Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/207

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 189 cleterniined by the ecclesiastical writers of the fifth ccn- CHAP, tury, who possessed a more distinct view of the pros- ' perous or adverse fortunes of the chui'ch, from the age of Nero to that of Diocletian. The ingenious parallels of the ten plagues of Egypt, and of the ten horns of the Apocalypse, first suggested this calculation to their minds ; and in their application of the faith of prophecy to the truth of history, they were careful to select those reigns which were indeed the most hostile to the chris- tian cause". But these transient persecutions served only to revive the zeal, and to restore the discipline of the faithful : and the moments of extraordinary rigour were compensated by much longer intervals of peace and security. The indifference of some princes, and the indulgence of others, permitted the christians to enjoy, though not perhaps a legal, yet an actual and public toleration of their religion. The apology of Tertullian contains two very ancient. Supposed . ... edicts of Ti- very singular, but at the same time very suspicious m- i^gnus and stances of imperial clemency ; the edicts published by Marcus An- 1 •' 1, • 1 tonmus. Tiberius and by Marcus Antonmus, and designed not only to protect the innocence of the christians, but even to proclaim those stupendous miracles which had at- tested the truth of their doctrine. The first of these examples is attended with some difficulties which might perplex a sceptical mind ". We are required to be- lieve, that Pontius Pilate informed the emperor of the unjust sentence of death which he had pronounced against an innocent, and, as it appeared, a divine per- son ; and that, without acquiring the merit, he exposed himself to the danger of martyrdom ; that Tiberius, who avowed his contempt for all religion, immediately conceived the design of placing the Jewish Messiah '" See Mosheim, p. 97. Sulpicius Severus was the first author of this computation ; though lie seemed desirous of reserving the teuth and greatest persecution for the coming of the antichrist. n The testimony given by Pontius Pilate is first mentioned by Justin. The successive improvements which the story has acquired, (as it passed through the hands of Tertullian, Eusebius, Epiphanius, Chrysostora, Orosius, Gregory of Tours, and the authors of the seveial editions of the acts of Pilate,) are very fairly stated by Dom Calraet, Dissertat. sur i'Ecriture, torn. ill. p. 0"51, etc.