Page:The early Christians in Rome (1911).djvu/209

 which are befalling us, we consider, brethren, we have been somewhat tardy in giving heed to the matters of dispute that have arisen among you, dearly beloved" (1 Ep. 1).

The next allusion is a very striking one. "But to pass from the examples of ancient days" (Clement had been quoting from the Old Testament), "let as come to those champions who lived very near to our time. Let us set before us the examples which belong to our generation the greatest and most righteous pillars of the Church were persecuted and contended even unto death. There was Peter who  endured not one nor two but many labours, and then having borne his testimony went to his appointed place of glory Paul by his example pointed out the prize of patient endurance  he departed from the world, and went unto the holy place Unto these men of holy lives was gathered a vast multitude, who through many indignities and tortures  set a brave example among ourselves.

"These things, dearly beloved, we write not only as admonishing you, but also as putting ourselves in remembrance; for we are in the same lists, and the same contest awaiteth us" (1 Ep. 5-7).

Clement's words here, which occur in the middle of his argument, indisputably imply that after the martyr-death of the two great Christian teachers Peter and Paul, a continuous persecution harried the congregation (he is speaking especially of Rome) all through his own generation. "A vast multitude of the elect," he tells us, in their turn suffered martyrdom, and were joined to the eminent leaders who had gone before them. When Domitian perished we know there was a temporary lull in the storm of persecution. Dion relates how the Emperor Nerva dismissed those who were awaiting their trial on the charge of sacrilege. It was no doubt in this very brief period of comparative quiet that Clement had leisure to attend to the troubled affairs at the Church of Corinth, and to write the important letter just quoted from.

But the Roman bishop was aware that "the lull" was quite a temporary one, and was due only to the reaction which set in after the murder of Domitian during the short reign of the Emperor Nerva; for he goes on to speak (in chap. vi.)