Page:The Emperor Marcus Antoninus - His Conversation with Himself.djvu/93

 Rh misbehave themselves in their Polls of Jurisdiction ? And would it not be unreasonable to charge the Violence, and Injustice of the Ministers, upon the misinterpreted, and misapply'd Orders of the Prince? He that considers the Circumstances of Time, and Place, together with the Temper of Antoninus, his Good Nature, his Justice and Resolution ; he that considers this can never believe that he would set a Persecution on Foot after having so long, and so Publickly declar'd against it ? that he should do it when he was sole Soveraign, and at a time too, when the Plague and the War, had almost dispeopled the Empire. How can this pretended Severity be reconciled with the Emperours Maxim, that those who miss the Truth, are mistaken against their Will, and deserve more to be pittied than hated: To conclude ; we have one certain Argument more that Antoninus was no Persecutor ; because there were no Martyrdoms at Rome during his whole Reign and Residence; nor so much as one drop of Christian Blood shed within the Bills of Mortality.

Before the Year for Verus's Mourning was expired, Antoninus married his Daughter again to Claudius Pompeianus; this Person was somewhat old, and no