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36 aliena quam res publica" was their challenge to Roman patriotism. Moreover, they committed the more unpardonable sin of succeeding everywhere as proselytisers. Christianity thus became no longer a local and occasional disorder, but an imperial gangrene, which needed great surgical activity for its cure. Accordingly in 250 Decius made persecution inquisitorial; imprisonment and torture became frequent, and all Christians were to be required to take part in sacrifices on pain of death. The widespread prevalence of Christianity is shown by the fact that Gallienus found it necessary to grant indulgences by two edicts of toleration nine years later. The beginning of the inevitable association of the Christian Church with the Roman State appears in the way in which the Church begins to fit into the interstices of the empire—for example, as time went on, "the dioceses generally coincided with the Roman prefectures."