The story of the greatest nations, from the dawn of history to the twentieth century : a comprehensive history, founded upon the leading authorities, including a complete chronology of the world, and a pronouncing vocabulary of each nation . s tothe dissolution of society, than Maicus Aurelius believed the same things ofChristianity; he who, of all men then living, might have been thought themost capable of appreciating it. Unless any one who approves of punishmentfor the promulgation of opinions, flatters himself that he is a wiser and betterman than Marcus Aurelius—more deeply versed in the
The story of the greatest nations, from the dawn of history to the twentieth century : a comprehensive history, founded upon the leading authorities, including a complete chronology of the world, and a pronouncing vocabulary of each nation . s tothe dissolution of society, than Maicus Aurelius believed the same things ofChristianity; he who, of all men then living, might have been thought themost capable of appreciating it. Unless any one who approves of punishmentfor the promulgation of opinions, flatters himself that he is a wiser and betterman than Marcus Aurelius—more deeply versed in the wisdom of his time—more elevated in his intellect above it—more earnest in his search for truth—let him abstain from that assumption of the joint infallibility of himself andthe multitude, which the great Aurelius made with so unfortunate a result. The foregoing extract may introduce one of the most important facts con-nected with the history of the Roman Empire: that is, the spread of Chris-tianity within its confines. The variety of peoples had a variety of religions,but all, with the exception of the Jews, were pagans and polytheists, or believersin many gods. Such was the spiritual state of the myriads of human beings, il. Rome—Persecution of Christianity 431 when Christ was born in an obscure corner of the dominion of Augustus, andwhen the seed was sown whose harvest no man could foresee or dream of inhis wildest imaginings. The propagation of the new faith was marked by ferocious have learned of the first one, which was that by the fiendish Nero, whoaimed to turn suspicion against the Christians as the incendiaries of Rome, inorder to hide his own guilt. Tacitus, the great Roman historian, who wasborn under Nero, says of this diabolical infamy : Some were nailed on crosses,ethers sewn up in the skins of wild beasts and exposed to the fury of dogs;others again smeared over with combustible materials were used as torches toilluminate the darkness o
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