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FROM THE DATE OF THE GREAT FIRE OF ROME IN THE REIGN OF NERO TO THE DEATH OF MARCUS ANTONINUS

A.D. 64-A.D. 180

There is really no doubt but that in the period of which we are writing in this Third Book, roughly stretching over some hundred and sixteen years, with very short intervals of comparative stillness, the Christian sect constantly lived under the veiled shadow of persecution; the penalties exacted for the confession of the Name were very severe—the confessors were ever exposed to confiscation of their goods, to harsh imprisonment, to torture, and to death.

This state of things, which existed in the Church in Rome and in all the communities of Christians, is disclosed to us not merely or even principally in the Acts of Martyrs, which for this very early period are comparatively few in number, and, with a few notable exceptions, of questionable authority, but largely from the fragments of contemporary Christian writings of undoubted authenticity which have come down to us.

These fragments, for several of these writings are but fragments, represent a somewhat considerable literature, and they may be looked upon as descriptive of much of the life led by Christians during these hundred and sixteen years, the*