these are not willing either to give or receive a reason for what
they believe; but are accustomed to say, 'Do not investigate, but
believe, your faith will save you.

. . . guished them from the votaries of every other religion. The
causes and the pretexts of persecution may have varied at
various periods; but there seems to have been one general
cause which will readily be apprehended by those who are
intimately acquainted with the Roman jurisprudence. From the
most remote period of their history, the Romans had
conceived extreme horror against all nocturnal meetings of a
secret and mysterious nature. A law prohibiting nightly
vigils in a temple has even been ascribed, perhaps with
little probability, to the founder of their state. The laws
of the twelve tables declared it a capital offence to attend
nocturnal assemblies in the city. This, then, being the
spirit of the law, it is obvious that the nocturnal meetings
of the primitive Christians must have rendered them objects
of peculiar suspicion, and exposed them to the animadversion
of the magistrate. It was during the night that they usually
held their most solemn and religious assemblies; for a
practice which may be supposed to have arisen from their
fears, seems to have been continued from the operation of
other causes. Misunderstanding the purport of certain
passages of Scripture, they were. . .

{3}

'For the wisdom of the world is bad, but folly is good*,'

"The world, according to Moses, was created at a certain time, and has
from its commencement existed for a period far short of ten thousand
years,--The world, however, is without a beginning; in consequence of
which there have been from all eternity many conflagrations, and
many deluges, among the latter of which the most recent is that of
Deucalion**.

. . . led to imagine that the second advent, of which they lived
in constant expectation, would take place during the night;
and they were accustomed to celebrate nightly vigils at the
tombs of the saints and martyrs. In this case, therefore,
they incurred no penalties peculiar to the votaries of a new
religion, but only such as equally attached to those who,
professing the public religion of the state, were yet guilty
of this undoubted violation of its laws. "--Observations on
the Study of the Civil Law, by Dr. Irving, Edin. 1820. p.
11.

"It is not true that the primitive Christians held their assemblies in
the night time to avoid the interruptions of the civil power: but the
converse of that proposition is true in the utmost latitude; viz. that
they met with molestations from that quarter, because their assemblies
were nocturnal. "--Elements of Civil Law, by Dr. Taylor, p. 579.

* See Erasmus's Praise of Folly, towards the end.

** See on this subject the Tinusus of Plato.

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"Goatherds and shepherds among the Jews, following Moses as their
leader, and being allured by rustic deceptions, conceived that there is
[only] one God.

"These goatherds and shepherds were of opinion that there is one God,
whether they delight to call him the Most High, or Adonai, or Celestial,
or Sabaoth, or to celebrate by any other name the fabricator of this
world*; for they knew nothing farther. For it is of no consequence,
whether the God who is above all things, is denominated, after the
accustomed manner of the Greeks, Jupiter, or is called by any other
name, such as that which is given to him by the Indians or Egyptians. "

Celsus, assuming the person of a Jew, represents him as speaking to
Jesus, and reprehending him for many things. And in the first place he
reproaches him with feigning that he was born of a virgin; and says,
that to his disgrace he was born in a Judaic village from a poor Jewess,
who obtained the means

* In the original there is nothing more than [--------] i.
e. this world; but it is necessary to read, conformably to
the above translation, [--------]. For the Jews did not
celebrate the world, but the Maker of the world, by these
names.

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of subsistence by manual labour. He adds, That she was abandoned by her
husband, who was a carpenter, because she had been found by him to
have committed adultery. Hence, in consequence of being expelled by her
husband, becoming an ignominious vagabond, she was secretly delivered
of Jesus, who, through poverty being obliged to serve as a hireling in
Egypt, learnt there certain arts for which the Egyptians are famous.
Afterwards, returning from thence, he thought so highly of himself,
on account of the possession of these [magical] arts, as to proclaim
himself to be a God. Celsus also adds, That the mother of Jesus became
pregnant with him through a soldier, whose name was Panthera*.

"Was therefore the mother of Jesus beautiful, and was God connected with
her on account of her beauty, though he is not adapted to be in love
with a corruptible body? Or is it not absurd to suppose that God
would be enamoured of a woman who was neither fortunate nor of royal
extraction, nor even scarcely known to her neighbours; and who was also
hated and ejected by the carpenter her

* The same thing is said of Jesus in a work called "The
Gospel according to the Jews, or Toldoth Jesu. " See Chap. I.
and II. of that work.

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husband, so as neither to be saved by her own credulity nor by divine
power? These things, therefore, do not at all pertain to the kingdom of
God. "

Celsus, again personifying a Jew, says to Christ, "When you were washed
by John, you say that the spectre of a bird flew to you from the air.
But what witness worthy of belief saw this spectre? Or who heard a voice
from heaven, adopting you for a son of God, except yourself, and some
one of your associates, who was equally a partaker of your wickedness
and punishment?

"Jesus having collected as his associates ten or eleven infamous men,
consisting of the most wicked publicans and sailors, fled into different
places, obtaining food with difficulty, and in a disgraceful manner. "

Again, in the person of a Jew, Celsus says to Christ, "What occasion
was there, while you were yet an infant, that you should be brought to
Egypt, in order that you might not be slain? For it was not fit that a
God should be afraid of death. But an angel came from heaven, ordering
you and your associates to fly, lest being taken you should be put to
death. For the great God [it seems] could not

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preserve you, his own son, m your own country, but sent two angels on
your account. "

The same Jew in Celsus also adds, "Though we do not believe in the
ancient fables, which ascribe a divine origin to Perseus, Amphion,
Æacus, and Minos, yet at the same time their deeds are demonstrated to
be mighty and admirable, and truly superhuman, in order that what
is narrated of their origin may not appear to be improbable. " But
(speak-ing to Jesus) he says, "What beautiful or admirable thing have
you said or done, though you was (sp) called upon in the temple to give
some manifest sign that you were the son of God? "

Celsus, pretending not to disbelieve in the miracles ascribed to Christ,
says to him, "Let us grant that these things were performed by you; but
they are common with the works of enchanters, who promise to effect
more wonderful deeds than these, and also with what those who have been
taught by the Egyptians to perform in the middle of the forum for a
few oboli; such as expelling dæmons from men, dissipating diseases by a
puff, evocating the souls of heroes, exhibiting sumptuous suppers, and
tables covered with food, which have no reality. These magicians also
represent animals as moving, which are not in reality animals, but
merely appear

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to the imagination to be such. --Is it fit, therefore» that we should
believe these men to be the sons of God, because they worked these
wonders? Or ought we not rather to say, that these are the arts of
depraved and unhappy men! "

Again the Jew says, "It is but recently, and as it were yesterday, since
we punished Christ; and you, who are [in no respect superior to] keepers
of oxen, have abandoned the laws of your ancestors and country. Why
likewise do you begin from our sacred institutions, but afterwards in
the progress [of your iniquity] despise them? For you have no other
origin of your dogma, than our law. Many. other such persons also as
Jesus was, may be seen by those who wish to be deceived. How too is it
probable that we, who have declared to all men that a person would be
sent by God as a punisher of the unjust, should treat him ignominiously,
if such a person had appeared among us? Again: How can we think him to
be a God, who, that I may omit other things, performed, as we learn,
nothing that was promised? And when, being condemned by us, he was
thought worthy of punishment, having concealed himself and fled, was
most disgracefully made a prisoner; being betrayed by those whom he
called his disciples? If, however, he was a God, it was not proper that
he should either fly, or be led

{9]

away captive. And much less was it fit, that, being considered as a
saviour and the son of the greatest God, and; also the messenger of this
God, by his familiars and private associates, he should be deserted and
betrayed by them. But what _excellent_ general, who was the leader of
many myriads of men, was ever betrayed by his soldiers? Indeed, this
has not happened even to the chief of a band of robbers, though a man
depraved, and the captain of men still more depraved than himself, when
to his associates he appeared to be useful. But Christ, who was betrayed
by those of whom he was the leader, though not as a good commander, nor
in such a way as robbers would behave to their captain, could not obtain
the benevolence of his deluded followers. --Many other things also, and
such as are true, respecting Jesus might be adduced, though they are not
committed to writing by his disciples; but these I willingly omit. His
disciples also falsely pretended, that he foreknew and foretold every
thing that happened to him.

"The disciples of Jesus, not being able to adduce any thing respecting
him that was obviously manifest, falsely assert that he foreknew all
things; and have written other things of a similar kind respecting lum.
This, however, is just the same as if some one should assert that a
certain person is a just

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man, and notwithstanding this should show that he acted unjustly; that
he is a pious man, and yet a murderer; and, though immortal, died;
at the same time adding to all these assertions, that he had a
foreknowledge of all things.

"These things Jesus said after he had previously declared that he was
God, and it was entirely necessary that what he had predicted should
take place.