BS 2505 .F63213 1901 
 Fouard, Constant, 1837-1904. 
 The last years of Saint Paul 
 
THE LAST YEARS 
 
 OF 
 
 SAINT PAUL 
 
REMIGIUS LAFORT, S.T.L. 
 
 Censor Librorutn. 
 
 Imprimatur : 
 
 * MICHAEL AUGUSTINUS, 
 
 A rchiepiscopus Neo-Eboracensis> 
 
 Neo-Eboraci, die 25, Octobris, 1900. 
 

 t)*!; 
 
 fret e 
 
 aV 
 
THE LAST YEARS 
 
 OF 
 
 SAINT PAUL 
 
 By the abbe CONSTANT FOUARD 
 
 STransIateH bjttfj tfjc ^utfjofs sanction nnti cobpcratiott 
 By GEORGE F. X. GRIFFITH 
 
 NEW YORK AND LONDON 
 
 LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO, 
 
 1901 
 
Copyright, 1900, 
 By George F. X. GraFFiTH. 
 
 First Edition, November, 1900 
 Reprinted, December, 1901 
 
 UNIVERSITY PRESS • JOHN WILSON 
 AND SON • CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 To me to live is Christ and to die is gain. 
 
 — Philip, i. 21. 
 
 Those missionary journeys of Saint Paul, which I en- 
 deavored to set forth in a preceding volume/ go to make 
 up the longer term of his Apostolate (from 42 to 62). 
 No more than five years of life were destined to be his 
 after his arrival in Rome, while one half of this time he 
 was to drag out in captivity. And yet, restricted in every 
 respect though this closing of his ministry may seem, it is 
 of an importance equal to, if not greater than, that of the 
 longer period during which Paul evangelized Asia and 
 Greece. His main object in the course of those seventeen 
 years of mission-work had been to free the Christian com- 
 munities which he was founding from the bondage of 
 Judaism. On emerging from that struggle he finds that 
 both his own views, as well as his sphere of action, have 
 widened. Against the nascent shadows of heresy he 
 must needs now uphold the pure light of the Incarna- 
 tion ; unto poor, dying Jerusalem he is destined to dis- 
 play Jesus, High Priest from everlasting unto everlasting, 
 abolishing the ancient worship of Mosaic Law ; to all he 
 is to repeat the fact that this Divine Saviour perpetuates 
 His life in the Church ; finally he develops the Hierarchy, 
 which was destined to maintain and regulate the functions 
 of that mystical body of Christ. 
 
 Vast, indeed, from every point of view, was this labor, 
 but Paul was not to be left alone to work out its accom- 
 
 1 St. Paul and His Missions, Longmans, 1894. 
 
vi PREFACE. 
 
 plishment. The same Spirit which inspired him animated 
 the other members of the Apostolic College as well, thus 
 breathing into the hearts of one and all a like solicitude 
 for their Churches. Of this we have plentiful testimony 
 in the four letters addressed during this same period to 
 the believers in Asia. Therein James and Jude, Peter 
 especially, while combating with the same sectaries as 
 did the Apostles of the Gentiles, will enable us to follow 
 with keener appreciation the rise and development of the 
 Gnostic heresies which were to harass Christianity for 
 many a long day. We are bound to glean every slightest 
 fact we can from these writings ; for, together with the 
 last Epistles of Saint Paul, they are the only sources 
 available to the student of this period of the Church's 
 infancy. In other words, I have had to content myself 
 with constructing a history without historical facts, and, 
 as a general rule, to limit myself to setting forth the 
 meaning of the Apostles, in default of any knowledge of 
 their acts. 
 
 Even these few documents would avail us nothing if 
 we were to lend an ear to the voice of rationalistic crit- 
 icism ; for in the Holy Books I shall have to make use 
 of there is little enough left that is authentic, were we to 
 listen to its objections. It is true, indeed, that these 
 critics have found themselves constrained, step by step, 
 to order back their attacking lines and to acknowledge 
 that the majority of their assaults have been triumphantly 
 repulsed.^ In short, we may assert, without unduly 
 dwelling on this point, that to-day they accept the Epis- 
 tles to the Philippians and to the Colossians, and even 
 that addressed to the Ephesians. The short note written 
 
 1 This tendency, all along the line, to accept opinions authorized by 
 Catholic Tradition is particularly noticeable in two works which stand in 
 great repute at the date of writing. One is that of Professor Harnaek, 
 cliief of tlie new school in Berlin : Die Chrojiolo(/ie der altchristUchen 
 Littprat.nr bin Eni^fhins (Leijizig, 1897); the other that of the illustrious 
 Professor Blass of Halle : Acta Aposfoloi'iim, Editio Philologica (Gottingen, 
 1895). As to this peculiar right-about-face of rationalistic exegesis, con- 
 sult: Les Etudf.s des Peres lie la Compagnie de Je'sus (July, 1897), pp. 
 55-74, and La Revue Biblique (July, 1897), pp. 423-432. 
 
PREFACE. Vii 
 
 to Philemon is very generally admitted. To assign the 
 first Epistle of Saint Peter and that of Saint James to the 
 time when I shall endeavor to show they were composed, 
 — even this contention no longer seems to them so alto- 
 gether devoid of probability. The only pieces of evidence 
 adduced in this volume which the Ptationalists agree in 
 throwing out of court, are the Epistles to Timothy, to 
 Titus, to the Hebrews, the Epistles of Saint Jude, and 
 Saint Peter's second Letter. It does not enter into the 
 scheme of this work to try to refute, one by one, their 
 quibbles and subtleties. Our biblical manuals provide an 
 ample armory for this irksome warfare of controversy.^ 
 There the student will find that we are amply sustained 
 in our right to hold that these books are the work of the 
 very Apostles to whom Tradition attributed them.^ 
 
 The name of Saint Paul, once more made use of to 
 adorn the titlepage of this work, makes it, as it were, the 
 second volume of his life. It was fitting to set it in such 
 strong relief; for, though the Apostle no longer stands 
 before us alone in the labors of these his last years, still, 
 as ever, he continues to play the principal part in word 
 and in deed ; above all, it is now, and only now, that he 
 rises to that supreme height of virtue which was destined 
 to set the seal of Heaven upon his sanctity. 
 
 We must bear in mind what was the origin of this 
 Jewish Scribe who was felled to earth that day on the 
 highway to Damascus ; endowed with a noble heart, he 
 was ever impetuous and rash, while always sensitive in 
 the extreme. This alone would explain certain contra- 
 dictory traits which we encounter during the first years 
 of his ministry ; we have beheld him then, when the 
 
 1 Consult Comely especially, Introdnctio specialis in singulos Novi Tes- 
 tamenti libros ; Vigouronx and Bacuez, Manuel Bihlique, vol. iv. 
 
 2 In like manner I have taken no notice of certain recent theories 
 which would have us believe that the majority of St. Paul's epistles show 
 traces of numerous interpolations, and that some are really nothing more 
 than mere compilations. The multiplicity of these hypotheses, which 
 vary according to the caprice of each individual critic, is enough to prove 
 that they have no solid foundations. The student will find them summar- 
 ized in a work by Dr. Carl Clemen, Die Einheitlichkeit der paidinischen 
 Briefe (Gottingen, 1894). 
 
viii PREFACE. 
 
 whole man was uplifted by his feelings of what was right 
 and just, sweeping away every barrier, in order to pursue 
 and defend the mission confided to him from on High ; 
 spurning John Mark; breaking with Barnabas; reprov- 
 ing Peter ; like one who was, indeed, no " respecter of 
 persons." Yet again and we have seen this lofty enthu- 
 siasm fail him in hours of trial, in the crises of his bodily 
 ills, in hours of loneliness and grief. Then Paul proves 
 himself once more a man like the rest of us poor mortals, 
 trembling, weeping, beseeching of God His pity and His 
 grace. And yet, whatever may have been the emotions 
 which shook that great heart of his, one passion alone 
 dominated it, one only, his love for Jesus. That divine 
 charity had so profoundly penetrated the very depths of 
 his being that we have heard him defy life, death, earth, 
 heaven, and hell to ever tear it from him.^ By weaning 
 him little by little from all other ties, this Love has made 
 forgetfulness of self and self-renunciation to become in 
 him as though they had been his natural virtues. And, 
 assuredly, if there is any sacrifice repugnant to our in- 
 stincts, it is to consecrate ourselves to some work, to put 
 into it our whole soul, to witness its triumph, and then, 
 instead of taking to ourselves the glory, abandon it all to 
 the keeping of another. 
 
 The work before us aims to show how Jesus led His 
 disciple to this pinnacle of self-conquest, and how Paul 
 accomplished it. The Apostle had vanquished the Gen- 
 tile world, creating in every land Churches and Episcopal 
 Sees ; not one of them did he retain as his own. He 
 feels how that the Divine Master is moving him to merge 
 his Apostolate into that of Peter ; hearkening to this in- 
 spiration, he comes to Eome, to become a subordinate in 
 the presence of the supreme pastor, and as such to die. 
 When Paul bends his head beneath the sword of the exe- 
 cutioner there is naught left that is human in him : the 
 Heart of Jesus, once having taken possession of all his 
 powers, has consumed all else, has sanctified and crowned 
 all else. 
 
 1 Romans viii. 35-39. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 Preface v 
 
 CHAPTER I.. 
 
 THE FIRST IMPRISONMENT OF SAINT PAUL AT ROME. 
 
 I. The Acts of Paul, the Prisoner. 
 
 Nero and tis court at the time of the Apostle's first imprisonment. — 
 Paul under detention of Pretorian Guards. — His interview with the 
 Jews of Rome. — Success of his Apostolate among the Gentiles. — 
 Aid offered by Philippians, and brought to him by Epaphroditus . . 1 
 
 II. The Epistle to the Philippians. 
 
 Sojourn and ministry of Epaphroditus. — Expression of thanks to the 
 Philippians. — Paul's supernatural joy. — Divisions in the congre- 
 gation at Philippi. — Warns them against the Judaizers .... I? 
 
 CHAPTER IL 
 
 SAINT JAMES OP JERUSALEM. 
 
 Errors creeping into the Churches founded by Paul. — Corrupting max- 
 ims of the Judaizers. — Epistle of St. James. — Rich and poor in 
 the Church. — Faith without works. — Dangers of the Tongue. — 
 Necessity of Prayer. — Asceticism and Influence of James. — His 
 martyrdom. — Destruction of Jerusalem foretold by Jesus, son of 
 Hanan 28 
 
X TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. 
 
 Page 
 Spread of heresy in Churches of Asia Minor. — Source of these errors : 
 Pagan philosophers, Jewish missionaries, and the Essenes. — Epa- 
 phras in Rome. — Epistle to the Colossians. — The Christ is every- 
 thing : all things are by Him, for Him, in Him. — The Christ is 
 author of all creation ; Redeemer ; in Him is the " pleroma," the pleni- 
 tude of knowledge and of Divinity. — Jesus Head of the Church. — 
 Counsels of morality. — The Christian family 47 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PHILEMON AND ONESIMUS. — THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 
 Paul's companions during his first imprisonment. — Tychicus hearer of 
 his letter to the Colossians. — Onesimus. — Christianity and Slavery. 
 
 — Letter to Philemon. — Epistle to the Ephesians; an Encyclical 
 letter to the Christians of Asia. — Predestination of the Elect. — 
 Every perfect gift proceeds from the Christ. — Jesus living in the 
 Church and by the Church. — Development of the Hierarchy. — 
 Union of Jesus with the Church a mystical wedlock. — Duties of 
 parents and children, of masters and servants. — Spiritual armor of 
 
 the Christian 64 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 SAINT Paul's deliverance. — the work of saint luke. 
 
 Paul tried and acquitted. — His journey to Spain. — Saint Luke's work 
 
 destined for Gentile Christians. — Sources of the third Gospel. — 
 
 Plan of Saint Luke ; to prove by the Acts of Jesus and His Apostles. 
 
 — The well-foundedness of Paul's teachings. — Salvation offered to 
 Pagans and Jews alike. — Faith the source of all justification. — 
 Jesus, Saviour of all humanity. — Peculiar charms of the third 
 Gospel -. 85 
 
 CHAPTER YI. 
 
 the massacre of the christians of ROME. 
 
 I. The Burning of Rome. 
 
 Tigellinus and Poppsea. — Nero's passion for the stage, sports of the 
 Circus and stately Monuments. — Rome on fire. — Nero suspected 
 of complicity 106 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. xi 
 
 II. The Massacre of the Christians. Paoe 
 
 Rumors accusing Nero of incendiarism. — Tlie Jews, victims of popular 
 hatred, manage to cast suspicion upon the Christians. — Multitude 
 of believers discovered in Rome and put to tortare. — The sanguinary 
 festival of August 118 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 FIRST GENERAL PERSECUTION. 
 
 I. The Edict op Persecution. 
 
 Throughout the whole empire Christians are hunted down. — Legisla- 
 tion ; method of procedure in Roman courts. — The edict of Nero . 130 
 
 II. The First Letter of Saint Peter. 
 
 The persecution in Asia Minor. — Saint Peter's letter delivered by Sil- 
 vanus. — Originality of this Epistle. — Eaith in the risen Christ. — 
 Its fruits in the regenerated soul. — Duties of Christians under per- 
 secution. — Functions and obligations of Pastors 138 
 
 CHAPTEE VIII. 
 
 THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 
 
 Sufferings of the Church in Jerusalem. — Albinus, Governor of Judea. 
 
 — Epistle to the Hebrews, its authenticity. — Analysis of the Epistle. 
 
 — God in the Old Testament worked through the mediation of angels ; 
 in the New, He speaks through the mouth of His own Son. — The 
 ancient covenant sets forth Moses as a mediator ; the New teaches 
 that Jesus is the Supreme Mediator. — The Priesthood of Jesus 
 Christ, prefigured by Melchisedec, is greater than that of Aaron. — 
 Jesus the Eternal Priest and Victim of His own Sacrifice. — Excel- 
 lence of Faith. — Exhortation to Christian virtues 154 
 
 CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 THE REBELLION OF JUDEA. 
 
 I. The First Uprisings in Jerusalem. 
 
 Government of Gessius Floras. — Popular excitement. — Grewsome 
 prognostics. — Conflicts with Floras. — Riots in Jerusalem. — Triumph 
 of the Rebels. — The Romans driven from the Holy City .... 174 
 
Xii TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 11. Massacre of the Jews in the East.— The Campaign or 
 
 Cestius Gallus. Paqe 
 
 Massacre of the Jews in Csesarea, Judea, and Alexandria. — Sufferings 
 
 of the Christians. — Expedition and defeat of Cestius Gallus . . . 186 
 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 THE EPISTLE OF SAINT JUDE. — SAINT PAUL's LAST MISSION 
 JOURNEY. 
 
 Saint Paul's teaching perverted in many Churches. — Jude's letter meant 
 to stop these disorders of mind and manners. — Paul's mission in 
 Crete. — Titus set over the Christian congregations of the Island . 195 
 
 CHAPTEH XI. 
 
 THE EPISCOPATE. — PASTORAL EPISTLES. 
 Heresy in the Churches of Asia. — Development of the Hierarchy. — 
 Rules laid down for choice of Pastors, Deacons, and Deaconesses. — 
 Christian congregations of Asia Minor confided to Timothy. — Paul 
 in Macedonia. — First letter to Timothy. — Controversies with 
 heretics. — Prayers for rulers and magistrates. — Preservation of 
 order in the Divine Service, in the Hierarchy, and in the household. 
 
 — Paul in Troas, Ephesus, Miletus, and Corinth. — Letter to Titus. 
 
 — Mission work in Epirus. — Nicopolis. — Return to Corinth. — 
 Departure of Peter and Paul for Rome 207 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE DEATH OP SAINT PETER AND SAINT PAUL. 
 Second imprisonment of Saint Paul. — Solitary confinement during this 
 period. — First hearing and adjournment of his case. — Second letter 
 to Timothy. — Saint Peter's second letter. — " Domine, Quo Vadis ? " 
 Peter and Paul in the Mamertine prison. — Their martyrdom. — 229 
 Their tombs 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 ROME AFTER THE DEATH OF SAINT PETER AND SAINT PAUL. 
 Nero's decline in popularity. — Tiridates invested at Rome with the king- 
 ship of Armenia. — Nero's journey Ihrougli Greece. — His mad pas- 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. xiii 
 
 Page 
 
 sion for the theatre and public games. — Hclius recalls him to Italy 
 and to Rome. — Insurrection of Gaul, Spain, and the Pretorian 
 Guard. — Nero's death. — Galba, Otho, Vitellius. — The legions of 
 the East raise Vespasian to the throne 258 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 VESPASIAN IN GALILEE AND JUDEA. 
 
 Situation of the Christians after the death of Peter and Paul. — Warlike 
 preparations in Jerusalem and Judea. — Josephus, Governor of Galilee. 
 — Siege of Jotapata. — Taking of Gamala, Tiberias, and Giscala. — 
 Simon-ben-Gioras. — The Christians of Jerusalem take refuge in 
 PeUa 277 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. 
 
 Titus invests Jerusalem. — Preliminary encounters. — Taking of Bezetha 
 and Acra. — Besiegers repulsed. — Intrenchment of Jerusalem. — 
 Horrors of famine. — The perpetual sacrifice interrupted. — Fresh 
 attempts of the besiegers. — Attack and taking of Antonia. — Burn- 
 ing of the Temple. — Siege and fall of Sion. — Titus's return to 
 Rome and triumphal entry of the Flavians 302 
 
 INDEX 323 
 
 Map of the Roman Empihe Frontispiece 
 
 Map op Rome 106 
 
 Map of Judea 174 
 
 The Temple of Jerusalem 292 
 
 Jerusalem at the time of its Destruction by Titus .... 802 
 
LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE FIRST IMPRISONMENT OF SAINT PAUL AT ROME. 
 
 I. The Acts of Paul, the Prisoner. 
 
 Paul entered Rome at a decisive moment in the reign 
 of Nero ; it was just at the time when this Prince, shaking 
 off the authority of Seneca and Burrhus, inaugurated his 
 career of unbridled license. Steeped in vice to his marrow, 
 it was from his mother he had inherited his blood-thirsty 
 and brutal instincts, without, however, one trace of that 
 savage dignity which enveloped Agrippina. In every- 
 thing he was frivolous ; in his parade of ambition, his ab- 
 surd pretensions in the realm of Art, his showman's tastes 
 and manners. His soul, long trained to play such oppo- 
 site parts, lent itself as easily to the accents of tragedy as 
 it did to the vulgarities of the public booth. Agrippina 
 had moulded him after her own image, and sealed him 
 with her own seal, with this one end in view, that in his 
 person she might rule. 
 
 Of what value was her son's virtue or honor, forsooth, 
 to this ambitious queen ? She was but seeking another 
 instrument of power ; and, in order to wield it more 
 easily, she had checked or misdirected every righteous 
 spring of action Nero might have possessed. As it seemed 
 to her that at least some veneer of learning was requisite 
 to soften the hues of the monster she was modelling, 
 Burrhus and Seneca were given this thankless task. 
 None worthier could have been found in Rome ; but de- 
 
 1 
 
2 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL, 
 
 spite the masterful spirit of the former and the profound 
 mind of the latter, these two Stoics vainly endeavored to 
 infuse some of the sap of righteousness into a heart blasted 
 from the cradle up ; at most they could but instil some 
 smattering of art and poetry. Happily, for several years 
 they managed to maintain their ascendency over this 
 young decadent, at seventeen become master of the world, 
 and they made use of it to inaugurate an equitable and 
 pacific reign. 
 
 The five years of this regime were destined to remain 
 famous, cherished above all others in the memory of his 
 people ; ^ and yet this peaceful lull in the midst of that 
 century of violence was bought at the price of extraordi- 
 nary tolerance on his tutors' part. Monstrous as were 
 Nero's passions, they terrified his guardians far less than 
 did the ferocity they found embedded in his soul. " Pre- 
 serve him from the taste of blood," said Burrhus ; "the wild 
 beast within him, once awakened, will grow insatiable." ^ 
 It is a policy often practised by those who desire to rule 
 in the stead of others, to distract their thoughts from 
 public affairs by the allurements of pleasure. It is one 
 which has never produced aught but fearful failures in 
 the end, since sooner or later debauchery hardens a man 
 and impels him to crime. Very shortly Nero refused to 
 confine his excesses to his palaces, or even to the streets of 
 Eome ; seizing the reins from the hands of his two 
 masters, he rushed madly upon whomsoever he fancied to 
 be an obstacle in his way, and felled each at a blow, — 
 Britanicus first, then Agrippina herself. Seneca saw him- 
 self reduced to the shameful necessity of pleading excuses 
 for a parricide, and Burrhus to some attempt to cover him 
 with the mantle of his own good fame. Their authority 
 was but weakened by these acts of forbearance ; less and 
 less respected daily, their yoke became irksome and they 
 themselves fit subjects for disgrace. 
 
 Burrhus, whose long military power had rendered him 
 
 ^ **Uti merito Trajaniis soepius testaretur procul differre cimctos piin- 
 cipes Neronis quinquenino." Aurelius Victor, Goes. 15. 
 * Juvenal's Scoliast, Ad. Sat. v. 109. 
 
FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME, 3 
 
 the more inflexible of the two, was the first to disappear.^ 
 His death, which many attributed to poison, left vacant 
 one of the most important posts in Eome, the command 
 of the Praetorian Guard. This office, ordinarily filled by 
 two Prefects of equal authority, had been confided entirely 
 to his charge. Nero hastened to divide its duties again, 
 and parcelled them out to two of his own creatures. One, 
 Sofonius Tigillinus, was an old-time tool and boon com- 
 panion of his revels, — a clever mind, but bent on the 
 pursuit of the worst forms of depravity, and without one 
 generous spark of humanity. The other, Fenius Eufus, 
 led a fairly decent life, which won him the respect of the 
 masses, but was a man of no character. Nero need feel 
 no fear about confiding to this pair the command of the 
 troops which guarded Eome and his palaces. 
 
 These were the cohorts of picked men who watched 
 over such as had appealed to the Emperor's tribunal.^ 
 The first duty of the Centurion Julius on their arrival 
 was to hand over his prisoners to them. Traversing the 
 city, he conducted the Apostle to the Praetorian camp, 
 situated near the Via Nomentana. We do not know 
 which of the two Prefects Paul was brought before, but 
 there is reason to believe that it was Fenius Eufus ; for 
 Tigillinus was too absorbed in court intrigues to interest 
 himself in the affairs of the Guard. All business per- 
 taining to the Prtetorium, accordingly, fell to his col- 
 league. Paul was treated with perfect justice by him. 
 The report of the Governor of Palestine, the details added 
 by Julius, witness for the past seven months of his pris- 
 oner's virtues, his own attitude, — everything, indeed, 
 declared that here was but another victim of Jewish fanati- 
 cism. Eufus gave orders that he be treated as humanely 
 as the severity of the law allowed. Though subjected, as 
 
 1 In March, 62, according to some writers, even earlier according to 
 others, in the month of January or February of the same year. See 
 "Wieseler, Chronologie des apostolischen Zeitalters, p. 83, note 1. The 
 rumor that Nero had ordered him to be poisoned at once spread abroad 
 and found ready credence. Tacitus, Annates, xiv. 51 : Suetonius, Nero, 35. 
 
 2 Mommsen, Romisches Staatsrecht, voL ii., p. 933. 
 
4 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 at Csesarea, to continual surveillance, never going out 
 unless chained to the legionary, who was always with him 
 day and night, he was, nevertheless, left free to lodge 
 wherever he saw fit.^ For the first few days he accepted 
 the hospitality of the Christians of Rome ;2 but soon, 
 making use of the funds sent him from Philippi^ to re- 
 gain his independence, he withdrew into lodgings hired at 
 his own expense.* We do not know whereabouts in 
 Eome this dwelling-place of the Apostle was located ; ^ 
 close by the Imperial Palace, according to some ; ^ in the 
 midst of the Praetorian camp, according to others;^ at all 
 events probably somewhere in the environs of this camp, 
 in order to facilitate the services of his keepers. 
 
 For two years Paul awaited the judgment of Caesar in 
 this retreat. Long delays were not at all unusual in cases 
 of appeal ; the multitude of cases, the difficulty of collect- 
 ing testimony at a great distance,^ a mere caprice on the 
 part of the judges, always exposed the accused to such 
 annoyance.^ It must be acknowledged, however, that, 
 under the circumstances, such procrastination is rather 
 surprising, since the Jews, who so bitterly hated the 
 Apostle, had both the influence and the means of push- 
 ing it in Rome, which they lacked in Ca^sarea. For a 
 long time Herod's descendants, w^ho had been detained 
 and educated at the Imperial court for political reasons,^^ 
 
 1 Acts xxviii. 16. It lay within the discretion of the Prefect of the 
 Prpetorium to decide, according to the rank of the prisoner and the gravity 
 of the charges brought against him, whether his confinement should be 
 more or less strict. Sometimes he allowed the accused party his liberty 
 under bail ; but, as a general rule, he kept him in the custody of his 
 Praetorian Guards. See Daremberg, Dictionnaire des Antiquite's, custodia. 
 
 2 Ets TTjv ^eviau, Acts xxviii. 23. Comp. Acts xxi. 16 ; Philem. 22. 
 
 3 Philip, iv. 15-18. 
 
 4 Ep 15l({} fiLCTdihixaTL. Acts xxviii. 30. 
 
 ^ According to certain local traditions the Church of Santa Maria in 
 Via Lata, on the Corso, marks the location of this building. 
 
 6 Wieseler, Chronologie des apostolischen Zeitalters, p. 403, note 3. 
 
 ' Lightfoot, Philippians^ pp. 97 et seq. 
 
 8 Tacitus, Annales, xiii. 43, 52. 
 
 3 Wieseler, Chronologie des apostolischen Zeitalters, pp. 407 et seq. 
 1^ Josephus, Antiq. Jud., xvii. i. 3 ; xviii. ii. 1, 3, vi. 1 ; Bell. Jud., i. 
 xxxviii. 4, etc. 
 
FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME. 5 
 
 had enjoyed the highest favor; this had been made patent 
 to all by the privileges granted to the children of Israel by 
 Caligula and Claudius. Even Nero, despite his disdain 
 for any and every religion, showed himself far from indif- 
 ferent to their good-will ; one of the objects which was 
 destined to absorb his attention toward the close of his 
 life was Jerusalem, whose throne a prophecy had promised 
 should be his.^ But their most powerful instrument, and 
 the one nearest to him, was his favorite, Poppsea, a mem- 
 ber, like many other Eoman ladies of the day, of their 
 religion.2 This woman, who, beside all other feminine 
 gifts, possessed something that was almost worthy the 
 name of virtue,^ just now reigned without a rival. Thanks 
 to her, a deputation from the Sanhedrin, despatched to 
 Rome to make complamt against the exactions of Agrippa, 
 had but recently departed, having won their case.^ Had 
 other emissaries urged her to take action against the 
 Apostle, there would have been a speedy end of his mis- 
 sion and his life. God preserved Paul by turning the 
 minds of the fanatics of Jerusalem into other channels, 
 after his departure. Absorbed entirely in new domestic 
 broils, not only did they fail to follow him on his journey 
 Homewards, but they did not so much as take the pre- 
 caution of warning their brethren of the capital against 
 him. The following incident told us in the Acts gives 
 striking testimony to this indifference, in strange contrast 
 to their relentless persecutions at Jerusalem and Csesarea. 
 Three days after his arrival, Paul desired, according to 
 the rule he followed everywhere, to preach first to the 
 children of Israel. Since his position as prisoner pre- 
 
 1 Suetonius, Nero, 40. 
 
 2 Josephus, Antiq. Jud., xx. viii. 11 ; Vita, 3. 
 
 ^ " Huic mulieri cuncta alia fuere preeter honestum animuni." Tacitus, 
 Annales, xiii. 45. 
 
 * Josephus, Antiq. Jud., xx. viii. 11. The object of contention in this 
 quarrel was a gallery erected by Agrippa on the very summit of Mt. Sion 
 in the palace of the Asmonseans, whence he could look down into the 
 Temple. The Jews succeeded in having it demolished, as they considered 
 it both indiscreet and indecent that this prince should thus exercise sur- 
 veillance over the sacred privacy of their Sanctuary. 
 
6 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 vented him from going to them, he begged them to 
 " beseech the principal personages among the Jews to 
 come to him." ^ Note that by "principal personages" 
 we are not to understand here the chiefs of a commu- 
 nity embracing all the Jews of the capital, and forming 
 as at Alexandria a body politic of the state ; Eome, as 
 we have seen elsewhere,'^ would never have tolerated 
 within her walls such a derogation of the common law. 
 These Jews, with whom the Apostle desired to confer, 
 were probably but the foremost members of one of the 
 synagogues of the town, either the best known or the one 
 nearest the Praetorian camp. These notabilities came 
 at the call of the captive, for although the children of 
 Israel, ever since their return to Eome,^ had broken off 
 all intercourse with the Christians,^ the name of Paul, so 
 famous at Jerusalem and throughout all the Orient, 
 could not have been unknown to them. 
 
 " My brethren," the Apostle began, " although I have 
 committed nothing either against the people or against 
 the customs of our fathers, I have been made a prisoner 
 at Jerusalem, and delivered into the hands of the Komans. 
 These, after they had examined me, desired to release 
 me, because they did not consider me guilty of any crime 
 worthy of death. The Jews being opposed to this, I have 
 been constrained to appeal from them to Csesar, without, 
 however, any design of accusing in aught those of my 
 nation. Such is the reason of my having called you 
 hither, in order to see you and to speak with you, for 
 'tis for the Hope of Israel that I am bound with this 
 chain." 
 
 " The Hope of Israel ! " This was none else than the 
 Messiah, pouring out upon the chosen people glory, 
 
 1 Acts xxviii. 16, 17. 
 
 2 St. Peter and the First Years of Christianity, chap, xiv., St. Peter 
 AND THE Jews of Rome. 
 
 3 The Jews, expelled from Rome by an edict of Claudius, managed to 
 cree]) back again shortly, and were now as numerous as ever heretofore. 
 St. Peter and the First Years of Christianitjj, chap, xiv., St. Peter and 
 THE Jews of Rome. 
 
 * Acts xxviii. 22. 
 
FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME. 7 
 
 wealth, happiness. By exhibiting himself as the victim 
 of that dream of hope, Paul won their hearts and awak- 
 ened within them the desire to hear him. The response 
 of the Jews proves this by its cordial tone. Without 
 waiting for the Apostle to explam the belief for which 
 they beheld him there loaded with chains, of their own 
 accord they desired him to acquaint them with it. 
 
 " We have not received any letter from Judea in thy 
 regard," they said, " and none of our brethren has come 
 here who has told us any harm of thee. We would very 
 willingly have knowledge of thy thoughts ; for concern- 
 ing the sect (which thou preachest) all we know is that 
 everywhere it is spoken against." ^ 
 
 Here was an occasion for presenting to the Jews of 
 Eome just such a complete exposition of the Glad Tidings 
 as the Apostle had been wont to give in every city wliich 
 he had visited. He was quick to grasp the opportunity. 
 However, since his shackles and his keeper made it im- 
 possible for him to appear in the pulpit of the synagogue, 
 it was agreed that they should meet there where he was ; 
 for the house was large enough to accommodate a con- 
 siderable number of Jews on the day set. The Apostle 
 preached to them " the Kingdom of God," ^ declaring that 
 it consisted, not in flesh, but in the spirit, and meeting 
 their objections with proofs drawn from the one and only 
 unimpeachable witness, the testimony of Holy Scripture, 
 where, on every page, he showed them the supernat- 
 ural reign of Christ described and foretold. This dis- 
 cussion lasted one whole day : " from the morning until 
 the evening he sought to persuade them to the faith of 
 Jesus, out of the Law of Moses, and out of the Prophets. 
 Some believed the things which he said, others would 
 not believe." ^ One difference is to be noted, however ; 
 the uproar which these discussions invariably caused in 
 the synagogues did not take place, for the Praetorian 
 who guarded the Apostle kept them in check. Could 
 
 1 Acts xxviii. 17-23. 3 i^ij.^ 23-24. 
 
 2 Ibid., 23. 
 
8 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 they forget that it was the riotous quarrellings in their 
 own meetings, — aye, and concerning this same Christ 
 Whom Paul was preaching, — that ten years ago had de- 
 cided Claudius upon banishing them ? After having most 
 discreetly effected their return to Eome and far from anx- 
 ious for a new term of exile, they now took good care not 
 to draw down upon them anew the courtesies of the urban 
 police ; but without coming to any agreement, either 
 among themselves or with the Apostles, silently they 
 began to steal away.^ 
 
 Nothing so aroused Paul's indignation as such veiled 
 opposition, so politely and ambiguously expressed. De- 
 tecting from the movement of the throng he was seeking 
 to enlighten that the same scene he had been accustomed 
 to in other Jewish circles was now repeating itself here in 
 Eome, and that God's summons to His people was about 
 to be disobeyed once more, he launched at those Israel- 
 ites who were withdrawing, the anathema of their own 
 great prophet : — 
 
 "Well, indeed, did the Holy Ghost, speaking to your 
 fathers by the Prophet Isaiah, say to you, ' Go unto this 
 people, and tell them, " Ye shall hear, and hearing ye 
 shall not understand ; ye shall see, and seeing ye shall 
 not perceive." For the heart of this people is waxed 
 gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes 
 have they closed, for fear lest that they should see, and 
 their ears hear, and their heart understand, and that, 
 being converted, I might heal them.' Know, then, that 
 this salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles and they 
 will receive it." ^ 
 
 This shaft, hurled so vigorously at them, completely 
 routed the Jews. They made good their retreat, and once 
 outside, began a lively dispute among themselves,^ but 
 the rumor of their quarrels soon died out in the ghettos 
 of the capital, without bearing other fruit than a few 
 occasional conversions from the ranks of Israel.^ 
 
 1 Actsxxviii. 25. 2 ibi,l., 25-28. 3 ibid., 29. 
 
 * M. Sabatier {DApotre Paul, p. 102) regards the community at Korae 
 as a Jewish-Christian Church. Just the contrary opinion, according to 
 
FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME. 9 
 
 Far more fruitful was the seed sown in Gentile hearts. 
 During the' two years of his detention Paul took advan- 
 tage of his permission to receive all such as came to him, 
 " preaching the Kingdom of God, and teaching those things 
 which concern the Lord Jesus Christ in all freedom, no 
 man forbidding him." ^ And w^hat additional power and 
 persuasiveness the prisoner's garb must have lent to the 
 Apostle's eloquence, with the soldier linked to his side 
 and his manacled hands declaring still more clearly 
 that " the Word is not to be bound." One of the first 
 effects of his intrepidity was to reanimate the courage of 
 the brethren who were wont to visit Paul's lodging. The 
 faith of the Christian community of Eome was already 
 well known all over the world,^ but rather for its purity, 
 doubtless, than for any other reason, since that zeal which 
 alone bears fruit was lacking. It was this defect in them 
 which the Apostle had sought to remedy some two years 
 previously when he wrote from Corinth to these same be- 
 lievers : " Be not slothful in spirit, remembering that 't is 
 the Lord you serve. Do good, not only in God's sight, but 
 likewise in the sight of all men." ^ 
 
 These exhortations were repeated with all the more 
 urgency, now that he could converse daily with them and 
 show them, by his own example, with what proud hardi- 
 hood the Christian should confess and propagate his faith. 
 Even the weak-kneed straightened themselves up at the 
 sound of his voice, and soon they too received from him 
 this meed of praise : " The greater number of the brethren, 
 waxing confident at sight of my bonds, are much more 
 emboldened to announce the word of God without fear." * 
 
 His enthusiasm, thus communicated to the Church of 
 Rome, drew along with it many more souls from the fact 
 that Paul was not alone in encouraging it. The oldest 
 
 which converted Pagans were by far in the majority among them, is, it 
 seems to me, much the more probable one. Consult P. Cornely {Intro, 
 ductio, § 145) and Hort {Proler/omena to the Romans) for the various argu- 
 ments adduced. 
 
 1 Acts xxviii. 30-31. 3 n^ij.^ xii. 1], 17 
 
 2 Romans i. 8. * Philip, i. 14. 
 
10 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 and most faithful of his assistants were about him : 
 Timothy, best beloved of all ; ^ Luke, his fellow-traveller 
 and companion in shipwreck ; ^ Tychicus of Asia ; ^ Aris- 
 tarchus of Thessalonica ; ^ with others whom the Apostle 
 names in terms of gratitude : Demas, who was soon to 
 forsake him for the world, but at this date still was faith- 
 ful;^ John Mark, disowned at Antioch, as evidencing 
 small worthiness for the Apostolate, but whom we now 
 find reinstated in the esteem and companionship of Paul.^ 
 Beside these disciples most in evidence, we know the 
 names of a goodly number of his friends to whom he had 
 sent greetings in his letter to the Eomans ; for the ma- 
 jority, if not all of these, were still in the city : Aquila 
 and Priscilla especially, Epenetus, Amplias, and Stachys, — 
 all beloved friends, — Mary, " who had toiled so much for 
 the Church ; " his dear Persis ; Tryphenus and Tryphosus, 
 both alike zealous in the cause.'' This band of devoted 
 spirits, their ardor inflamed by the Apostle's example, 
 spread the Gospel so actively that, when two years later 
 ISTero's persecution burst upon them, the Christians of 
 Eome formed a body of believers exceeding that of the 
 Jews in number, — "a great multitude," says Tacitus.^ 
 
 To be sure, all the fruit gathered in this rich harvest 
 was not of equal value : scattered amid the pure grain 
 there sprung up tares and blighted seed ; for the Eoman 
 Church, though drawn for the most part from the ranks 
 of Paganism, contained its quota of Judaizers, bent on 
 propagating their Observances. These latter, encouraged 
 like the rest by Paul's spirit, were eventually no less eager 
 to preach the Gospel which they had forged. In vain did 
 the Apostle seek to purify and enfranchise their faith. 
 His anxiety to bring back these wandering ones only 
 made them more headstrong in clinging to their errors 
 and irritated them the more against him. This bitter- 
 
 1 Philip, i. 1; ii. 19-23; Coloss. i. 1 ; Plnlem. 1. 
 
 2 Co]oss. iv. 14; Philein. 24. ^ Coloss. iv. 10; Philein. 24. 
 2 Eplies. vi. 21 ; Coloss. iv. 7. " Rom. xvi. 3-12. 
 
 * Coloss. iv. 10; Philem. 24. ^ Tacitus, Annales, xv. 44. 
 
 5 Coloss. iv. 14 ; Philem. 24. 
 
FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME. 11 
 
 ness, nowhere more contagious than in religious quarrels, 
 soon turned to sullen animosity. Soon they no longer 
 preached the Christ out of sincere hearts, but from a 
 spirit of contention and jealousy, in hopes of thwart- 
 ing their adversary and wounding him mortally in his 
 life's work. 
 
 " They lotted thereby," says the Apostle, " on making 
 my chains the heavier." ^ They forgot that, in direct 
 opposition to their narrow views, the true Church of 
 Kome had recognized the pure Gospel in the teaching 
 of this captive, and that in an irresistible outburst of 
 " love " 2 she was publishing it all over the town. Most 
 of all did they misconceive Paul's own heart, too gen- 
 erous, too superior to mean resentments to be even 
 remotely affected by them. Indeed, in all their machi- 
 nations, the Apostle saw only the fact that Jesus was 
 being made known and beloved by the souls they were 
 trying to win over to themselves. " Then what matters 
 it to me," he cried, " whether their preaching is prompted 
 by good faith or be but a pretence ? Provided that the 
 Christ be preached, I rejoice and shall rejoice always." ^ 
 
 This gladness filled Paul's heart for more reasons than 
 one. First, there was the happiness so long looked for- 
 ward to of being in Eome ; then his good fortune in living 
 there so generally respected, although in bonds, and really 
 freer than ever before to proclaim the Glad Tidings, but 
 most of all it was the joy of watching the rapid progress 
 of the cause of Christ. In this spreading of the Word the 
 Apostle took the leading part, owing to the number of 
 visitors whom he converted, even among those Praetorian 
 Guards who, each in turn, were deputed to act as his 
 jailers. His teachings and the holiness of his life moved 
 the hearts of more than one of these soldiers, and ren- 
 dered their prisoner " renowned throughout the whole 
 Praetorian camp."* 
 
 His Faith had its triumphs in still higher places ; for 
 he describes it to us as having found its way, even then, 
 
 1 Philip, i. 15-17. 3 Philip, i. 18. 
 
 * 'E^ dydw-ns, Ibid., 1. 16- ^ PMlip. i. 13. 
 
12 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 into the Imperial Eesidence. Who were they that carried 
 it thither ? Slaves, probably, or, at best, the freedmen of 
 the palace. Had they embraced Christianity before Paul's 
 coming, or did they receive it from him ? This we do not 
 know ; but their presence at court cannot be contested ; 
 he himself makes express mention of it in his letter to 
 the Philippians : " All the brethren salute you, but chiefly 
 those that are of Caesar's household." ^ 
 
 Whatever be the truth concerning these Christians and 
 their condition, living in such nearness to the rulers of the 
 world, it is certain that this band of believers was not 
 very numerous. At Eome, as everywhere else, the great 
 mass of converts came from the common people, nay, 
 even from the throngs of slaves. This class was not only 
 the most active in the city, it was also the most open and 
 receptive in regard of intellectual things ; a number of 
 the liberal professions, such as medicine, the teaching of 
 literature and art, were then in the hands of freedmen. 
 Nor need we be surprised if Christian beliefs and hopes 
 made most conquests among them. 
 
 One weighty proof of this we find in the predominance 
 of Greek in this earliest age of the Eoman Church ; for 
 Greek was the common speech of the lower classes, in 
 which the foreign element predominated. For almost 
 two centuries everything in the Church is Greek : the 
 names of Bishops and their disciples ; the versions of the 
 Scriptures ; apologetical writings ; hybrid inscriptions, 
 wherein Greek letters and words are combined with 
 Latin ones ; even the liturgy itself, which, even to our 
 day, has preserved traces of this first imprint. 
 
 Paul had not the same influence over Eomans of high 
 rank and noble family. There is no proof of any value 
 which allows of our reckoning (as some have done) among 
 those converted by the Apostle's words such personages 
 as Actsea and Poppciea,^ Nero's favorites ; Narcissus ^ and 
 
 1 Philip, iv. 22. 
 
 2 See Greppo, Trois me'moires relatifs a Vhistoire ecclesiastique, pp. 41 
 et seq. ; Wolf, De prcescript. Tertulliani Comment., p. 582 ; Baronius, Ad. 
 Ann., 59, ix. 
 
 3 Bericelius, Prmf. in Enchiridion Epictet.; Selden, Otia Theologica, 
 exercit. iii. 10. 
 
FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME. 13 
 
 Epaphroditus,^ his freedmen; Seneca and the members 
 of his family.2 Paul, it is true, had had certain relations 
 with the one last named. It will be remembered that at 
 Corinth he appeared before Gallio, a brother of the philos- 
 opher ; but from these purely official connections as well 
 as from certain pages in which Seneca's thoughts recall the 
 Gospel teachings in their tone, and at times even in expres- 
 sion, from this some have drawn the conclusion, much 
 too rashly, as I think, that the Apostle had instructed him 
 and made him his disciple. A volume of correspondence 
 between the two has been forged to bolster up this 
 hypothesis ; but a mere glance through these letters will 
 suffice to convince any one of their falsity.^ On the other 
 hand, we have seen how widely the Stoics of Eome diverged 
 from Christian teachings, not only in the fundamentals of 
 doctrine, but in the moral consequences they drew there- 
 from.* Seneca remained one of them to the end, and 
 died, as he had lived, a Sage, but a Pagan Sage. His last 
 act, accor diner to Tacitus' account, was to order " a libation 
 to Jupiter the Liberator." ^ 
 
 In default of any noble proselytes to be won over by 
 him to Christianity, Paul found certain conquests made 
 before his arrival among the Eoman aristocracy. The 
 reader has already made the acquaintance of the most 
 illustrious of these, the only one, indeed, whose name 
 belongs to this history, — Pomponia Graecina.^ 
 
 Ever since the year 42 this patrician lady had led the 
 same austere and retired life, the mystery of which had 
 so teased the curiosity of the highest society in Rome. 
 Doubtless they were used to seeing women of elevated 
 station taking violent fancies for various foreign forms 
 
 1 Greppo, Trois memoires, pp. 61 et seq. 
 
 2 Amedee Fleury, St. Paul et S€neque ; Aubertin, Seneque et St. Paul; 
 Lightfoot, Philippians, St. Paul and Seneca, pp. 2G8-326. 
 
 3 Fleury, St. Paul et Seneque, v. ii. pp. 255-347 ; Lightfoot, Philippians, 
 pp. 327-331. 
 
 * St. Peter and the First Days of Christianitij, chap, xvii., The Stoics 
 OF the Empire. 
 
 5 Tacitus, Annales, xv. 64. 
 
 ^ St. Peter and the First Days of Christianity, chap, xviii. 
 
14 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 of worship and frequenting the superstitious rites of the 
 East ; but these were, after all, but the fashionable fads 
 of devotion ; their whims once satisfied, they were to be 
 met again in the usual intercourse of society and at their 
 domestic altars, just as formerly, and in no way differing 
 from their contemporaries in their conduct of life. Pre- 
 cisely the contrary was true of Pomponia Graecina ; she 
 persisted in keeping aloof from Pagan society, never ap- 
 peared in public save in mourning garb, and although 
 accused by the town's talk of being addicted to " foreign 
 superstitions," — that is to say, of being a Christian, — 
 she was left free to lead this singular life. Her virtue 
 placed her above suspicion by the decision of a family 
 council ; her husband's protection, even the isolation she 
 had chosen of her own free will, finally won her the re- 
 spect of all alike ; according to Tacitus' expression, " her 
 constancy turned all this to her own renown." ^ 
 
 It is not likely that Pomponia Grtecina could have 
 practised her religion openly and in the highest circles of 
 Eoman aristocracy, without her example and words mak- 
 ing some converts to the Faith. And yet we have no 
 contemporary documents to give substantiality to this 
 presumption ; the monuments of Eome alone preserve 
 the memory of certain other patricians who sought 
 Christ during these early days. One of the oldest 
 churches in the city bears the name of Saint Praxedis, 
 to whom it was dedicated. Now this sanctuary, accord- 
 ing to certain apochryphal, but very ancient accounts,^ 
 was erected on property belonging to the father of this 
 Christian lady, — Pudens by name, — a personage whom 
 we shall soon encounter again in Paul's company during 
 the second imprisonment.^ 
 
 Other witnesses (Acts of the Martyrs, Biographies of 
 
 1 Tacitus, Annales^ xiii. 32. 
 
 2 The letters of Pastor to Timothy [Act. Sand. Maii, v. iv p. 299) ; 
 letter of Pius I. to Justus of Vienue (Baronius, Anna!., 166, i.), and a note 
 appended in some MSS. of the Liber Pontijicalis to the life of Pius I. 
 (Duchesne, Liber Pontijicalis, v. i. pp. 132-133). 
 
 8 2 Timothy iv. 21. 
 
FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME. 15 
 
 the Popes, Itineraries of the sixth and seventh cen- 
 turies) allude to the tombs of these high-born believers as 
 standing in a cemetery of Apostolic times, one to which 
 a Christian matron called Priscilla had given her name. 
 There, or so these documents tell us,i were the remains 
 of " Prudentiana and Praxedis, daughters of Pudens," 
 and near them '' Aqmla and Priscilla" the Jewish arti- 
 sans whose dwelling on the Aventine was used as a 
 meeting-place by the Christians.^ Two facts of no less 
 importance than these have been proved beyond doubt 
 by recent excavations in Eoman territory: one is, that 
 the Cemetery of Priscilla was originally a place of burial 
 occupied in common by the Cornelii and their kinsfolk 
 the Acilii, and that the latter had Christian tombs 
 therein ; ^ the other, that the site on the Aventine, where 
 the house of Aquila and Priscilla stood, was on property 
 belonging to the Cornelii. An inscription found on this 
 spot actually bears the name of one Pudens Corneli- 
 anus^ From these various bits of evidence, collated 
 with all his wonted keenness, Signer de Eossi concludes, 
 — and the overpowering weight of probability is on the 
 side of his theory, — on the one hand, that some mem- 
 bers of the Gens Cornelia (Pudens and his two daugh- 
 ters, with Prudentia and Praxedis, at least) had been 
 converted to Christ within the days of the Apostles ; on 
 the other, that, as Aquila and Priscilla had built their 
 dwelling upon the Aventine on property belonging to the 
 Cornelii, and finally found their last resting-place in that 
 family's burial-ground, they must have been dependents 
 of these patricians, either as their freedmen or as their 
 clients, ties which their common faith would but make 
 
 1 MaruccM, Le Memorie dei SS. ApostoU P'letro e Paolo, Roma, 1894, 
 p. 85. 
 
 2 Rom. xvi. 3, 5. Concerning this mansion, which afterward became 
 the Basilica of St. Prisca, consult de Rossi, Bullettino di Archeolog. Christ., 
 1867, 5, 43-58 ; 1868, 35. Compare St. Peter and the First Years oj 
 Christianity , chap, xviii. 
 
 3 De Rossi, Bullettino, 1867, pp. 44 et sea.; 1888-1889, pp. 15-66, 
 103-133. 
 
 * Marucchi, Le Memorie dei SS. ApostoU Pietro e Paolo, p. 84. 
 
16 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 the more binding. We know what affectionate gratitude 
 Paul cherished for Aquila and Priscilla ; ^ through them 
 he naturally came in contact with those patrician con- 
 verts whose names have been handed down to us, and 
 are still preserved by the dusty monuments of Eome.^ 
 
 Whether we agree with these conclusions or not,^ at 
 least there is no mention of Pudens and his family in the 
 letters written by the Apostle in the period which we 
 have to do with now. The disciples he most delights to 
 mention are the fellow-laborers of olden days, Timothy, 
 Luke, Aristarchus, Tychicus, Epaphras, and Mark, cousin 
 of Barnabas. From them alone, probably, he received 
 such assistance as was given him after his arrival, with- 
 out looking for anything to the Church of Eome, which 
 was not his domain, and without accepting from the 
 wealthy members of this community any contributions, 
 which in his eyes would have seemed to straiten the 
 liberty of a minister of God. 
 
 The Almighty did not allow this condition of depend- 
 ency, which weighed so heavily on the Apostle's noble 
 heart, to last long. News travelled quickly along the 
 great highways of the Empire. Hardly had he quitted 
 Csesarea in charge of the Centurion Julius, before the 
 fact was bruited alono; the Mediterranean coasts. Anti- 
 
 1 St. Paul and His Missions, chap. vii. § 1, and chap. ix. 
 
 - Although no mention is made of these two artisans in his letters 
 written during the first imprisonment, there is good reason to believe that 
 the)' had not left the capital since the time when St. Paul, in writing his 
 Epistle to the Romans, sends them greeting (Rom. xvi. 3, 4). Their 
 business must have prospered more in Rome than in Corinth or in 
 Ephesus, since here we find them in possession of a house large enough 
 to accommodate all the brotherhood. 
 
 3 I cannot omit all mention of these pious traditions of Christian 
 Rome, especially since the learned researches of de Rossi and his school 
 prove that they were based upon some foundation of truth. The few 
 features which we have drawn from them here, out of a mass of testimony 
 for the most part legendary and apocryphal, seem to me something more 
 than mere conjectures ; without attiibuting to them the same certitude we 
 do to historical facts, it is highly fitting that we should examine them 
 most respectfully. Ample and judicious criticism of these various ques- 
 tions in Christian archaeology may he found in Marucchi, Le Memorie del 
 SS. Apostolt Pietro e Paolo, pp. 79-103. 
 
FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME. 17 
 
 och, Tarsus, Epliesus, Troas, and Philippi, were thrilled 
 by it, especially the last named, on which Paul's peculiar 
 position put most urgent obligations. Alone of all these 
 Christian communities, it will be remembered, she had 
 been already distinguished as having offered him help 
 which had not been refused. Just now such assistance 
 was becoming more necessary than ever, for the Apostle 
 was about to enter a foreign land; and who could fore- 
 tell the hardships of his imprisonment ? The rich Lydia, 
 with her sisters and brethren in the Faith, lost no time 
 in raising a collection, and intrusted it to a disciple named 
 Epaphroditus to carry it to Eome. This man was one 
 of the best beloved members of the whole community ,i 
 that one of them who with Clement had toiled there 
 for the salvation of souls.^ Great was Paul's joy at the 
 arrival of this messenger, so touching a proof that his 
 dear Philippians had not forgotten him. Their offerings 
 were superabundant, in harmony with the promptings of 
 their hearts. The Apostle accepted all, for he was thus 
 not only enabled to meet his living expenses for a long 
 time, but it made it possible for him to hire lodgings for 
 his own personal use, and thereby regain the feeling of 
 perfect independence.^ 
 
 II. The Epistle to the Philippians. 
 
 Epaphroditus did not content himself with merely 
 delivering into Paul's hands the funds he had brought 
 with him ; he at once enrolled himself among the volun- 
 teers for the holy war of the Cross. His apostolate at 
 Philippi had seasoned him ; accordingly, while not for- 
 getting his office of ministering to the prisoner's needs, he 
 offered himself first and foremost as a comrade in arms 
 and fellow-laborer.* To this service he devoted himself 
 with overmuch zeal. The fatigues of preaching and 
 charitable works, perhaps too the climate of Eome, so 
 
 1 Philip, ii. 25-29. 3 Ibid., iv. 10-19. 
 
 2 Ibid., iv. 3. * Ibid., ii. 25, 30. 
 
18 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 fatal to foreigners, soon threatened to extinguish his high 
 hopes ; he fell grievously sick and was lying at death's 
 door, when " God had pity on him," says the Apostle ; 
 " and not only on him, but on me also, lest I should have 
 sorrow upon sorrow." ^ 
 
 Though out of danger, the attack left Epaphroditus 
 nervously prostrated, with that uneasy feeling of agitation 
 which is the usual sequel to Eoman fevers. Tidings of 
 his illness having reached Philippi, and the brethren of 
 that Church having expressed a desire to see their mes- 
 senger again, Epaphroditus hesitated no longer, but asked 
 permission to leave. Paul yielded to his wishes,^ without 
 alluding to his own need of the aid tendered him by this 
 disciple; for self-forgetfulness had become his second 
 nature. Summoning Timothy, he dictated to him the 
 words of thanks which Epaphroditus should carry back 
 with him to the Philippians in return for their gifts. It 
 was the first expression of his gratitude he had sent them 
 from Eome, and he put his whole heart into it. This 
 message, though it has not the dogmatic importance of 
 the longer Epistles, has been preserved for us, and that 
 most fortunately, because here, more than in any other of 
 his letters, Paul's soul displays itself just as it was known 
 to his friends in the ordinary course of daily life. The 
 letters written to the Corinthians and Galatians show him 
 to us, indeed, as he was, under the very fire of battle, and 
 consequently aroused beyond his wont. Such a whirlwind 
 of thoughts and feelings, mingled with depressions, fears, 
 and loathings of life,^ were with him but passing trans- 
 ports of emotion. In like manner, in the Epistle to the 
 Eomans, the Apostle's views concerning the decadence of 
 man strike us as severe indeed ; because, all-absorbed as 
 he was in the spectacle of so many sad failures, he dwells 
 more insistently than ever on the corruption of human 
 nature, its powerlessness to achieve salvation, its absolute 
 dependence upon Grace. To conclude, however, from the 
 
 1 Philip, ii. 27. ^ ] Cor. ii. 3 ; 2 Cor. i. 8. 
 
 a Ibid., ii. 26-28. 
 
FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME. 19 
 
 striking relief in which he depicts these truths, that Paul's 
 Christianity was but a gloomy and sorrowful Faith, — a 
 foreshadowing of Calvinism, — would be to forget that the 
 death of " the sinful flesh " ^ is to him but the prelude to 
 its resurrection ; that, beyond and above this corrupt and 
 corrupting body of ours, he never ceases to set forth Jesus 
 living^ in whomsoever He has enfranchised. His Heart is 
 beating within them, and from this source of eternal love, 
 the Christian life gushes forth free and radiant, "in a 
 peace which passeth all understanding." ^ 
 
 The Apostle was not wanting in this superhuman calm. 
 Although certain sources of man's purest delight, such as 
 Nature and Art, seem to have been a sealed book to him ; 
 although the outer world was to him but a " dungheap ; " ^ 
 nevertheless, a joy as grave and austere as his genius 
 never ceased to fill the very depths of his soul, — it was 
 the secret of his noble contentedness if he could but tri- 
 umph over the Law, over sin, over all that constituted " the 
 old man ; " * his certainty of eternal rewards, above all, the 
 happiness of living no longer save in Jesus, and through 
 Him of entering, even here on earth, into a share of the Life 
 Divine.^ 
 
 This purified and supernatural gladness fills to overflow- 
 ing the letter to the Philippians, and breaks forth at the 
 very outset : — 
 
 " I thauk my God every time that I remember you, and 
 I never say a prayer that I do not pray also for you all, 
 experiencing a great joy for that you have received the 
 Gospel and have persevered in it from the first day until 
 now. ... I have you in my heart as being partakers, all of 
 you, in the same graces as I, in my bonds, in the defence 
 and confirmation of the Gospel. God is my witness with 
 what tenderness I love you in the bowels of Jesus Christ; 
 and this I beg of Him, that your charity may abound more 
 and more in light and in all understanding, that so you may 
 discern the things which are excellent, in order that you 
 
 1 Rom. viii. 3. * Rom. v. 1,5; vi. 6 ; vii. 9 ; viii. 2. 
 
 2 Philip, iv. 7. s Ibid., vii. 10-26. 
 
 3 Ibid., iii. 8. 
 
20 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 may remain pure, that you may walk without stumbling 
 until the day of the Christ, and that for the glory and praise 
 of God you may be filled with the fruits of Righteousness 
 through Jesus Christ." 
 
 And how many reasons the Apostle had to adduce for 
 his gladness ! His imprisonment, far from hindering the 
 spread of the Glad Tidings, had but aided and hastened 
 the work ; the same preachers, who were so inert and 
 timid before his coming, had been emboldened to proclaim 
 the Christ freely in Rome. All this enthusiasm was for 
 him a source of joy, even down to the zeal of such envi- 
 ous souls as only published the Good News from a spirit 
 of pique and rivalry. If but the Master be glorified 
 thereby, what cared he ? What mattered it to him, this 
 being his lofty purpose, whether he lived or died, since in 
 either case all was to work together to the Saviour's glory ? 
 For to live, to the Apostle's thinking, was to feel Jesus 
 living within him ; and to die was to " throw off the 
 chains of the body, to be with Jesus " forevermore. Far 
 preferable to him though such a final consummation might 
 be, the fact remained that his words and deeds were 
 necessary to them still. " I know," he declares, " I shall 
 abide and continue with you all for the furtherance and 
 joy of your Faith. Only see to it that you conduct your- 
 selves in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ, so that 
 whether I come and see you or be absent, I may hear that 
 you stand firmly in one and the same spirit, contending 
 together with the one same soul, for tlie Faith of the 
 Gospel." 
 
 The Apostle thereupon utters gently the one word of 
 reproach merited by the Church of Philippi. For certain 
 reasons so trivial that no mention is made of them, their 
 minds had been divided, and this division in intellectual 
 questions had brought about one far more serious in 
 spiritual things. Paul prized a real unity of feeling so 
 highly that now, to restore it among his dear Philippi ans, 
 he appeals to what was their noblest trait, — to their 
 generosity and tenderness of heart, but especially to the 
 
FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME. 21 
 
 consolations they had already tasted in the Christian life, 
 to the charms of brotherly love, to the happiness of feel- 
 ing themselves united by the one same spirit, the Spirit 
 of God. 
 
 " Make my joy perfect," he says to them, ''by having the 
 same thoughts, the same love, the same soul, only thinking 
 the one same thing. Do naught from a mere spirit of par- 
 tisanship or vainglory; but let each one in all humility 
 account his neighbor above himself. Let each one look after, 
 not merely his own personal interests, but those of others 
 as well. Be ye of the self-same mind as was Christ Jesus : 
 although he had the Form (the Nature) ^ of God, He did not 
 account this equality with God as a usurpation.^ He hum- 
 bled Himself, taking the form of a slave, making Himself 
 like unto men, to be regarded as a man, in so far as what 
 appeared outwardly; He abased Himself, rendering Him- 
 self obedient unto death, and to the death of the Cross. 
 This, then, is why God hath raised Him up and given Him a 
 Name above all other names, that at the Name of Jesus 
 every knee should bow in Heaven, on earth, and in Hell, 
 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is 
 Lord, to the glory of God the Father." ^ 
 
 While holding up to the Philippians both the lowliness 
 of the Christ, as well as his glorification, as their example, 
 Paul exhorts them to persevere in the Faith by abandon- 
 ing themselves to God Who works in us to will and to 
 do. Happy in their belief in Christ, happier still in suf- 
 fering for Him, they are as torches amid the world of 
 shadows round about them, wherein they shed the shining 
 rays of that Word of Life which they bear within them. 
 
 1 Mo/)077, signifying, in the philosophical terminology of the Greeks, 
 "form," that which makes a thing what it is; /iop07? GeoO would seem to 
 be used here as synonymous with (pvcns, ovaia GeoO, the Essence, the 
 Divine Nature. Such is the interpretation of St. Cyril of Alexandria, 
 Theodoret, St. Gregory of Nyssa, St. Athanasius, St. Basil, St. Augustine, 
 St. Leo, and St. Thomas Aquinas. See Corluy, Spicilegium Dogmatico- 
 hiblicuvi, vol. ii. pp. 66-71 ; Lightfoot, Philippians, pp. 12.5-131. 
 
 2 'Apirajfios, literally, the booty, the prize, the glory which one would 
 not relinquish at any price. 
 
 3 Philip, ii. 2-11. 
 
22 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 Nay, he would go further and say that by the trials which 
 they share with the Apostle, persecutions, imprisonments, 
 and the rest, they too are become the sacrifice and the 
 victims of their Faith. 
 
 ^' Were it needful for me/' Paul concludes, " to pour forth 
 my blood on your oblation, to make your glory assured, I 
 should joy thereat, and rejoice with you all. In like manner 
 be ye also joyful and rejoice with me." ^ 
 
 But the hour had not struck as yet for so generous an 
 act of self-immolation. Of this, as we have seen, the 
 Apostle felt intimately assured. He hoped to visit 
 Philippi shortly ; meanwhile he promises to send Tim- 
 othy thither, as soon as may be. This was the dearest of 
 his disciples and the one most devoted to the Philippians ; 
 of this the latter were well aware, for they had watched 
 him during his labors among them, " one with Paul, in 
 mind and heart," serving him in the preaching of the 
 Gospel, " as a son serves his father." ^ 
 
 The Apostle's first intention was to intrust Epaphro- 
 ditus with merely a short missive, — a note of warm 
 thanks to his dear Philippians. In closing it, therefore, 
 he reverts to the joyous wishes and hopes with which he 
 had begun his Epistle,^ when, interrupted by some inci- 
 dent, he finds himself constrained to put off its conclusion 
 to some other time. In the interval, according to all 
 appearances, he must have received tidings from Mace- 
 donia that certain Judaizers had started out from that 
 country. Though as yet not in the very midst of the 
 Philippians, these sectaries threatened to spread disorder 
 among them ; while, on the other hand, he was fearful 
 lest, out of pure opposition to their rigorism, those of his 
 flock who were inclined to laxity might be moved to ex- 
 cesses to which they would fall an easy prey. These 
 diverse apprehensions took such entire possession of the 
 Apostle that upon recalling Timothy, in order to dictate 
 the closing lines of his message, without wasting a thought 
 
 1 Philip, ii. 12-18. 2 jbid., ii. 19, 20, 22. » Ibid., iii. i. 
 
FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME. 23 
 
 on the joyous expressions of the first part of the letter, 
 and with no attempt to make what he was about to say- 
 harmonize with it, he gives forth a cry of alarm quite 
 similar to the one he had uttered when the Galatians 
 were threatened with a like danger. 
 
 " Beware of the Dogs, of the Evil Workmen, and of the 
 Concision.^ We are the truly circumcised, we who serve 
 God in spirit, whose boasting is in Christ Jesus, and whose 
 confidence is not in the flesh. Albeit, did I desire to place 
 my trust in the flesh and rely upon it, I too might do so, 
 more than any one whomsoever ! I, who was circumcised 
 the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Ben- 
 jamin, a Hebrew and the son of a Hebrew. Is it a question 
 of the Law ? I am a Pharisee ! Of zeal for Judaism ? I 
 have persecuted the Church ! Of legal righteousness ? In 
 that respect I am unblameable. Yet, when I look upon 
 the Christ, all these advantages I consider as of less ac- 
 count. I will go further — it seems to me but a loss, a 
 hindrance, since what time I perceived how transcendent 
 is the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord. For love of 
 Him I have lost all things, counting everything but as 
 dung, that I may gain the Christ, and be found in Him ; 
 not having my own righteousness, that which is of the Law, 
 but the righteousness which is born of faith in the Christ, 
 the righteousness which proceedeth from God through 
 Faith. My will is to know Him, Him (the Christ) and the 
 power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffer- 
 ings, to share the likeness of His death, if by any means I 
 might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. ISTot in- 
 deed that I have already received the prize which I hope 
 for, but I press onward, struggling to reach the goal which 
 the Christ set before me when He laid hold on me. No, 
 brethren, I do not think that I have as yet attained that 
 goal, whitherward I strive; my only longing is to forget 
 what lies behind me and evermore to reach forth to those 
 things which are before. I press onward straight toward 
 
 1 BX^Trere tt]v KaTaTO/jLrjV i]fx€?s ydp eafiev rj Treptro/x??. Their circum- 
 cision, performed without any need of faith, is nothing less than a profit- 
 less mutilation. ** Circumcisio quidem arte fit ad rem purgandam et 
 expoliendam ; concisio vero temere et cum destructioue rei." Estius, in loco. 
 
24 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 the mark, to the heavenly calling whither God has called 
 us in Christ Jesus.'' ^ 
 
 It was for the benefit of but a few of the faithful that 
 Paul saw fit to dwell at length on the necessity of reviv- 
 ing a true fervor of spirit ; for, in general, the Philippians, 
 " steadfast in the Lord," were still worthy of their Apostle, 
 and still "his dearest and well beloved brethren, his joy 
 and his crown." ^ All the deeper was his grief on real- 
 izing that this Church, so richly endowed, should be 
 disfigured by any evil features whatsoever. He gives 
 utterance to his sorrow in this touching reproach : — 
 
 " There be many, of whom I have ofttimes told you, and 
 now tell you again with tears, who walk as enemies of the 
 Cross of Christ, whose end is perdition, whose God is their 
 belly, whose glory is in their shame, who have no thought 
 for aught save earthly things. As for us, we are already 
 citizens of Heaven, and 't is there that we await the Saviour, 
 Our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall transform our body, vile 
 though it be, that it may be fashioned like unto His glori- 
 ous body, by virtue of that power whereby He is able even 
 to subdue all things unto Himself." ^ 
 
 In the closing lines of this letter Paul returns anew to 
 the divisions which were troubling the peace of the 
 Philippians. Women, as we have seen,* possessed unusual 
 influence in Macedonia, and in these quarrels, more bois- 
 terous than of serious import apparently, they took the 
 leading part ; two of them especially, Evhodia and Syn- 
 tache, had been most headstrong. Notwithstanding this, 
 the Apostle still held these Christian women in grateful 
 remembrance, for they had been among the first to em- 
 brace the Faith, thereafter zealously aiding him in his 
 ministry;^ he was not content with merely preaching 
 unity to them, he urged this labor of peace-making upon 
 all his fellow-workers in the Apostolate at Philippi, — 
 
 1 Philip, iii. 2-14. ^ jbi^., iii. 18-21. 
 
 2 Ibid., iv. 1. 
 
 * St. Paid and 11 is Missions, chap, v., § 1. 
 
 5 Philip, iv. 2, 3. • 
 
FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME. 25 
 
 upon Epaphroditus, the bearer of this letter, on Clement,^ 
 and on a number of others whose names are " written in 
 the Book of Life." In one word Paul sums up what was 
 needful to restore peace and joy to their hearts, — " mod- 
 eration," moderation in all personal claims and ambitions, 
 — self-forgetfulness and forbearance, even when one's 
 own rights were concerned; all this at the dictates of 
 charity, devotedness, and self-sacrifice. 
 
 " Whatsoever is true," he adds, " whatsoever is vener- 
 able, just, pure, endearing, and of good report, — if there 
 be any virtue or praiseworthy design, — let these fill your 
 thoughts, and the God of peace shall be with you." 
 
 In closing, Paul repeats his expressions of gratitude to 
 the Philippians, but without concealing the fact that he 
 had suspected them of having forgotten him. Where- 
 upon, with charming tact, he hastens to add, *' But doubt- 
 less it was opportunity and not memory, that failed you." 
 The arrival of Epaphroditus, however, had dissipated the 
 last cloud of misunderstanding. Of this he warmly as- 
 sures them : — 
 
 "I rejoiced in the Lord greatly when I found that now, 
 after so long a time, your friendship for me was blossoming 
 anew. You have thought of me, you were thinking of me 
 undoubtedly, but the opportunity of proving it was lacking. 
 It is not my needs that prompt me to speak thus^ for I have 
 learned to be content with whatsoever I have. I know 
 
 1 Is the Clement mentioned here that Bishop of Rome, third successor 
 of St. Peter, whose letter addressed to the Corinthians has come down to 
 us ? Ancient writers believe that it was, following the lead and probably 
 on the authority of Origen {In Jonnn., i. 29 ; Eusebius, Historia Ecclesi- 
 astira, iii. 4 ; St. Epiphanius, Adv. Hceres, xxvii. 6 ; St. Jerome, Ve Vtr. 
 Illust., 15 Adv. Jovin. i. 11). Nevertheless, there have been some very 
 serious objections raised against this identification. The Clement alluded 
 to in the epistle of St. Paul belongs to the Church of Philippi, the author 
 of the Epistle to the Corinthians to that of Rome. There is nothing to 
 indicate that before becoming Bishop of the city the latter had lived in 
 any other Christian community. Furthermore, the primitive traditions 
 speak of him as a disciple, not of St. Paul, but of St. Peter. (Tertullian, 
 Z)e Pnescript., Origen, Philoc, 22, etc.) Is it not most natural to suppose 
 that, as the name Clement was so very common at this epoch, Origen and 
 the later writers have confounded two distinct peisonages ? (See Light- 
 foot, Philippians, pp. 166 ei seq.) 
 
26 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 how to bear poverty and I know how to bear a superfluity. 
 Having tasted all, I am instructed in all, whether it be in 
 abundance or in privation. I can do all things through 
 Him that strengtheneth me. Nevertheless you have done 
 well in helping me in my afflictions. For you know, Phil- 
 ippians, that, at the beginning of my preaching among you, 
 after I had left Macedonia, no other Church had made me 
 a partaker of its goods, and I have received nothing save 
 from you alone. Twice, when at Thessalonica, you sent me 
 somewhat to minister to my needs. Not that I seek your 
 gifts, but I do desire the abundant fruits which you shall 
 reap therefrom. Now, however, I am amply provided 
 for, — yes, and in abundance. I am loaded down with 
 favors, after having received from Epaphroditus what 
 you sent me. It is an odor of goodly sweetness, an ac- 
 ceptable sacrifice to God and well pleasing to Him ; and 
 my God shall fully supply all your needs according to His 
 riches, gloriously, in Christ Jesus. Now to Our God and 
 Father be the glory unto the ages of ages. Amen." ^ 
 
 Justly proud of such a token of gratitude, the Philip- 
 pians made its contents known to such of Paul's Churches 
 as were within their reach ; and although it contained no 
 3xposition of doctrine to be compared with the teachings 
 of the greater Epistles, none the less did each one of these 
 congregations treasure this letter most devoutly ; for in 
 it they recognized anew the traits of their Apostle, the 
 same charm of nobility and generosity which had won 
 their hearts of old ; just as formerly, Paul displays that 
 jealous vigilance in preserving his independence, and yet 
 so far confides in their friendship as to accept, and rely 
 upon, their generous aid ; careful to ennoble his expres- 
 sions of obligation by the courtesy and dignity of his 
 gratefulness, yet still more anxious to divest his soul 
 of any personal feelings, self-seeking, and egoism. Ee- 
 nunciation, a joyous self-forgetfulness for the sake of the 
 brethren and for Jesus' sake, — this is the virtue he would 
 fain impress and exalt by means of this Epistle. To this, 
 it would seem, Paul seeks to reduce the whole lesson of 
 
 1 Philip, iv. 10-20. 
 
FIRST IMPRISONMENT AT ROME. 27 
 
 Christianity ; and rightly, too, since, as the Christ had 
 gone so far in His love for mankind as to annihilate Him- 
 self and die for us, so His Heart which beats within that 
 of every believing soul must evermore aspire toward the 
 same acts of self-sacrifice, the same Christlike Charity. 
 To use the very words of the Apostle, the true Christian 
 can no longer live nor " love save in the Heart of Jesus." 
 
 1 PhiHp. i. 8. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 SAINT JAMES OF JERUSALEM. 
 
 Paul never bade farewell to any one of his Churches 
 without a haunting fear of some new trial awaiting them ; 
 dissensions within the body, or some lapses either in doc- 
 trine or in the conduct of life. Better than any one else, 
 indeed, he realized that, with many of the converts, bap- 
 tism had not entirely effaced the stigmata of sin, but 
 that deep down in their hearts there still nestled a secret 
 attachment to certain dangerous errors. One reassuring 
 fact, however, was the facility with which these seeds of 
 corruption were generally rooted out, — a few words from 
 him, a letter, or a rumor of his approaching arrival generally 
 sufficed. But now that he was a prisoner, what manner 
 of harvest would be reaped from the fields bereft of the 
 master, with these foul weeds free to spread and thrive ? 
 This was the cause of his gravest anxieties while in his 
 prison cell at Caesarea. Doubtless, during these two years, 
 he still managed, by means of messages and the mission 
 work of his disciples, to keep tlie disorder within certain 
 bounds ; but where that was impossible the old spirit 
 sprang to life again, to the great peril of souls. A letter 
 written by James toward the close of this period of cap- 
 tivity leaves no doubt on this point. It shows us clearly 
 that, in the Churches scattered among Pagan lands, those 
 Christians who were of Jewish origin were everywhere 
 pushing their propaganda and dealing deadly blows to 
 the pure and undefiled teaching of the Gospel. 
 
 The end and aim of these unworthy neophytes was not, 
 as was that of the Judaizers at Jerusalem, to model the 
 new faith upon Mosaism ; indeed they seem, from their 
 intercourse with Gentiles, to have grown indifferent to 
 
SAINT JAMES OF JERUSALEM. 29 
 
 such irksome Observances ; but far from seeking a substi- 
 tute for these in the ideal of Christian perfection, they 
 sought by one stroke to weaken all morality in the con- 
 duct of life. The rebuke James addresses to them in 
 his Epistle shows to what depths they had descended, 
 even to reechoing the most impudent of the Pharisaical 
 doctrines, that one whicli reduced the sum total of right- 
 eousness to a belief in the God of Circumcision : " The 
 man who holds this faith," they said, " may sin with im- 
 punity. God does not impute it to him as a crime." ^ We 
 know how indignantly Jesus had branded such hypo- 
 crites, likening them to those whited sepulchres wliich, 
 though from without fair to behold, within hold naught 
 but " contagion, rottenness, and dead men's bones." ^ 
 
 Despite these anathemas, this outward show of right- 
 eousness so natural to the Jews continued to be a snare 
 for those among them who had not given themselves to 
 the Christ out of a full heart. The justification which 
 Paul preached, a justification springing from faith, not 
 works, became a stumbling-block to these Christians of 
 base alloy ; they regarded it as his authorization and ap- 
 proval of that depravity of morals which they yearned 
 for ; to them this was simply the easiest way imaginable 
 of making a display of honor and virtue without the 
 sacrifice of a single one of their vices. 
 
 In this and nothing else, or so they would have the 
 
 ^ According to St. Justin's testimony, this wfis the teaching of very 
 many Hellenic Jews : " Vostnetipsos decipitis, et alii quidani vobis hac in 
 re similes, qui dicant, etiam si peccatores sint, Deum tamen, modo euni 
 cognoscant, non imputaturum illis peccatum." (Dialog, cum Triph., 1-41.) 
 The arguments of those false Christians whom James had in mind were of 
 the same sort. Upon hearing Paul proclaim that man is justified by Faith 
 without the works of the Law, they jumped at the conclusion that it was 
 sufficient to believe in the Messiah and His coming, in order to be saved ; 
 and that, thereafter, they might break the whole Law, even its moral 
 precepts: " Quoniam ergo hsec opinio tunc fuerat exorta, alise apostolicae 
 epistolse Petri, Johannis, Jacobi, Judifi contra eam maxime dirigunt inten- 
 tionem, ut vehementer astruant fidem sine operibus non prodesse ; sicut 
 etiam ipse Paulus, non qualeralibet fidem, qua in Deum creditur, sed earn 
 salubrem planeque evangelicam, definivit, cujus opera ex dilectione proce- 
 dunt." (St. Augustine, De Fid. et Oper., 21.) 
 
 2 Matt, xxiii. 27. 
 
30 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 brethren believe, consisted the special revelation granted 
 to the Apostle, — this was that "freedom from the bond- 
 age of the Law " he inculcated so zealously ; of that death 
 to sin which is presupposed by this " liberty of the chil- 
 dren of God," ^ of the soul's complete regeneration and the 
 fruits of righteousness which result therefrom, — of these 
 they made not the slightest mention. 
 
 Paul had discerned this tendency, in the depths of the 
 Jewish soul, to travesty his teachings, and it was for this 
 reason that, in his letter to the Eomans, he made no dis- 
 tinctions, but launched his bitter invective against his 
 whole race : " You that bear the Jewish name, repose 
 securely upon the Law, and boast of God's favors, . . . 
 you pride yourselves on being leaders of the blind, a light 
 to those that are in darkness, instructors of the ignorant, 
 teachers of the simple and the young, possessing in the 
 Law the rule of knowledge and of truth. And notwith- 
 standing you teach others, you do not teach yourselves. 
 You, who preach that a man ought not to steal, steal your- 
 selves ; you, who say that a man should not commit adul- 
 tery, commit adultery yourselves ; you, who boast in the 
 Law, dishonor God by breaking the Law. It is because 
 of you, as saith the Scripture that the name of God is 
 blasphemed among the nations." ^ 
 
 It is easy to imagine the confusion of the Judaizers in 
 the presence of one who, with such a vigorous hand, tore 
 away their masks ; easy, too, to imagine the fresh out- 
 breaks of audacity so soon as they realized that they 
 were rid of this overmastering spirit. Hardly had the 
 Apostle disappeared from among them before the seeds 
 of immorality began to bud forth more plentifully than 
 ever; in every Christian congregation where the Jews 
 were in any force, the believers in Paul's Gospel were 
 saddened and distressed by hearing this shameless doc- 
 trine of " Faith without Works " preached from the 
 housetops. 
 
 Infecting as it did in an especial manner those 
 
 1 Rom. viii. 21. 2 i\,u n 17-24. 
 
SAINT JAMES OF JERUSALEM. 31 
 
 Churches founded by the Apostle of the Gentiles, this 
 corruption of doctrine seems scarcely to have excited the 
 alarm of the Twelve, who were dispersed in other re- 
 gions. The only one among them who was led to suspect 
 its venomous nature was James of Jerusalem ; for the 
 yearly pilgrimages brought him in touch wdth large num- 
 bers of Judaizers from Asia Minor and Greece. He was 
 in a position to note, therefore, what dangers threatened 
 the Gospel, and was the more moved thereby since the 
 faction among the converts that was thus conspiring for 
 the ruin of faith and morals, claimed that its teachings 
 were approved by the authority of Jerusalem itself.^ 
 Feeling that it was a duty demanded by his own con- 
 science, he resolved, Paul being absent, to speak, in an 
 encyclical letter and in the name of the Mother Church, 
 " as a servant of the God of Israel, but one likewise of 
 the Lord Jesus Christ." ^ Like Peter, an Apostle of the 
 Circumcision, and even more zealous than he in his heart- 
 felt attachment to the Old Law, James addresses his 
 words especially to Christians of the same blood and 
 spirit as himself : " To the Twelve Tribes that ake 
 IN THE Dispersion : Greeting." ^ 
 
 James' opening sentences are prompted by a feeling of 
 compassion for the Christian communities, whose faith he 
 longed to purify and strengthen. He realized that they 
 
 1 It will be remembered that at the assembly held in this city Peter 
 had explained and reconciled Paul's teaching concerning justiiication. 
 " God . . . giveth the Holy Spirit unto the Gentiles even as unto us : 
 He maketh no difference between them and us, having purified their hearts 
 by Faith." 
 
 2 James i. 1. 
 
 ^ This salutation, so Hebraic in its style, and other similar features of 
 the Epistle, have led Spitta and Massebieau to conclude that St, James' 
 letter is simply some document of Jewish origin and character (Spitta, 
 Der Brief des Jacobus untersucht, Gottingen, 1896; Massebieau, Revue de 
 I'histoire des religions^ novembre, decembre, 1895). The Revue Biblique 
 for October contains a fine refutation of this singular hypothesis. Catho- 
 lic exegetieal scholars are by no means alone in admitting the authenticity 
 of the Epistle of St. James ; the majority of Protestants are quite as vigor- 
 ous in their defence of it against the attacks of the Rationalists. See in 
 the Expositor for May, 1897, pp. 321 et seg., an article by Mayer, entitled 
 Authenticity of the Epistle of St, James against Harnack and Spitta. 
 
32 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 were doomed to be " the butt of various temptations," ^ 
 in a state of disquietude so oppressive to their souls that 
 the first thing necessary was to revive their drooping 
 courage. With this end in view, the Apostle reminds 
 them that suffering is a joy to the disciple of Christ, be- 
 cause he finds in the exercise of patience the trial of his 
 faith,2 and as a reward therefor " that crown of life prom- 
 ised by God to them that love Him." ^ The line of de- 
 marcation separating rich and poor was now becoming 
 daily more noticeable in the Church, and would seem to 
 be one of the principal grievances which the Apostle set 
 himself to alleviate and correct ; at all events it must 
 have been uppermost in his mind, for he reverts to it 
 constantly in this letter : — 
 
 ''Let the brother of low degree," he writes, '^ glory 
 therein, as thereby exalted ; ^ and let the rich regard [his 
 wealth] as it were a humiliation, because as the flower of 
 the grass he shall pass away. As the sun riseth with burn- 
 ing heat, the grass withereth, the flower thereof faileth, 
 and the grace of its form perisheth, so also shall the rich 
 fade away in his ways." ^ 
 
 Further on he repeats the same counsels : — 
 
 "My brethren, as you have faith in Our Lord Jesus 
 Christ [the Lord] of glory, make no distinction between 
 persons.^ For if there come into your synagogue a man 
 wearing a golden ring^ and splendid apparel, and there 
 
 1 James i. 2. 3 i]^[^ i 12. 
 
 2 Ibid., i. 2-4. 
 
 * The highest beatitude of the poor man lies in this, that by his poverty 
 and privations he shares in the sufferings of the Christ, whereby alone lie 
 possesses a glory infinitely superior to all the joys which the rich man ob- 
 tains from his wealth. 
 
 ^ James i. 9-11. 
 
 s Literally, " Have not the Faith of Our Lord Jesus Christ by making 
 respect of persons." 
 
 ] In olden days wealthy women were not the only ones that loaded 
 their fingers with rings and precious stones; in this respect the men ri- 
 valled them in such dis])lays of luxury. " Senos Charinus omnibus digitis 
 gerit, nee nocte ponit annulos, nee dum lavatur." Martial, xi. 60. Cf. 
 Lucian, Sonm., 12. 
 
SAINT JAMES OF JERUSALEM. 33 
 
 enter also some poor man in mean garments, and, taking 
 notice of him who is magnificently attired, you say to him, 
 
 * Sit thou here in a fine place ; ' and say to the poor man, 
 
 * Stand thou over there,' or ' Sit thou down here, below my 
 footstool/ is not that to make a difference in your own 
 mind between one and the other and to become judges of 
 iniquitous minds? Hearken, my dearly beloved brethren ! 
 Hath not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in 
 faith and heirs of the Kingdom which He hath promised to 
 them that love Him ? And would you despise the poor ? 
 Is it not the wealthy that oppress you ? Who^ if not they, 
 blaspheme the goodly Name [of Christ] whence your own 
 is taken ? If you fulfil the royal law, in accordance with 
 that precept of Scripture, ' Thou shalt love th}^ neighbor as 
 thyself,' you do well. But if you have regard of the con- 
 dition of persons, you commit sin, and are condemned by 
 the^law as transgressors." ^ 
 
 This misunderstanding of the great law of Christianity, 
 the law of Fraternal Charity, had sprung from the cor- 
 rupting maxims of the Judaizers. James strikes straight 
 at the roots of the evil and strives to sever them from 
 the trunk. First and foremost were the fatalistic theories 
 of certain Pharisees, who, by referring man's conduct to 
 an irresistible destiny, ^ discharged man of anything like 
 individual responsibility. One word was enough to shat- 
 ter this immoral contention : — 
 
 *^Let no man when he is tempted, say, ^I am tempted by 
 God ; ' for God, a stranger to all evil, tempteth not any 
 man, but every man under temptation is enticed and led 
 away by his own lust ; then lust, when it has conceived, 
 bringeth forth sin, and sin, once consummated, engenders 
 death." « 
 
 Another aberration of these false Christians was to 
 impose no other sondition on such as would be saved 
 except a mere acquiescence to the Word of God, without 
 
 1 James ii. 1-9. 
 
 2 Josephus, Bell. Jud., ii. viii. 14 ; Antiq. Jud., xiii. v. 9 ; xviii. i. 5, 
 
 3 James i. 13-15. 
 
34 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 a word said concerning its practice. " Unto whom might 
 they be likened in this fond delusion?" asks James: — 
 
 " To a man who considereth his natural face in a glass, 
 and who, after he hath cast his eyes upon it, goeth away and 
 straightway forgetteth what manner of man he is. So 
 he that shall have closely scrutinized the perfect law, the 
 law of liberty, and shall have persevered therein, — not 
 merely hearkening and forthwith forgetting, but doing that 
 which he hath heard, — this man shall find happiness in 
 his deed. If any one deemeth himself pious and doth not 
 bridle his tongue, but deludeth himself in his own heart, his 
 piety is vain. Pure religion and undefiled in the sight of 
 God the Father is this — to visit the fatherless and widows 
 in their afflictions, and to keep one's self unspotted from the 
 world." ^ 
 
 By these examples James clearly indicated the charac- 
 teristic notes of the true Faith ; a supernatural Grace 
 first of all, it is true, " a perfect gift coming down from 
 on High from the Father of lights," ^ regeneratmg " the 
 believer by the word of truth," ^ nevertheless, of no value 
 for salvation save on condition that this "word implanted" 
 in the soul exclude from it " all the filthiness and excesses 
 of sin,"^ in order to bring forth "the fruits of righteous- 
 ness"^ and peace and mercy. Nor does he stop there, 
 but boldly attacks the capital delusion of the Judaizers, 
 face to face : — 
 
 " My brettiren, what doth it profit any one to say that he 
 hath the Faith, if he have not works ? Can faith save him? 
 If a brother or a sister are without clothing and destitute 
 of daily bread, and one of you say unto them, * Go in peace, 
 be ye warmed and filled,' without giving them what is need- 
 ful for the body, of what profit are your words to them ? 
 Even so Faith, if it hath not works, is dead in itself." ^ 
 
 Some have professed to consider this teaching as the 
 direct antithesis of Paul's doctrine, " Ye are saved by 
 
 1 James i. 23-27. * Ibid., i.21. 
 
 2 Ibid., i. 17. 5 jbid., iii. 18. 
 
 8 Ibid., i. 18. 6 ibi(j ii i4_i7^ 
 
SAINT JAMES OF JERUSALEM. 35 
 
 Grace, by Faith, . . . and this is not won by works." ^ 
 But the contradiction is only an apparent one. It vanishes 
 as soon as we advert to the fact that, on the one hand, 
 Paul does not deny the efficacy of works to save us, except 
 to legal works, such works as man may accomplish with- 
 out the aid of Grace ; and that, on the other hand, when 
 attributing this power to Faith, he has in mind, not any 
 mere inert and sterile belief, but a power which works 
 within the soul through Charity. Justification, therefore, 
 according to both of the Apostles, is brought about in the 
 same manner, in the depths of the soul, purifying and 
 vivifying it, making it fruitful in works of righteousness 
 and sanctity. Preoccupied as he was with his longing to 
 convince the Jews of the powerlessness of their own 
 Legal Works, Paul had cited Abraham, as showing that 
 that Patriarch's justification was by Faith.^ Saint James, 
 recurring to the same example, reminds them of what 
 manner of Faith this was which was so powerful, lively, 
 and fecund that it gave birth to so heroic an act. 
 
 " Wilt thou know, vain man, that faith without works 
 is dead ? Was not our father Abraham justified by works 
 when he offered his sou Isaac upon the altar ? Seest thou 
 how faith wrought with his works and by works was his 
 faith made perfect ? ... As the body without the soul is 
 dead, so faith without works is dead also." ^ 
 
 This last sentence cast the clarifying rays of common- 
 sense upon a question which the Judaizing element had 
 befogged to the best of their ability. It disposed of it in 
 the minds of all sincere and honest thinkers. There still 
 remained the duty of healing their wounded hearts, and 
 for this task James' well known attachment to the Mosaic 
 law lent him just that air of authority which enabled him 
 to bare the infected spot and use his scalpel without fear. 
 Unflinchingly he proceeds to expose the vices of his 
 brethren of Israel, " bitter jealousies and a spirit of con- 
 
 1 Ephes. ii. 8, 9. 3 James ii. 20-26. 
 
 2 Rom. iv. J Gal. iii. 6-9. 
 
36 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 tentiousness," intemperate language, impudent claims to 
 universal dominion, of bringing all creation under the 
 sway of their "terrestrial, animal, and diabolical wis- 
 dom : " 1 sentiments so unseemly in followers of the 
 Gospel, he branded and cauterized in a manner worthy 
 of the olden Prophets : — 
 
 '' From whence come strifes and battles among jow. ? Is 
 it not because your passions wage war in your members ? 
 You are lustful, and you have naught ; you slay, and de- 
 sire ardently to possess, but without obtaining aught ; you 
 appeal to the courts, you make war and you gain naught, 
 because you ask not ; you ask and receive not, because you 
 ask amiss, that you may expend it upon your lusts. Adul- 
 terers ! ^ Know you not that the friendship of the world is 
 enmity with God ? Whosoever will be a friend of the world 
 makes himself an enemy of God." ^ 
 
 The bluntness of these words shows how completely 
 James realized his authority over Christians of his 
 own race, as one of right empowered to speak his whole 
 mind to them. It was not, however, by such displays of 
 vigor — which are, for that matter, of only occasional 
 occurrence in this letter — that he endeavored to reclaim 
 the strayed sheep of the flock ; on the contrary, even with 
 this end in view, we see him pouring forth from his heart 
 those treasures of ardent charity, with all that grace and 
 tenderness which were the fruits of his meditations on 
 the Saviour's words. The Glad Tidings seem to come 
 to life once more in his letter ; there is the same 
 simplicity about its teachings, the same charm sur- 
 
 1 James iii. 14-16. 
 
 2 The Jews regarded God as the Spouse of their race and of all human- 
 ity. Hence this exclamation : ' ' Adulterers . . . think you that the 
 Scripture sayeth in vain, ' The Spirit which God hath sent to dwell within 
 you loveth j'ou with a jealous love ' V These last words are not intended 
 to be taken as a quotation of any particular text, but rather as a concise 
 expression of that idea so variously and richly illustrated in the Scrip- 
 tures ; namely, that God, by breathing into us His Spirit, is become, as it 
 were, our Spouse ; and that as He is a jealous God, He will in no wise 
 suffer us to divide our hearts between the world and Him. 
 
 3 James iv. 1-4. 
 
SAINT JAMES OF JERUSALEM. 37 
 
 rounding its images, drawn from the fields, the lakes, 
 and the clear skies of Galilee.^ As a rule James sets 
 forth his thoughts, as did Jesus, unconstrainedly, with- 
 out caring to preserve the continuity of thought or any 
 methodical order. Here and there, however, taking 
 the Sapiential Books of Israel as his model, by some 
 striking picture he sets his particular point of morality 
 in strong relief : — 
 
 "If any one offend not by speaking, the same is a perfect 
 man and able also to bridle the whole body. Behold the 
 horses' bits; these we pat in their mouths and they obey 
 us, and thus we direct their whole body whithersoever we 
 would go. Behold also the ships, which are so great and 
 driven by fierce winds ; yet are turned about with a very 
 small helm, toward whatever direction the steersman wills 
 they should go. Even so the tongue is a little member ; 
 and yet of what great things it boasteth ! Behold how 
 great a forest a little fire may enkindle ! Yea, the tongue 
 is a fire, a world of iniquities ; though it be but one of our 
 members, it defileth the whole body, inflameth the whole 
 course of our life, and is itself inflamed by hell-fire. For 
 every species of wild beasts and birds, reptiles and creatures 
 of the sea is tamed, and hath been tamed, by the human 
 species. But the tongue no mortal can tame. 'T is an un- 
 ruly evil, full of deadly poison. By it we bless God our 
 Father, and by it we curse men made in the likeness of 
 God ; out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and curs- 
 ing. My brethren, it ought not so to be. Doth a fountain 
 send forth from the same opening sweet waters and bitter? 
 Doth a fig-tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a vine, figs ? 
 From a salty fountain cometh forth no fresh streams." ^ 
 
 This animated passage furnishes us with a key to the 
 character of James, revealing as it does the puissant 
 
 ^ How naturally in this letter James turns to his native land for the 
 images and comparisons he seeks : the hillsides, green with fig-trees, 
 vines, and olive-orchards ; the pasture lands, so fresh at dawn, but wither- 
 ing away beneath the midday sun; refreshing fountains, near neighbors 
 to salty springs ; on the soft horizon-line, the azure sea ; and the rains of 
 spring-time and of autumn, the husbandman's one hope. (James iii. 12 ; 
 i 10, 11, 6; V. 7.) 
 
 2 James iii. 2-12. 
 
38 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 cliarm of his genius, and, at the same time, the nobility, 
 the loftiness of soul, which forced all Israel to bow before 
 him. Loyalty and an inflexible uprightness are salient 
 traits of his sanctity. To this rugged ascetic, hungering 
 for righteousness and truth, it would be useless to palter 
 with belief ; prayer that was half-hearted, murmured with 
 doubting lips, would be impossible to him. " He that 
 wavereth," he would answer, " is like a wave of the sea, 
 tossed hither and thither. Let not such an one fancy that 
 he shall receive anything from the Lord : he is a double- 
 minded man, unstable in all his ways." ^ Thus, to vacil- 
 late, " to know the good and not to do it, is to sin," ^ is 
 " to lie to the truth." ^ " Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, 
 and purify your souls, ye that are half-hearted." * " Let 
 your yea be yea, and your nay, nay ! " ^ 
 
 James' first thought is to inculcate this sincerity of 
 soul, this serious view of a Christian's life, to be em- 
 braced unreservedly and without one afterthought. Like 
 Paul, as we have seen, he made no attempt to conceal the 
 fact, even from himself, that any such perfection as this is 
 " a perfect gift coming down from on High, from the Father 
 of lights, in Whom there is no variableness, neither 
 shadow of turning ; " ^ and that, therefore, to obtain it 
 we must ask for it, and '•' draw nigh to God, if we would 
 that He draw nigh unto us." ^ Hence prayer he considered 
 as the very staff of spiritual life, and to a life of prayer he 
 seeks to reduce the whole practice of Taith in these 
 closing lines of his letter : — 
 
 " Is any one among you afflicted ? Let him pray. Is 
 any merry? Let him sing canticles of joy. Is any one 
 among you sick ? Let him call in the Elders ^ of the con- 
 
 1 James i. 6-8. ^ Ibid., v. 12. 
 
 2 Ibid., iv. 17o « Ibid., i. 17. 
 8 Ibid., iii. 14. '^ Ibid., iv. 8. 
 4 Ibid., iv. 8. 
 
 s Tovs -rpeafivTepovs Trjs eKKX-qcrias. "Si quis dixerit presb3^teros Ec- 
 olesiffi, quos beatus Jacobus adducendos esse ad infirmum inunguendum 
 liortatur, non esse sacerdotes ab Episcopo ordinatos, sed aetate seniores iu 
 quavis communitate, ob idque pvoprium Extreme Unctionis ministrum non 
 esse solum sacerdotem '. anathema sit. " Concilium Tridentinum, sess. xiv., 
 De Eoctrem. Unci., can. 4. 
 
SAINT JAMES OF JERUSALEM. 39 
 
 gregation, and let them pray for him, anointing him with 
 oil in the name of the Lord ; and the prayer of Faith shall 
 save the sick, and the Lord shall comfort him, and if he hath 
 committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.^ Confess your 
 faults one to another and pray one for another, that you 
 may be healed ; the fervent prayer of the righteous availeth 
 much." 
 
 We have no means of knowing the effect produced by 
 this letter. Did James' words, so thoroughly Christian 
 in spirit, although Jewish in form, and very different 
 from what Paul had accustomed the faithful to, — did 
 this eloquent message find lodgment in their souls ? 
 Were not even the Israelites of those far distant Churches 
 more surprised than pleased at being addressed as " the 
 Twelve Tribes of the Dispersion " ? ^ on hearing Mosaism, 
 once branded by Paul as " the Law of sin and of death," 
 proclaimed anew by James, as the " perfect " ^ model of 
 Christianity, the absolute " Sovereign Law," ^ all of whose 
 commandments must be kept; and this so rigorously 
 that " to fail in one point is to be guilty of all " ? ^ Purther- 
 more, were James' words accepted abroad and invested 
 with the same authority that they bore at Jerusalem? 
 Neither Holy Scripture nor Tradition warrants us in 
 answering these questions in the afiirmative. 
 
 On the other hand, the fact most clearly indicated by 
 
 1 The Council of Trent in its 14th session, Doctrina de Sacra- 
 mento Extreme Unctionis, has commented upon these words of the 
 Apostle at length, and has fixed their interpretation. " Instituta est 
 sacra hsec Unctio infirmorum, tanquam vere et proprie sacramentum 
 Novi Testamenti, a Christo Domino nostro apud Marcum quidem insinu- 
 atum (vi. 13), per Jacobum autem apostolum, ac Domini fratrem, fideli- 
 bus commendatum ac promulgatum. Infirmatur, inqnit, quis in vobis, 
 etc." (Session xiv., Doctrina de Sacramento Extrem^e Unctionis, 
 chap. i.). 
 
 2 James i. 1. 
 
 ^ f^Sfiov reXeiov rhv tt]s ihevdepias. James i. 2-5. To the eyes of James 
 the Gospel stands forth as the completion, the perfection, of the Law. 
 He adds that it is "a Law of Liberty; " certainly not because the ancient 
 Law appeared to him as one of servitude, but because the Gospel teaches 
 us how to fulfil the older in all its perfectness, through our own free and 
 spontaneous obedience. 
 
 * Nofiov . . . fiaa-iXiKoyj James i. 25. ^ James ii. 10. 
 
40 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 these traditions is the growing influence of James in the 
 Holy City. Asceticism is held in high esteem in the East. 
 Now we have seen to what an extent James carried his 
 contempt for the body.^ The multitude were always 
 overwhelmed with awe as often as they beheld this Saint 
 pass by, — with long, untrimmed locks, barefooted, his 
 limbs wasted from fasting; or when gazing upon him 
 absorbed in prayer, kneeling or prostrate on the hard 
 ground, a(]jain reverence overmastered them : Jews and 
 Christians alike bowed their heads before this man, who 
 recalled to them the great seers of their race, not only by 
 his rugged exterior, but by his fiery speech as well. But 
 it was the common people, the lowly and the poor, always 
 so numerous in Jerusalem, who listened to him most 
 eagerly ; for he shared, to the full, their aversion for the 
 mighty men of Israel, and with unmeasured scorn 
 launched his anathemas at these leaders, branding them 
 for their corruption, their proud and haughty worship of 
 self : — 
 
 " Go to, now, ye wealthy, weep ! Howl over the miseries 
 that shall come upon you ! Your riches are tainted ; your 
 gold and silver are cankered, and the rust of them shall be 
 a witness against you, and shall devour your flesh as it were 
 by fire ! Lo ! this is the treasure which you have heaped 
 together for the last days. Behold now the hire, whereof 
 you have defrauded the laborers who have reaped down 
 your fields, crieth against you, and the cry of the reapers 
 hath reached the ears of the Lord Sabaoth. You have dal- 
 lied with pleasure on the earth, and have wantoned in 
 luxury; you have fattened yourselves, like victims for the 
 sacrifice. You have condemned, ay, killed the Just One 
 who hath not resisted you." ^ 
 
 On hearing such invectives, the emotion that thrilled 
 the throngs waxed tremendous, nor was the rage of the 
 ruling class, so fiercely scourged, any the less overpower- 
 ing. Elsewhere we have studied the characteristics of 
 
 1 St. Peter and the First Days of Christianitt/, chap. xi. 
 
 2 James v. 1-6. 
 
SAINT JAMES OF JERUSALEM. 41 
 
 this aristocracy, made up for the most part of the priestly- 
 caste.^ Ill their hands the Pontificate, auctioned off to the 
 highest bidder, became an instrument of tyranny .^ Were 
 any unfortunates in arrears with their tithes, forthwith a 
 swarm of hirelings descended upon their storehouses and 
 barns, and pillaged them, cruelly maltreating the poor 
 wight who ventured to remonstrate. Small wonder that 
 the people and the lower clergy, reduced to extremities 
 by their exactions, were united in a common hatred of 
 their oppressors.^ The following Anathema, preserved in 
 the pages of the Talmud, shows what rebellious feelings 
 were seething in their souls : — 
 
 " A bane to the land is the House of Boethos, 
 
 A curse on their wands of office 1 
 A bane to the land is the House of Hannan I 
 
 A curse on their hissing of vipers ! 
 A bane to the land is the House of Kataros I 
 
 A curse upon their plumes ! 
 A bane to the land is the House of Ismael, sons of Phabi 1 
 
 A curse upon their mailed fists ! 
 
 *' They are High Priests, their sons are Treasurers, their sons- 
 in-law Commanders, and their varlets beat the people with their 
 staves ! " * 
 
 This was doubtless some popular refrain they murmured 
 beneath their breath. But little recked the Pontiffs. 
 What mattered it to them if the lower classes chewed the 
 cud of ineffectual wrath, provided that no outbreak 
 occurred to disturb the peace and compromise them with 
 Rome ? In their eyes James appeared far more dangerous, 
 since his sanctity had won him the esteem of every upright 
 person left in Jerusalem. Even the Pharisees revered him 
 on account of his fidelity to the Law. Now, the Pharisees 
 constituted what was properly the body politic of the 
 nation ; beside them were only the Sadducees, who formed 
 merely an immoral and sceptical minority. The poHtica) 
 
 1 St. Peter, etc., chap. x. 
 
 2 Derenbourg, Ilistoire de la Palestine, p. 248. 
 
 3 Josephus, Antiq. Jud., xv. viii. 8 j ix. 2. 
 ^ Pesachim, 57 a. 
 
42 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 peril, tlieir own wounded pride, and rancorous vices, all 
 demanded the suppression of this preacher : circumstances 
 proved propitious for the Pontics' plans. 
 
 On the death of Festus, in Judea, at the beginning of 
 the year 62, Albinus was appointed by Nero to succeed 
 him. The new Procurator set out by way of Egypt, and 
 consequently took several months to reach his province. 
 In this interval the Sovereign Pontificate likewise changed 
 hands ; after deposing Joseph Kabi, Herod Agrippa in- 
 stalled in his place Annas (Hannan), son of the High 
 Priest of the same name, — a name rendered infamously 
 notorious by the condemnation and death of Our Saviour 
 during his administration. Malevolent acts of violence 
 were hereditary in that family, but Annas the younger 
 was especially distinguished among them all for his hard- 
 ness of heart and arrogant audacity. Eealizing, better 
 than any one else, how deeply James' holy life discredited 
 him and his compeers, he resolved to get rid of him. 
 Agrippa just then chanced to be away from Jerusalem; 
 Albinus, as we have seen, was still delaying his arrival ; 
 it was a unique opportunity to commit a legal murder, 
 unhindered and unopposed from the very outset. Annas 
 seized it, hastily convoked the Sanhedrin, and demanded 
 that James and some of the brethren be sentenced to be 
 stoned, as violators of the Law.^ It was easy enough to 
 reach the latter, who were apparently both poor and of 
 lowly rank, but far more difficult to lay hands on James, 
 whom the whole town revered. The account of Heges- 
 sipus, which, though full of apochryphal details,^ is based 
 on historical facts, indicates that the members of the 
 Sanhedrin, in order to execute their sentence, were con- 
 strained to lay a trap for the Apostle and take him by 
 surprise. 
 
 " It was in the Paschal season," says the ancient chroni- 
 
 1 Josephus, Antiq. Jud., xx. ix. ] ; Eusebius, Historia Ecdesiastica, ii. 
 xxiii. 
 
 2 One notableinistake is that he attributes the death of James to the 
 Pharisees. Now the Pharisees composed the majority of the people, the 
 masses j and they, as we have seen, were deeply devoted to the Apostle. 
 
SAINT JAMES OF JERUSALEM. 43 
 
 cler ; " they conducted James out upon the terraces of the 
 Temple and urged him to dissuade the people, gathered in 
 the Porches, from following after the crucified Jesus. 
 
 " ' Why do you question me concerning Jesus, the Son 
 of Man ? ' he cried in a loud voice. ' He is seated in 
 Heaven, at the right hand of the Great Power of God, 
 and He shall come upon the clouds of heaven ! ' 
 
 " ' Hosannah to the Son of David ! ' was the response of 
 the multitude. 
 
 " * We have done ill,' the Sanhedrin members muttered 
 among themselves, ' by bringing down on ourselves this 
 testimony to Jesus; let us go up thither and cast him 
 down below, that so the terrified mob may believe in 
 him no longer.' 
 
 " ' Oh ! Oh ! the Just One himself has gone mad ! ' they 
 began to shout ; and, hastily mounting the terrace, they 
 threw him headlong down upon the pavements of the 
 Porches below. 
 
 " James did not die at once, but drawing himself up 
 upon his knees he repeated that prayer, the prayer of his 
 Master upon the Cross, ' Lord God, our Father, I beseech 
 Thee, forgive them, for they know not what they do ! ' 
 
 " The Scribes' only reply was the death-cry, ' Stone him ! 
 Stone this James the Just !' and they began to hail mis- 
 siles on his devoted head. 
 
 "As they fell upon him, a priest of the Eechabite family ^ 
 
 1 The origin and history of the Eechabites is wrapped in obscurity. 
 Are these ascetics, — Kenites as they were by birth (1 Par. ii. 55), — to be 
 considered as Israelites ? or were they merely affiliated with them ? and, if 
 so, to what degree ? It is hard to give a precise answer. From the report 
 given us by Jeremy (xxxv. 7), the following rules had been given them by 
 Jonadab, son of Rechab: "You shall not drink of wine, neither you nor 
 your sons forevermore. You shall not build houses, you shall not sow 
 grain, you shall not plant vines, neither shall you possess them, but you 
 shall dwell in tents all the days of your life." Taken together, these pre- 
 cepts present a picture of some tribe living in the open, but bound by 
 vows to lead a patriarchal life. When the invasion of Nabuchodonosor 
 (598 B. c.) forced them to take refuge in Jerusalem, they were quartered 
 in the Porches of the Temple, where the disciples of Hanan, son of Jig- 
 dalia, were leading a life very like their own (Jer. xxxv. 4). The Recha- 
 bites seem to have been attached for a long period of time to the Sanctuary 
 of Israel, and to have dwelt there as servers of the priests. On the return 
 
44 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 attempted to stop them. ' What are you doing ? ' he said ; 
 * see, the Just One is praying for you ! ' 
 
 •' But a fuller who stood by swung the mallet he used 
 in fulling cloth, and brought it down upon his head. 
 Thus was the Apostle martyred." ^ 
 
 This murder roused the indignation of even the Jews 
 of Jerusalem, and it was precisely the strict observers of 
 the Law who displayed the deepest displeasure, for James 
 was their boast. Many of them sent despatches secretly 
 to King Agrippa, begging him to curb Annas' tyranny 
 and prevent the recurrence of such deeds of violence ; 
 others sought the ear of the new Governor, whose com- 
 pany they joined as soon as he left Alexandria for Judea. 
 On hearing their report, how, without his assent and in 
 defiance of his rights, the Sanhedrin had been assembled 
 in judicial council, Albinus sent the Pontiff an angry and 
 threatening letter ; but it came too late for Annas to feel 
 its full effect, as he had already been deposed by Agrippa, 
 and Jesus, the son of Damnseus, appointed in his stead. 
 The pontificate of Annas had lasted but three months.^ 
 
 This satisfaction accorded to popular indignation did 
 not suffice, however, to banish the troubles and anxieties 
 of Jerusalem. A belief that God would avenge the Saint 
 was firmly held by the people ; accordingly, as soon as 
 war broke out in the land, many regarded it as the be- 
 ginning of the dreaded punishment.^ Indeed, did not the 
 whole condition of affairs in the Holy City demand the 
 interposition of the Arm of Judgment ? Besides the cor- 
 rupt magistrates, there were impostors of every descrip- 
 tion who kept the masses in a perpetual fever of rebel- 
 lion ; the Zealots, especially, sowed terror in their path. 
 Festus had repressed them, granting no quarter and no 
 mercy ; but their bands, once scattered and disseminated 
 
 from captivity we find them there still (1 Paral., ii. 55. Cf. Jerem. xxxv. 
 19), and from Hegesippus' testimony, which appears most plausible in this 
 particular, we learn that in the first century some of these ascetics were 
 still to be encountered there. 
 
 1 Eusebius, Hist or ia Ecclesiastica, i. xxiii. 
 
 2 Josephus, Antiq. Jud., xx. ix. 1. 
 
 3 Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., ii. xxiii. 
 
SAINT JAMES OF JERUSALEM. 45 
 
 over the country, could not be easily captured and de- 
 stroyed ; beaten in one place, they soon appeared else- 
 where. Albinus did not long continue this thankless 
 task ; less upright than his predecessor, he preferred to 
 shut his eyes to the enterprises of these brigands ; worse 
 still, he made them pay for his tacit connivance.^ 
 
 In this state of demoralization, what could unhappy 
 Jerusalem do, save gaze with horror into the abyss which 
 threatened to engulf her people, shuddering at its unknown 
 depths ? Toward the end of this same year (62), a fore- 
 boding clamor began to make itself heard within the walls. 
 A peasant named Jesus, son of Hannan, had come up to 
 the Feast of the Tabernacles : like another Jeremiah, he 
 began of a sudden to cry out in the Temple : — 
 
 " Oh, Voice from the East ! Oh, Voice from the West ! 
 Voice of the four winds ! A Voice crying out against Je- 
 rusalem and the Temple ! A Voice crying out against the 
 married men and the married women ! A Voice crying 
 out against the whole people ! " 
 
 Night and day he rushed through the streets repeating 
 the same anathemas. Certain men in authority, weary of 
 hearing his maledictions, caused him to be arrested and 
 whipped. He said nothing, asked no mercy, but contin- 
 ued his melancholy cries as before. Such hardihood dis- 
 concerted the magistrates ; fearing lest this voice might 
 be from God, they conducted Jesus to the Eoman Gov- 
 ernor, who ordered that he be scourged till the skin was 
 flayed from his bones. The man made no appeal, shed 
 not a tear, but, at each stroke, repeated in pitiful tones, 
 " Ah-h ! Ah-h ! Jerusalem ! " 
 
 Albinus asked him who he was, whence he came, and 
 what was the reason of his cries. No answer, save his 
 wonted song of lamentation. 
 
 " He is insane," said the Governor, and bade them let 
 him go. 
 
 Thus, until the siege, Jesus, son of Hannan, continued 
 his wails, speaking to no one, making no complaint when 
 
 1 Josephus, Antiq, JucL, xx. ix. ; Bell. Jud., ii. xiv. 1. 
 
46 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 maltreated, nor even thanking such as gave him some- 
 thing to eat. On festival days his cries were redoubled 
 in strength, although his voice never grew hoarse. As 
 soon as the city was blockaded, he proceeded on his 
 rounds on top of the walls, chanting "Woe to the city! 
 Woe to the Temple ! Woe to the people ! " till at last he 
 added , " Woe to me ! " and fell killed by a stone hurled 
 from a catapult.^ 
 
 The destruction, foretold by this strange seer in 62 was 
 not to befall them until eight years later; but nothing 
 thereafter could stay its approach ; for, with James, the 
 last bulwark that stood between them and Divine Justice 
 had fallen. None of the Apostles, indeed, came thither 
 to replace " the brother of the Lord," ^ at the head of the 
 Mother Church. Even the Christian community he left 
 to persecutions and trials was soon forced to flee. Jeru- 
 salem, now abandoned to the wrath of Heaven, was about 
 to suffer the penalty for that Blood Divine which she 
 had called down " upon herself and upon her children." ^ 
 
 1 Josephus, Bell. Jud., vi. v. 3. 
 
 2 Gal. i. 19. 
 
 8 Matt, xxvii. 25. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. 
 
 While Jerusalem was stilling in its bosom the last 
 germs of life and the only hope of salvation left to it, 
 Rome was eagerly propagating the Faith which Paul had 
 been commissioned to spread throughout the Gentile 
 world. His confinement afforded him long hours of soli- 
 tude and silence ; and, in these seasons of calm, the deeper 
 meanings of the teachings of Jesus were revealed to him. 
 All that is most lofty in the theology of the Incarnation 
 is, indeed, founded upon the letters which Paul wrote at 
 this time ; they may therefore be rightfully regarded as 
 the fruit of these years of captivity, when God permitted 
 men to fetter the limbs of the Apostle, but only with the 
 knowledge that thus his soul would be given a freer flight 
 toward these loftier Revelations which were to be allotted 
 him. This access of Heavenly light was destined, all in 
 good time, to dissipate the gloom which was then threat- 
 ening to enshroud the churches founded by Paul. 
 
 We have just seen how deeply James was alarmed at 
 these perils to the Faith, and how he did his best to avert 
 them ; but he was acquainted with only a few of them, 
 and those the least formidable. The darkest clouds were 
 not those that lowered over Jerusalem, but in far-off Asia, 
 the last scene of Paul's ministry. In this region the dog- 
 matic questions so hotly disputed by Christians and 
 Judaizers — the utility of " Observances " and " Salvation 
 through Faith " — seem to have been regarded as of 
 secondary interest. These men's minds were keenly 
 absorbed in a very different spectacle : it was the awaken- 
 ing of Philosophy to the fact that a new Faith was born, 
 and, thereafter, its efforts were to draw it within its own 
 
48 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL, 
 
 sphere, to incorporate it in its own system, in a word, to 
 absorb it, as it had done with so many Pagan mythologies. 
 For the first time cahn and sceptical reason was brought 
 face to face with the Gospel, and at once opened a con- 
 flict which is destined to last as long as the pride of 
 man shall endure. 
 
 The Roman province of Asia proved a propitious field 
 for such a contest, for it was the ancient Ionia, the 
 mother of Thales and Heraclitus, famed of old for its 
 curiosity concerning intellectual questions, eager for 
 some new thing, and prompt to forge new fancies from 
 their ov/n chimerical dreams. Phrygia, a near neigh- 
 bor, fostered its own grosser Mysteries among them, — 
 the worship of Cybele and Sabazius, degrading all attri- 
 butes of divinity to the creative forces of Nature. Added 
 to these hereditary influences, there was the never-ceasing 
 seductiveness of foreign theories, brought with them by 
 the visitors who were attracted thither by the prosperity 
 of the country, and who came from the most widely 
 separated regions, from Greece and Alexandria and Judea 
 and the far East. The Phrygian sects of the succeeding 
 century give us some notion of the filthiness which 
 frothed from this ferment of foreign mixture ; never 
 perhaps has the madness of lubricity been carried to 
 such an excess.^ 
 
 In the epoch with which we are concerned, the nas- 
 cent contagion had not as yet worked such havoc as it 
 did later on. Undoubtedly it had already tainted the 
 conduct of life, but its flrst care was to lead men's minds 
 astray. The wind of Error which was rising over Paul's 
 flocks still stirred only the heights above ; yet it was 
 undermining, and, indeed, bade fair to overthrow, the 
 
 1 ** Omitto Cataphiygas, Ophitas, Borboritas et Manichreos : nota enim 
 jam hsec humanpe calamitatis vocabula sunt. Quis unquam Passaloryncitas 
 et Ascodrobos et Astotyritas, et csetera magis portenta.quam nomina in 
 aliqiia parte Romani orbis audivit ? Anti([uai stultitioe usque hodie manet 
 vesticria." St. Jerome, Comment, in Epist. ad Galat., i. ii., prooem. ; cf. 
 St. Eijipbaiiius, xlviii. 14 ; xlix. 1, 2 ; Philaster, 74-75 ; Proidestinatus, 
 lib. i., passim {Patrol. Lat., Migne, vol. liii. p. 588 et seq.). 
 
THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. 49 
 
 loftiest teachings of the Apostle, those which he had 
 most at heart, because by them he proclaimed Jesus to 
 be infinitely raised above all creatures, — God, even as 
 is the Father, in Whose bosom He liveth forevermore. 
 
 Under what form did the new Heresy attack this 
 primordial dogma of Christianity ? 
 
 To help us to divine the answer, we have only a few 
 allusions, certain significant words in Saint Paul's Epis- 
 tles, but principally the doctrinal exposition which the 
 Apostle used opposing it. The main point which these 
 various indications settle beyond all question is, that 
 the errors elaborated by the Gnostics of the following 
 ages were already recognizable in their germs here in 
 the Christian communities of Ephesus and Colossse. 
 
 As the basis of all these fancies we find the same 
 peculiar propensities, the same objects in view, the same 
 aberrations misleading them. " Whence cometh Evil ? " ^ 
 To this query, which has ever been a torturing one for 
 Reason, left to its own powers to solve, what was the 
 answer ? Neither suffering nor sin could emanate from 
 an Infinite Being, good both in Its essence and in the 
 plenitude of Its powers. Their only alternative was to 
 invent, as opposed to God, some adverse principle, eter- 
 nal and independent, which limits and impairs His 
 almighty Attributes. This ill-omened part the Gnostics 
 assigned to Matter, which they represented, sometimes 
 as the principle of inertia and death, or, again, as the 
 leaven of corruption. The Dualism of the Persians 
 appears at the very core of their speculations, in less 
 striking prominence, doubtless, than in the religious 
 doctrines of Iran, but originating from them in all 
 likelihood. From the same source it would seem they 
 borrowed another theory of equal importance to Gnos- 
 ticism, the chain of Intermediaries between God and 
 the creature, which they multiplied ad infinitum, in 
 
 1 "Languens enim (quod et nunc multi, et maxime hseretici) circa mali 
 quffistionem. Unde malum? .. ." Tertullian, ^(/y. il/araone/w, i. 2. Qt 
 De Prcescript., 7 ; Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica, v. xvii. 
 
 4 
 
50 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 order to explain how a Being, essentially good and pure, 
 could communicate with a world stained by sin. To solve 
 this problem they conceived the Deity as outpouring 
 itself in a succession of Emanations, after each one of 
 them evaporating and vanishing more and more. Thus 
 the gulf between the infinite and finite is bridged over, 
 while the disproportion gradually diminishes, until it is 
 so far lessened that a point of contact between the two 
 becomes possible, and creation begins its work.^ 
 
 My only object in referring here to these parent notions 
 of Gnosticism is in order to make more striking by con- 
 trast the Theology which the Apostle urged in opposition ; 
 for far be it from me to attribute any such complete body 
 of doctrines to the Heretics whom Saint Paul had in mind. 
 There was no leader among them capable of condensing 
 the mass of floating ideas then current and giving them 
 his name ; each one was blown hither and thither by his 
 own doubts, and though it is true that a current was 
 forming which was dragging their minds toward the same 
 abyss, this was simply because the same influences were 
 wafting them along. 
 
 These influences, as we have seen, had their rise for the 
 most part in certain Oriental dogmas imported by Pagan 
 philosophers who were imbued with them, and who were 
 flocking from every direction into Ionia. Another source 
 of error was their frequent contact with certain Israelites, 
 half traders, half missionaries, who hawked their wares 
 and their doctrines at the same time, the latter a strange 
 hodge-podge of truth and falsehood. As in the time of 
 Jesus, these men " compassed land and sea merely to make 
 proselytes twofold worthier of Gehenna than they them- 
 selves." 2 The most active among them were the fanatical 
 followers of Mosaism, the so-called Judaizers, whose tac- 
 tics we are already familiar with. Paul knew them only 
 too well. But there were others at work propagating 
 
 1 See Matter, Histoire Critique dn Gnosticisime ; Baur, Christliche GnO' 
 sis ; Lipsius' article on Gnosticisimus in Ersch und Gruber ; Mansel, The 
 Gnostic Heresies. 
 
 3 Matt, xxiii. 15. 
 
THE EPISTLE TO TEE COLOSSIANS. 51 
 
 chimeras analogous to those we have been considering ; 
 these they had borrowed principally from a sect known 
 to us already.^ I allude to the Essenes. 
 
 From the very outset the authority of these ascetics 
 had been great in Israel, and it does not appear that the 
 new-born Christianity had in any wise weakened it. From 
 the shores of the Dead Sea,^ where they still dwelt, their 
 doctrines were being continually spread abroad. We 
 cannot pretend to go into details, but one thing is sure, — 
 that in many points these doctrines were in harmony with 
 the tendencies of Gnosticism. Thus, though it is nowhere 
 expressly stated, we can assert with certainty that both 
 teachings presuppose similar views as to the pernicious 
 part played by Matter, as well as the existence of certain 
 " Intermediary Beings " between God and man. 
 
 " The Essene, indeed, was not content, like the com- 
 mon run of Jews, merely to be exact in the Observances of 
 the Law;^ he outdid them all in rigorousness, going so 
 far as to put marriage under the ban ; ^ not satisfied with 
 the simple distinction between clean and unclean meats, 
 he abstained from wine, oil, and the flesh of animals.^ 
 Evidently this strictness had no other object save the 
 emancipation of the soul from the senses and from mat- 
 ter, the reputed source of all evil.^ 
 
 On the other hand, the Essene, like the Gnostic, 
 plumed himself on the possession of superior wisdom, 
 
 1 See The Christ, the Son of God, vol. i. chap. i. 
 
 '^ Their principal communities were located on the banks of this sea 
 (Plin}'-, Historia Naturalis, v. 15 ; Synesius, Dio 3), but they were to be 
 found likewise in many towns throughout Judea (Josephus, Bell. Jud., ii. 
 viii. 4. Philo, Fragm., p. 632). Although we have no testimony to prove 
 their presence among the Jews of the Dispersion, there is not the slightest 
 doubt that even among these their influence was felt. See Lightfoot, 
 Colossians, pp. 91 et seq. 
 
 3 Josephus, Bell. Jud., ii. viii. 5-12. 
 
 4 Philo, Fragm., p. 633 ; Josephus, Bell. Jud., ii. viii. 2 ; Pliny, His- 
 toria Naturalis, v. 15. 
 
 ^ Josephus, Bell. Jud., ii. viii. 3-5. 
 
 ^ For the same reason, the Essenes refused to believe in the Resurrec- 
 tion of the Body, a doctrine held by the Pharisees (Josephus, Bell. Jud., 
 ii. viii. 11). The soul imprisoned in its fleshly tabernacle is set free there- 
 from by death, that it may survive alone, transfigured forevermore. 
 
52 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 shared exclusively by a few privileged ones. " He has 
 the same pride of caste, together with a jealous anxiety," 
 says the historian Josephus, " to reserve to the chosen 
 adepts the Books of the Sect and the Names of the An- 
 gels." ^ What are we to understand by this angelical 
 nomenclature, unless the allusion be to some system 
 of Emanations analogous to the £o7is of Gnosticism, a 
 chain of superior beings keeping up a constant communi- 
 cation between heaven and earth ? 
 
 Such fancies germinated spontaneously in the minds of 
 the Jews, accustomed by their belief to conceive of a plu- 
 rality of persons in the Divinity. Indeed their inspired 
 Books disclose, under the name of " Wisdom," a God ex- 
 isting within God from the beginning, assisting at every 
 creative act, and finding Its delight in dwelling among 
 the children of men. This doctrine was preserved in 
 its purity by the orthodox schools ; for the Scribes, sub- 
 stituting for the term "Wisdom" that of Memera, tlie 
 Word, the Word of God, still taught the same dogma, 
 only under a more expressive form.^ This, however, was 
 not at all the case in profane lands. At Alexandria, 
 notably, Philo so far altered the truth as to travesty the 
 Word by making it a secondary God, the mere image of 
 the iirst, separate and distinct from the Almighty, and in 
 everything inferior to Him.^ 
 
 It is easy to imagine what food these speculations, com- 
 ing from famous schools, must have furnished for the 
 doubters among the disciples in Asia, half Christian, half 
 Theosophists as they were. Even more surely tlian did 
 the ascendency which the Orient and the Essenes wielded 
 over them, such teachings led them insensibly into con- 
 founding their Christian Faith with the philosophical 
 vagaries of the period, into relegating the Supreme Being 
 into the realms of inaccessible mystery, till finally they 
 raised the question whether Jesus, as Mediator between 
 
 ^ Josephus, Bell. Jud.y ii. viii. 7. 
 
 2 See The Christ the Son of God, vol. i. App. ii., The " Word " of Sr. 
 John. 
 
 2 Philo, De Con/us. Ling., 28, Quod Deus sit immut., 6, etc. 
 
THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. 53 
 
 the world and God, did not hold this office as a being of 
 secondary rank, more human than divine. 
 
 Paul had foreseen the speedy development of these 
 errors in the Churches of Asia, for they were already in 
 process of fermentation at the time he was forced by the 
 rioters to quit Ephesus. Fervent as these Christian com- 
 munities were when he left them, his clear eye perceived 
 that they would always fall an easy prey to the seduc- 
 tions which he had had to vanquish as a preliminary to 
 their foundation, — their fondness for Magic and the old 
 national Mysteries, but most of all, this infiltration of 
 Jewish and Alexandrine doctrines. On the occasion of 
 his last visit to the shores of Miletus, these bodeful mists 
 had seemed to him more dense than of old, more ominous 
 than ever; for to the Elders of the Churches, who thronged 
 about him, he spoke of naught save of the approaching 
 ravages in their flocks, and of doctors raised up in the 
 very midst of the faithful to spread the dreaded conta- 
 gion.i And, accordingly, the apparition of a Heresy 
 endowed with both form and body, was not likely to 
 surprise him now. 
 
 Accounts of it were brought to him while at Eome by 
 Epaphras, the Apostle of the valley of the Lycus. From 
 Colossse, his native town, this pious believer exercised a 
 sort of Patriarchate over the Christian communities round 
 about,2 and was chosen by them, as soon as Paul's impris- 
 onment became known, to go and comfort him, or if need 
 be, lend him aid. Epaphras fulfilled this mission with 
 such devotion that Paul calls him " my fellow-prisoner in 
 Christ Jesus." ^ Was this intended for a mere figure of 
 speech, in praise of his assiduity in the Apostle's service, 
 or did he really, owing to some act of excessive zeal, enjoy 
 the honor of sharing his prison and his chains ? No pre- 
 cise answer to this question can be gathered from the 
 sacred text, but so much is clearly evidenced therein: 
 
 1 Acts XX. 29-30. 
 
 2 See St. Paul and His Missions, chap. x. 
 
 3 Philem. 23. 
 
54 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 Paul's deep attachment to this disciple, and his delight at 
 having him near him as a comforter and help. 
 
 Living in such intimacy with him, there was every 
 opportunity for Epaphras to give a full account of the 
 state of his brethren in Asia, especially of the Colossians, 
 whose actual pastor he seems to have been. He described 
 to him " their faith in Christ Jesus, their charity toward 
 the Saints," " a charity altogether of the spirit ; " ^ but at 
 the same time he spoke plainly of the errors which 
 threatened them. We have just been studying this per- 
 nicious compound of Alexandrine fantasies and Judaic 
 rigorism. In Colossie ^ many were being carried by these 
 chimeras to the heights of folly, not stopping at any 
 distinction between clean and unclean food, but going so 
 far as to deny the body its legitimate rights.^ Further- 
 more, by exalting and disfiguring the office of the Angels, 
 they made them the mediators between God and man,* 
 thereby detracting from the glory due to the Saviour 
 alone. Paul was cut to the quick by this attack on what 
 to him was the dearest thing on earth, the Divine Power 
 of Jesus. Eealizing fully how pressing was the danger 
 of this new enticement, the Apostle resolved to write to 
 the Colossians without delay. Accordingly he summoned 
 Timothy,^ and to him he dictated a short Epistle, over- 
 flowing with the one thought which was filling his soul 
 more and more, — the Christ is all in all ; all things are 
 through Him, for Him, in Him : — 
 
 " He is the image of the invisible God, born before all 
 creatures,^ for by Him were all things created in the heavens 
 
 1 Coloss. i. 4-8. 
 
 2 The foremost abettors of heresy seem to have been Israelites, for amid 
 their vagaries they mingle certain Legal Ordinances ; these they present as 
 a practical consequence of their teaching ; with this idea they earnestly 
 inculcated the observance of certain Jewish Feasts, New Moons, the Sab- 
 bath, and even Circumcision as well (Coloss. ii. 13-16). As we have seen 
 elsewhere, the Jews were very numerous in the valley of Lycus. St. Paul 
 and His Missions, chap. x. 
 
 3 Coloss. ii. 21-23. 4 Ibid., ii. 18. ^ Ibid., i. 1. 
 
 6 HpwTOTo/cos, properly speaking, "the first-born." This was another 
 Messianic title which the Jews had borrowed from Psalm Ixxxviii. 28: 
 
THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS, 55 
 
 and on the earth, things visible and invisible, the very- 
 Thrones, Principalities, Dominations ; all were created by 
 Him and for Him. He is before all things, and all things 
 subsist in Him.^ He is the Head of the body of the Church, 
 the origin, the first-born from among the dead, that in all 
 things His place might be the first ; for it has so pleased 
 the Father that all fulness should dwell in Him, and that, 
 having pacified by the Blood of His Cross all that is on 
 earth, as well as that which is in Heaven, He should recon- 
 cile all things by Him and in Him." ^ 
 
 The fundamental idea of the Epistle to the Colossians 
 is to be found in these few lines. Six years later, writing 
 to the Corinthians, Paul merely repeats this under an 
 abridged form : " There is but one Lord Jesus Christ, by 
 Whom are all things and we by Him." ^ Here he is set- 
 ting forth the doctrine simply, and as God had seen fit to 
 develop it before his eyes up to that date, but just as 
 fully as was necessary at this critical moment in order to 
 strengthen the faith of the Asiatic Christians. In opposi- 
 tion to any " Intermediary Beings," independent of the 
 Christ, such as their fancies were picturing as links be- 
 tween Heaven and earth, Paul holds up the one and only 
 Eedeemer, Source of Grace and Principle of all super- 
 
 *'Et ego primocrentium ponam ilium/' Whereby they meant to indicate, 
 at one and the same time, that the Christ, in so much as He is the Word, 
 is anterior to all creation, and accordingly is Lord of all. Engendered 
 before the beginning of time, in Himself He partakes of all things apper- 
 taining unto the Father, all that He is. But it is not simply due to His 
 title as only Son and Heir of the Father that He is Sovereign of the uni- 
 verse; this He is likewise, in virtue of the active part which He has taken 
 in Creation itself. Through Him as the First Cause, united with the 
 Father, the moving Principle of all Creation, everything has been created 
 by Him, in Heaven and on Earth, the spiritual world as well as the ma- 
 terial ; all things have been subjected unto Him, even the celestial beings 
 themselves, — Thrones, Dominations, Principalities, Powers. He is the 
 first, and He shall be the last, of all things ; and since everything pro- 
 ceedeth from Him, everything shall revert unto Him, as unto its supreme 
 End. 
 
 1 Th. irdvra iv avr^ avviffT-nKev. To Creation, so manifold in its aspects, 
 He gives that coherence which makes it a compact whole, exhibiting a 
 Divine order and harmony, in a word, the Cosmos. 
 
 2 Coloss. i. 15-20. 8 1 Cor. viii. 6. 
 
56 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 natural life, whether for Angels or for men, Jesus, the 
 only Son of God, the Son of His Love, begotten before 
 the world, in Whom overflows the fulness of the Divine 
 Being. This fulness of the Deity, this " Pleroma," ^ to 
 use the shibboleth of Gnosticism, is not relegated to the 
 unknown and unknowable, far away, beyond some gulf 
 fixed between God and man. No ! this plenitude dwells 
 corporeally in Jesus. It is precisely from this Divinity 
 of the Word Incarnate that every creative act proceeds ; 
 not after the fashion of luminous rays, which lose their 
 power according to the murkiness of the clouds they must 
 penetrate, but bursting forth in a splendor unquenchable 
 and remaining ever divinely the same, no matter how 
 great the distance or what gloomy chasms are to be 
 crossed. The action of the Creator-Christ is direct, im- 
 mediate. Universal Lord, He is all in all, as mighty 
 in the least of beings as in the greatest. Thus, then, 
 we are in touch with God through the Christ, for this 
 Christ is supreme God in Whom dwells the divine 
 " Pleroma." Between the Infinite and us there is no 
 intermediary. 
 
 And as Jesus is Author of all Creation, so is He also 
 Author of our Eedemption, of the reconciliation of earth 
 and Heaven, the Blood of His Cross having effaced the 
 sin of man. For this stupendous Deed He alone was suffi- 
 cient ; or, rather. He and only He was capable of it, be- 
 cause it required a person at once Divine and human.^ 
 What could the Angels accomplish towards this ? ^ Why 
 try to shackle and impede the Work Divine, as some mis- 
 guided minds would have them ? These latter are always 
 in Paul's thoughts ; but only that he may show the clearer 
 how they are vanquished by the Christ, despoiled of all 
 
 1 The irK-fipcafia of which St. Paul is speaking of (Coloss. i. 19) is not 
 merely the sum total of powers and attributes of the Divinity, it is the 
 Divine Nature, the Essence itself in its fulness. 
 
 2 Coloss. ii. 11-14. 
 
 * In the epistles of this period we find no trace of the Eons of Gnosti- 
 cism. As yet heresy knew no other beings save the hierarchy of Angels 
 revered by the Jews, and these they made use of to suit their fanciful 
 vascaries. 
 
THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. 57 
 
 power, driven like vile rabble before His triumphant 
 chariot.^ 
 
 This theology of the Incarnation formed a body of doc- 
 trine vast enough to meet the enemy at every point and 
 call a halt to Error. It only remained to put it into a form 
 which would be acceptable to the Christian communities 
 which he had not evangelized personally, nor even met 
 face to face.2 He begins adroitly, by felicitating the Co- 
 lossians on the fruits which the Word of Life was produc- 
 ing unceasingly among them, adding, however, that ever 
 since Epaphras had described their state of mind to him, 
 he had not ceased praying and beseeching for them " all 
 wisdom, all spiritual understanding, that their conduct 
 likewise may be worthy of God." ^ By this he desires to 
 point out in veiled words that their faith was in need of 
 purification, or at least of being forearmed against the 
 lowering danger. He had paved the way for this from 
 the outset, by that vivid picture of the Incarnation, 
 wherein, as we have just seen, he had drawn in a few 
 broad strokes his whole ideal of the Christ, His Godhead 
 and universal Sovereignty. 
 
 After having briefly enunciated the Faith in which they 
 had been founded, Paul adjures them to remain steadfast ^ 
 therein, and close their eyes to all such visionaries as 
 would lead them astray. One of his prime grievances 
 against these innovators is the disdainful egoism of their 
 teachings. Like all Gnostics, they assumed to be the 
 sole possessors of real learning, of unfathomable wisdom. 
 To meet this sectarian spirit, Paul exalts the universality 
 of the Gospel. This mystery of the Christ which he had 
 been charged to preach, this he proclaims to all mankind 
 of whatsoever station : " exhorting every man, instructing 
 every man, in all wisdom, that we may present every 
 man perfect in Jesus Christ." ^ " Why, then, should these 
 haughty thinkers reserve their ideas of perfection to the 
 
 1 Col OSS. ii. 15, 'ESety^artcrei' ; these vanquished and captive foes He 
 parades before the eyes of mankind, as it were in a triumphal procession. 
 
 2 Ibid., ii. 1. * Ibid., i. 23. 
 
 3 Ibid., i. 9-10. 5 Ibid., i. 26-28. 
 
58 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 few initiated alone ? The treasures of knowledge, which 
 they are forever boasting of, are all to be found in a 
 knowledge of the Christ, in Whose eyes philosophy has 
 but a subsidiary value, while the heart enlightened by 
 Faith is everything. Now not alone the Greek and the 
 Jew, but even those most devoid of culture, Barbarians, 
 Scythians, — all are called unto this one Faith.^ Noth- 
 ing indeed could be more opposed to the Gospel teaching 
 than to make it the portion of a few chosen souls ; for, if 
 it be an eternal truth that the fulness of knowledge is, as 
 it were, the very secret and mysterious treasury of the 
 Christ,^ then it follows that in Him this Mystery of Wis- 
 dom must ever be accessible to all. 
 
 Still more vehemently does the Apostle reproach this 
 Heresy, because it would bring the heavenly teachings of 
 Jesus down to the level of those philosophical dreams 
 which Greece and the Orient were never weary of weav- 
 ing, treating them as they would any one of their own base- 
 less theories, and as though they were as perishable as the 
 individuals from whom they might emanate. Concerning 
 the character of this new attack, Paul is neither to be de- 
 ceived, nor does he hesitate to give it its true title. It is 
 no longer a question of faith cajoled or wandering of its 
 own will astray, but of a " Philosophy" ^ in revolt against 
 the Gospel, and, in its assaults, borrowing its weapons 
 from all her foes : " from human traditions and vain de- 
 ceits ; " '^ " from Judaism of the baser features ; " ^ " from 
 the shadow " of that Truth which in Jesus has taken on a 
 
 1 Coloss. iii. 11. 
 
 2 01 drjaavpol rrjs (Tcocpias Kol yudlxrecos d7r6Kpv(f)Oi, Coloss. ii. 3. 'AttS- 
 Kpv(pos is a favorite expression among the Gnostics, as for that matter, are 
 many other terms employed in this Epistle : aocpia, (pus, (tk6tos, irX-fipufia, 
 yuSxrisXo'^, r4\€iov, k. t. A. Apocrypha was a name given to the esoteric 
 writings of their sect for which they claimed a mysterious and irresistible 
 authorit}^ (St. Augustine, Contra Faust., xi. 2). 
 
 ^ Coloss. ii. 8. 'O (TvAaycoycav dia tt]5 (pi\ocro(plas. 
 
 * Ibid. Kfvrjs dirdT7]S Kara r^v irapaSoaiv ruv dudpcaircov. 
 
 5 Ibid. Ta o-TOixera, literally, " the letters of the alphabet," here sig- 
 nifies rudimentary instruction. A sort of preparation for the reception of 
 the truth. Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, vi. 8 ; Tertullian, Adv. 
 Marcion., v. 19. 
 
THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. 59 
 
 bodily form.i To the fanatical Israelite bred in Mosaism 
 Paul had proclaimed redemption and justification through 
 the Christ, inward and entire redemption and justification 
 such as no legal practices could confer on him. To the 
 Israelitish Philosopher, on the contrary, while still attrib- 
 uting some natural virtue to Circumcision, abstinence, the 
 Sabbath, and the religious festivals of his race, he declares 
 that the same Jesus has become for us the sole and imme- 
 diate source of life, — a proposition which sapped their 
 Observances at the very roots. 
 
 " All the fulness of the Godhead," he tells them, " dwells 
 bodily in Him. In Him you share in this fulness, in Him 
 Who is the Head of every Principality and Power. In Him 
 you have been circumcised with a circumcision not made by 
 the hand of man, but which consists in the putting off of our 
 carnal flesh ; [you have been circumcised] with the circum- 
 cision of the Christ. Buried with Him in Baptism, in the 
 same Baptism you are risen with Him, through your faith in 
 the power of God Who has raised Him from the dead.^ You 
 were dead through your sins and the uncircumcision of your 
 flesh ; He has quickened you to life with Him, having for- 
 given you all your sins. He has blotted out by the precepts 
 [of His Gospel] the obligation, the condemnation which the 
 Law overwhelmed us withal. He has made it as though it 
 were not, by nailing it to the Cross ; and having disarmed 
 the Principalities and the Powers, He has led them in tri- 
 umph in the sight of all men, conquered by His Cross." ^ 
 
 This victory demonstrates that the Christ towers, not 
 only over the visible world, but over the invisible as well ; 
 and with Him every soul that is bound to Him by faith 
 
 1 Coloss. ii. 17. 
 
 2 To Paul's thiuking the baptismal waters are like a tomb. The neo- 
 phyte, once immersed therein, buries his sins of the past, his disorderly 
 cravings, all that is of the old man, that he may rise again unto a new life. 
 Baptism, therefore, does not simply figure forth the Death and Kesurrec- 
 tion of tlie Christ, it is a communion in tliese Mysteries as well ; a super- 
 natural union which is the work of faith made fruitful by Charity. 
 *' Believe that God can renew your soul," says St. John Chrysostom, " and 
 by that very act you are renewed." In Epist. ad Coloss. Homil. vi. 2. 
 
 3 Coloss. ii. 9-15. 
 
60 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 and love is likewise exalted to the same heights. To 
 such an one He is the Head, that " Head from Whom the 
 whole body, drawing its life through the vessels which 
 connect and bind all its parts, draws nourishment and in- 
 creaseth with the increase of God." ^ This being so, why 
 talk to a Christian, so closely knit to the Godhead, of 
 " Beings " intervening between him and God, — beings in- 
 dependent of the Christ, — Angels, whose worship might 
 in any wise become comparable to that due to the 
 only Redeemer ? Those that preach such vain imaginings 
 do well to hide themselves behind the mask of humility, 
 and declare themselves unworthy to approach God save 
 through these " Intermediaries ; " their vagaries are but 
 " pride, puffed up by thoughts born of the flesh," ^ — of 
 fear, lilvcwise, since they tremble at the thought of fall- 
 ing directly into the hands of the living God. 
 
 To escape this union with the Christ so dreaded by the 
 natural man, inasmuch as it means his death, the heretics 
 of ColossiB sought about for " some show of wisdom, devo- 
 tion, humility,"^ borrowing them from the sects with which 
 they were in touch. From the Essenes and the religious 
 rites of the region round about, they adopted their absti- 
 nence and mad austerities ;* from the Jews, their cele- 
 brations "of Feast-days, New Moons, and Sabbaths."^ 
 Futile asceticism, and void of all effect on the concupis- 
 cence of the flesh, since a real union of the heart with 
 that of the dying Jesus can alone destroy in us the old 
 man ; ^ empty Observances, unworthy of minds enlight- 
 ened by the new Faith, because they take them back to 
 rudiments of science, to spell out " the first letters of the 
 alphabet." ^ " Colossians," concludes the Apostle, " you 
 
 1 Coloss. ii. 19. 4 Ibid., ii. 20-23. 
 
 2 Ibid., ii. 18. 6 Ibid., ii. 16. 
 8 Ibid., ii. 23. 
 
 ^ An austere life, without that interior spirit which should animate it, 
 is of no value, of no relief or help from sin. The only real remedy against 
 concupiscence is union with the Saviour, Jesus: to die with him to the 
 world is to bear in our members and in this our body of flesh a fruitful 
 death, whereby it is given unto us to arise with Him and in Him to take 
 hold upon Eternal Life. 
 
 ' T^ (TToix^ta. Coloss. ii. 8. 
 
THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. 61 
 
 were dead in the Christ to these primary teachings of the 
 world ; how can you let yourselves be overladen with Or- 
 dinances " so outworn ? For these your prohibitions, your 
 dread of being contaminated, — " Touch not, taste not, 
 handle not," — all these simply bring you back into the 
 bondage of Mosaism, to a discipline fit only for children.^ 
 
 " If then, you are risen with the Christ, seek those things 
 which are on High, where the Christ is seated at the right 
 hand of God. Think on things from on High, not on things 
 of the earth ; for you are dead and your life is hid with the 
 Christ in God. When the Christ, Who is your life, shall 
 appear, then shall you also appear in glory. Give therefore 
 unto death the members of the earthly man that is in you, 
 fornication, uncleanness, disorderly appetites, evil desires. 
 . . . Put off the old man with his works and put on the 
 new, who renews himself without ceasing to the likeness of 
 [God] his Creator, and thus attains unto the perfect knowl- 
 edge.^ In this self-renewal there is no longer either Greek 
 or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised. Barbarian or Scyth- 
 ian, bond or free ; the Christ is all in all." '^ 
 
 The counsels concerning the conduct of life with 
 which Paul always closes his letters, in the Epistle to 
 the Colossians take an unwonted turn. Until now they 
 had been addressed to the whole body of believers, with- 
 out bearing particularly on any class or condition ; here 
 for the most part tliey have in view the Christian family. 
 This foundation of all society must have occupied the 
 Apostle's thoughts very largely at that time, for we shall 
 find him returning to the subject insistently in the Epistle 
 to the Ephesians. Some incident, perhaps some irregulari- 
 ties in the Christian committees of Asia as reported by 
 Epaphras, or again, not to search so far afield, it may 
 have been the mere intercourse Paul was having with 
 
 o 
 
 1 Coloss. ii. 20-21. 
 
 2 ^Eiriyvwcriv. This word, of frequent occurrence in the latter Epistles 
 of St. Paul, is used to designate a state of intelligence and knowledge 
 higher than any mere science ; yvQais is the fulness of understanding, 
 the pleroma which the false Gnosis in vain promised to its adepts. 
 
 8 Coloss. iii. 1-11. 
 
62 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 the Eoman world, — something, at all events, had turned 
 his thoughts in this channel. We know, indeed, and we 
 have been reminded of it elsewhere,^ that the Family, the 
 Gens, in the Eoman state was an institution of incom- 
 parable power, but at the same time excessive in its rigor. 
 There the father exercised absolute sway over every one 
 and everything, — wife, children, and slaves. Hence 
 arose those habits of orderliness and obedience which 
 Paul could not but admire, but only on condition that he 
 might be permitted to mitigate them; for the Christian 
 soul, to whatever age or sex, or social state, it may be- 
 long, is entitled to a certain respect and liberty which 
 the laws of Eome never recognized. 
 
 The Apostle needed to make but few reservations in 
 setting before them the full truth. To wives he recom- 
 mends submissiveness, but " as it is fitting in the Lord ; " 
 to husbands, a real love for their wives, without severity 
 or harshness; to children, obedience, "that they may be 
 well pleasing in the sight of the Lord;" to parents, not 
 to provoke the child, or break its spirit ; to slaves, to obey 
 in all things . . . and from the heart, " not as to men, 
 however, but neither recognizing nor serving any other 
 master save the Lord Christ." ^ To masters, authorized 
 by social customs and even by Law, to inflict unmerciful 
 hardships, this injunction is uttered, almost threatening 
 in its wording : " Grant to your slaves that which is just 
 and equitable, remembering that you also have a Master 
 in the Heavens."^ The same spirit, the very breath of 
 charity, animates all these various precepts ; drawing 
 their souls to him, by inspiring in them a longing, " what- 
 soever they may do, whether in word or deed, to do all in 
 the Name of the Lord Jesus." * 
 
 ^' Put ye on, therefore, as God's holy ones, holy and well- 
 beloved, the bowels of mercy, kindness, humility, gentle- 
 ness, long-suffering, forbearing one another, forgiving one 
 another, if any deems himself aggrieved by his brother. 
 
 1 St. Peter, chap. xvi. 3 Iliid., iv. 1. 
 
 2 Coloss. iii. 18-25. * Ibid., iii. 17. 
 
THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. 63 
 
 The Christ has pardoned jow, do ye likewise. And over 
 all the rest put on the Garment of Love, which is the bond 
 of perfectness, and let the Peace of Christ, to which you 
 were called in one only body, rule in your hearts." ^ 
 
 Thereupon Paul took the pen in his own heavily 
 manacled hand and appended his signature with these 
 words : " Behold the salutation which I, Paul, add hereto 
 with mine own hand : Eemember my bonds. Grace be 
 with you ! " ^ 
 
 1 Coloss. iii. 12-15. 2 n^id., iy. is. 
 
CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 PHILEMON AND ONESIMUS. — THE EPISTLE TO THE 
 EPHESIANS. 
 
 From Saint Paul's letter to the Colossians it is easy to 
 detect who and what his companions were when he was 
 composing it. In his prison at Ptome, as everywhere else 
 for that matter, there were very few converted Jews. 
 Only four are mentioned by the Apostle : Timothy, his 
 secretary ; Aristarchus, the Thessalonian ; Mark, the 
 cousin of Barnabas, and a certain Jesus, surnamed " The 
 Just." " Of the Circumcision these only," he adds mourn- 
 fully, " are my fellow-laborers for the Kingdom of God, 
 and have been a comfort to me." ^ As three of their 
 number were old comrades of Saint Paul, what may we 
 infer concerning the Israelites of Eome ? On the other 
 hand, the uncircumcision had furnished him with many 
 active and faithful ministers : there was Luke, " the phy- 
 sician, dearly beloved by the Apostle ; Demas, Tychicus 
 of Asia, and Epaphras of Colossse." ^ The latter, as we 
 have seen, shared the Apostle's prison at this time, con- 
 strained thereto, perhaps, but more probably of his own 
 choice. Does it not appear, indeed, as if, at the close of 
 the Epistle to the Colossians, Paul is excusing himself for 
 not having sent his letter through Epaphras, although he 
 seems to have been entirely at liberty and in fact desig- 
 nated for this mission ? That this disciple remains with 
 him is due to his own affection and not to any coldness 
 on the part of his fellow-citizens ; of this Paul repeatedly 
 assures them : " Epaphras, one of your own, a bondsman 
 of Jesus Christ, salutes you. He is ever contending on 
 your behalf in his prayers, that you may continue perfect 
 
 1 Coloss. i. 1 ; iv. 10, 11. 2 j^ij,^ i^. 7_i2, 14. 
 
PHILEMON AND ONESIMUS. 65 
 
 and steadfast in performing fully what God wills of you. 
 I bear him witness that he is working for you with all his 
 heart, and for those in Laodicaea and Hierapolis." ^ 
 
 Tychicus, also a native of the Province of Asia, was 
 commissioned to carry this letter to Colossse. Paul had 
 put great trust in this disciple, ever since he had been an 
 eye witness of his labors during his third mission journey. 
 In him he had found, not only a " beloved brother," but a 
 " faithful minister of the Lord, like himself devoted to the 
 service of God," ^ and of souls. Accordingly he had en- 
 trusted him with this mission of visiting the Churches 
 throughout the land, to learn their state, and to comfort 
 and revive their drooping spirits.^ There was no lack of 
 anxieties to disquiet the Apostle's mind. In Laodicaea, 
 the most considerable of the Christian communities on 
 the Lycus, side by side with such fervent fraternities as 
 that which gathered at the house of Nymphas,* there were 
 others in a languishing condition. In one of these latter, 
 so gross was the negligence of its pastor, Archippus, that 
 Paul bids the neighboring Church of Colossas address to 
 him this grave warning : " Take heed to the ministry 
 which thou hast received in the Lord, and fulfil it." ^ To 
 some of these churches Tychicus was the bearer of per- 
 sonal letters from the Apostle ; ^ to all he was commis- 
 sioned to bear news of him and communicate by word of 
 mouth those matters of detail which it would have been 
 imprudent to put in writing, such as the state of his trial 
 before Caesar's tribunal, his hopes and views concerning 
 the future.*^ 
 
 For this mission he was given a fellow-laborer whom 
 Paul had rescued from the very lowest surroundings in 
 Eome. He was a slave, Onesimus by name, the property 
 of Philemon, one of the foremost men in the Church of 
 Colossal. He had fled from his master's home after rob- 
 bing him, and, like so many others, sought to hide his 
 
 1 Coloss. iv. 12, 13. s Ibid., iv. 17. 
 
 2 Ibid., iv. 7. 6 ibid.^ iv. 16. 
 
 3 Ibid., iv. 7, 8. 7 Ibid., 7. 
 * Ibid., iv. 15. 
 
66 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL, 
 
 identity in the nameless masses which were ever throng- 
 ing into the metropolis. Whether conscience-stricken at 
 his crime or impelled by urgent want, at all events he 
 made himself known to Epaphras, whom he had seen 
 many a time at Philemon's residence; for where could 
 he seek surer refuge than in the tenderheartedness of a 
 Christian ? 
 
 Paul, to whom they brought him, lost no time in using 
 his influence over a soul which slavery had embittered 
 and led to sin, yet without utterly depraving it. The 
 poor fugitive was won over to the Christ, his dispositions 
 so excellent that he was willing to do anything for the 
 sake of right and justice. But what was right, according 
 to the New Law ? and what was the duty of such poor 
 slaves in regard of their masters ? On this question the 
 Apostle never hesitated ; he bade them obey the servile 
 laws ; for, though he recognized the fact that slavery, as 
 a state, was contrary to Christian ideals, as conducing to 
 the worst abuses, on the other hand he looked upon it as 
 an institution inherent in the social fabric of antiquity, 
 and one not to be summarily torn from it without incal- 
 culable acts of violence.^ 
 
 In his time, in fact, slaves formed half, at the very 
 least, of the population of the Empire, while, in a majority 
 of the great cities, they outnumbered notably the free- 
 men.2 In Eome, for instance, certain wealthy landowners 
 possessed as many as twenty thousand, and even more.^ 
 These servile masses, for the most part incapable of keep- 
 ing public order or enjoying their liberty, had in their 
 hands all industrial and agricultural occupations : to in- 
 cite them to seek immediate emancipation would have 
 been to shake the very foundations of society. Very 
 different is the Church's mission on earth : into the hearts 
 
 1 For a fuller treatment of this subject I can refer my readers to no 
 better work than the scholarly treatise by M. Paul Allard, entitled Les 
 Esclaves Chretiens. 
 
 2 See Wallon, Hlstoire de VEsclavage, 1. ii., chap, iii.; Du" nombre et 
 
 DE l'eMPLOI DES ESCLAVES. 
 
 3 Athenseus, vi., p. 272. See Marquardt, Das Privailehen der Homer, 
 vol. i., p. 166 et seg. 
 
PHILEMON AND ONESIMUS. 67 
 
 of men slie drops those words of Jesus: "Ye are all 
 brethren," ^ and leaves it there to fructify, knowing that 
 it will quietly and gently transform their customs and 
 laws, healing the social body of the cancer which con- 
 sumes it, not by steel or by fire, but by the infusion of a 
 new life-blood. 
 
 Certainly Paul could have found no more decisive argu- 
 ment against slavery than this brotherhood of man ; 
 rather, to make it more emphatic, he reminds them that 
 all believers, by their incorporation with the Christ, are 
 not merely sons, equally heirs to all rights, all graces 
 emanating from the same Heavenly Father, rather their 
 union with him is so close that it approaches some sort 
 of identity. " There is no longer either Jew or Greek, 
 bond or free ; all, all are one in Christ Jesus." ^ « The 
 Christ is all in all." ^ Of what account are the outward 
 shows of existence for the believer who has once attained 
 to this high plane of thinking? Unquestionably any- 
 thing which debases man is incompatible with such a pro- 
 fession of faith. But serfdom does not necessarily imply 
 a state of moral degradation ; it may be but a humiliating 
 condition of dependency more or less rigorous, and at the 
 same time leave the soul untouched in its nobility, free 
 and master of its true self. In that case, each irksome 
 act of coercion does indeed purify it and exalt it above 
 earthly things which pass away. 
 
 There was, therefore, about the condition of servitude 
 nothing, for the time being, which deprived it of respect 
 in the Church. In the meantime, and until the institu- 
 tion itself should crumble under the secret workings of 
 the Gospel, the one thing needful was to prevent any 
 abuse of it. This Paul provided for by reminding them, 
 on the one hand, that labor is the law of mankind, man's 
 dignity and power ; on the other, by preaching the Christ 
 as One who had come to us, taking on the form of a 
 slave,* " to serve, not to be served," ^ and to enkindle in all 
 
 1 Matt, xxiii. 8. * Philip, ii. 7. 
 
 2 Gal. iii. 28. 6 Matt. xx. 28. 
 
 3 Coloss. iii. 11. 
 
68 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 hearts Ms lowly and gentle charity. It was in this divine 
 flame that Paul trusted to soften the hardships of the 
 servile code. "Ye masters, also," he said, "show some 
 affection for your servants. Do not load them with 
 threats, remembering that both you and they have one 
 common Master in Heaven, and with Him there is no 
 respect for the condition of persons." ^ 
 
 With these guarantees of his rights in the Church 
 granted to the Christian slave, the Apostle would not 
 even advise him to try to escape from bondage : " Wast 
 thou in slavery at the time of thy calling ? " he asks ; " do 
 not disturb thyself thereat. Even though thou hast it in 
 thy power to gain thy freedom, rather make good use of 
 thy condition ; for the slave, who has been called in the 
 Lord, is the Lord's freedman, and likewise the freeman, 
 who has been called, is the Christ's slave. . . . Let each 
 one remain before God in the state wherein he was 
 called." 2 Thus Paul determines the duties of the slave : 
 not a mere resignedness to an inevitable lot, but a yield- 
 ing of the will, a prompt and conscientious obedience 
 springing from the heart, an attachment to his Master, 
 which is born of fear and respect : " Slaves obey your 
 masters. ... in singleness of heart, as unto the Christ 
 himself, not serving them only when under their eyes, as 
 though you would but please men, but as slaves of the 
 Christ. Serve with good-will, as bondsmen of the Lord 
 and not of men." ^ 
 
 Thus Paul only sought to elevate the slave by keeping 
 him under the yoke. But was this, then, that liberty 
 brought into the world by the Christ, and promised to all 
 in His name ? * To those especially who, like Onesi- 
 mus, were under the ban of the severest laws of slavery, 
 such words must have sounded harshly indeed. The 
 fugitive slave knew that for him the law was merciless ; 
 that to be branded on the forehead with a red-hot iron ^ 
 
 1 Ephes. vi. 9. ^ I Cor. vii. 21-24. 3 Ephes. vi. 5-7. 
 
 * "You shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall set you free." 
 John viii. 32. 
 
 ^ " Inexpugnabili litterarum nota per sumniam oris contumeliam inus- 
 
PHILEMON AND ONESIMUS. 69 
 
 was the mildest of its punishments ; at his master's good 
 pleasure he might be cast before the wild beasts in the 
 amphitheatre, nailed to the cross, or burned alive in a 
 garment of pitch such as Nero provided for our earliest 
 martyrs.^ Onesimus, undoubtedly, had no reason to fear 
 such treatment from a Christian ; but he no longer be- 
 longed to himself, since by his flight he had done violence 
 to the right of proprietorship which Philemon possessed 
 over him. To repair the damages he had inflicted, the law 
 bade him surrender himself into his master's hands and 
 place himself at his mercy. What a humiliation, and 
 what agonies of spirit were involved in the accomplish- 
 ment of this duty. 
 
 Paul's first intention was neither to refer to these 
 weighty obligations nor to impose them upon Onesimus. 
 Kealizing to the full what invaluable assistance this 
 zealous convert could render him, his only thought, at 
 first, was to retain him near him ; indeed he knew 
 Philemon's heart too well to have any hesitation about 
 using anything belonging to this disciple, as if it were his 
 own. On reflection, however, he deemed it more conform- 
 able with the courtesy and refinement of true charity to 
 do nothing in the premises without asking his consent. 
 Accordingly, he persuaded Onesimus to return to his 
 master and to take advantage of Tychicus' departure to 
 reach Asia. Although the companionship of this disciple 
 would act as a perfect safeguard, nevertheless, to still 
 further reassure him, Paul dictated to Timothy the fol- 
 lowing lines and intrusted them to the fugitive slave for 
 delivery. How could Philemon help being moved and 
 yielding to this touching appeal ? — 
 
 "Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and the brother 
 Timothy, to Philemon the well beloved and our fellow- 
 laborer, and to Appia,^ our sister, to Archippus, our comrade 
 
 tus." Yalerius Maximiis, vi. viii. 7; Cf. Plautus, Casina, ii. vi. 293; 
 Martial, viii. Ixxv. 9 ; Cicero, De Officiis, ii. 7, etc. 
 
 1 Aulus Gellius, v. 14 ; Plautus, Casina, ii. vii. 330 ; Miles Gloriosus, 
 ii. iv. 361 ; Petronius, Satyricon, 53 ; Plautus, Captivi, iii. iv. 531. 
 
 2 Appia's name is so closely linked with that of Philemon that in all 
 
70 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 in arms, and to the Church which is at thy house : Grace be 
 to you all and peace from God our Father and the Lord 
 Jesus Christ ! 
 
 " Being mindful of thee without ceasing in my prayers, I 
 give thanks unto my God for that I learn what is thy faith 
 toward the Lord Jesus and thy love for all the saints ; how 
 the generosity born of that faith is made manifest unto all 
 beholders by so many good works accomplished in thy 
 house,^ for the love of Jesus Christ. Thy charity hath filled 
 me with joy, because that the bowels of the saints have 
 been rejoiced through thee, brother. So this is why, although 
 I should have a perfect right in the Christ to enjoin upon 
 thee that which is thy duty, I prefer rather in the name of 
 charity to beseech thee, as the aged Paul, yea and some- 
 what more just now, as the prisoner of Jesus Christ. 
 
 '' I beseech thee, then, for ray son, whom I have begotten 
 on my bonds, for Onesimus here, who in days past was hardly 
 at all useful ^ to thee, but who now may become so, both to 
 thee and to me. Him I send back to thee as mine own 
 flesh and blood. I had thought at first of keeping him with 
 me, that he might serve me in thy stead in the fetters of 
 the Gospel; but I was unwilling to do anything without 
 thy decision, that the good deed which I suggest to thee 
 may not be constrained, but come from thine own good-will. 
 Perchance Onesimus has been parted from thee but for a 
 time that thou mightst recover him forever, no longer as a 
 slave, but as one who, from a slave, has become a dearly 
 beloved brother. This he is to me ; how much more ought 
 he to be one unto thee, both according to the flesh and in 
 the Lord. If, then, thou reckonest me as one closely knit 
 
 likelihood we are correct in concluding that she was his wife. That Ar- 
 chippus was their son is rather doubtful. As we have seen, this faithful 
 disciple of his was a minister in the Church of Colossi, or in that of 
 Laodic?ea {St. Paul and his Missions, chap. x. ); the Apostolic Constitu- 
 tions (vii. 46) go further and state that he was Bishop of tlie latter city. 
 This high function of his or some other of like importance is sufficient rea- 
 son that he should be mentioned by Paul in a greeting that was addressed 
 not merely to the two persons to whom he sends the letter, but to the 
 whole fraternity which was wont to gather in their house. 
 
 1 " Non dicit m te, sed in vohis. Per hoc significat domesticam Phile- 
 monis ecclesiam, bonorum operum ejus adjutricem." Estius in loco. 
 
 2 Here the Apostle makes a neat play upon the name Onesimus, which 
 in Greek means " useful." 
 
THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 71 
 
 to thee, receive him as if he were myself. Whatsoever he 
 has wronged thee of, or if he owes thee anything, set it 
 against my account." 
 
 Paul meant by this to furnish Onesimus with a veri- 
 table letter of credit; accordingly, he wrote these few 
 words himself: — 
 
 "I, Paul, write this with mine own hand. I my- 
 self WILL repay it, without REMINDING THEE OF ALL 
 THAT THOU ON THY SIDE OWEST ME." 
 
 Handing the pen back to Timothy he closed with these 
 words : — 
 
 " Yea, brother, may I receive of thee this joy in the Lord. 
 Comfort my offspring in the Christ. This I write thee 
 with full confidence in thy submissiveness; I know that 
 thou wilt do even more than I say. Make ready a lodging 
 for me also, for I trust that, thanks to your prayers, I shall 
 be restored to you. 
 
 "Epaphras, my fellow-prisoner in Christ Jesus, Mark, 
 Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow-laborers, salute 
 thee. May the grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ be with thy 
 spirit." 
 
 This letter and the Epistle to the Colossians were not 
 the only ones which Paul confided to the care of Tychicus. 
 He wrote another to the Church of Laodicsea, at the same 
 time counselling the Colossians to procure a copy of it 
 and have it read at their meetings.^ This document has 
 disappeared, but in its stead we possess another of great 
 importance, written at the same time and intrusted to the 
 same messengers. Though known as the Epistle to the 
 Ephesians, it does not appear to have been addressed 
 exclusively to the members of that community. It is to 
 be regarded rather as a circular letter which Tychicus 
 was charged to deliver to the various Churches he was 
 about to visit. 
 
 Numerous indications combine to prove this oecumenical 
 
 1 Coloss. iv. la. 
 
72 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 destination of the so-called Epistle to the Ephesians. 
 Therein the Apostle expresses himself constantly in 
 general terms, and without sending greetings to any one, 
 either at the opening or close, as had always been his 
 wont; there is no special counsel of any kind in the 
 body of the work ; no allusion to any particular state of 
 the Church. Paul seems never to have seen or evangelized 
 the congregations he is writing to.^ Would he have 
 written in this fashion, if he had meant to address it 
 especially to those Ephesians whom, " during three long 
 years, he had not ceased, by day and by night, to exhort 
 with tears " ? ^ Could he have failed to remind them of 
 his long sojourn in their city, or at least to mention 
 Timothy whom all knew so well ? Knowing as he did 
 that their Church had been recruited from the ranks of 
 Gentiles and Jews alike, would his mind have been 
 absorbed in questions which concerned Pagan converts 
 alone ? 
 
 The title of the letter merely mentions, as the persons 
 to whom it is addressed, " the Saints and the faithful 
 . . . who are (in Ephesus)." ^ Now we do not find these 
 last words " in Ephesus " in two of the most ancient 
 manuscripts.* Saint Basil declares that he did not come 
 across them in any of those at his disposal.^ What con- 
 clusion are we to draw from all these facts except that 
 the superscription " in Ephesus " was not placed by Saint 
 Paul over the original, of which many copies were made 
 and intrusted to Tychicus ? The address was for the 
 time left blank, leaving it to this disciple to insert the 
 name of any Church he might visit. But as Ephesus, 
 the metropolis of these Asiatic Churches, was brought 
 into closer contact with foreign travel than the rest, it so 
 happened, in all probability, that the copy which bore its 
 name attained the widest circulation and thus perpetuated 
 this title, " Epistle to the Ephesians," under which the 
 
 1 Ephes. i. 15 ; iii. 2 et seq., etc. * MSS. of the Vatican and of Sinai. 
 
 2 Acts XX. 31. 5 St. Basil, Contr. Eunom. ii. 19. 
 8 Ephes. i. 1. 
 
THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS, 73 
 
 letter came to be known. Of course, this is, after all, only 
 an hypothesis ; but it fits in so perfectly with the peculi- 
 arities of the Epistle that it has naturally gained wide 
 credit in our day.^ Furthermore, we only enhance the 
 teaching of this letter by treating it as an encyclical. 
 
 Here Paul has in view that section of the Church, then 
 the most active and probably most considerable in num- 
 bers, which for a long time to come was destined to shed 
 the greatest lustre upon Christianity. The weak point 
 in this body of believers which had increased so rapidly 
 that it already embraced the whole Province of Asia, was 
 that its members had not drawn their supernatural life 
 from the teachings of the Apostle himself. Begotten in 
 the Faith by his disciples, they did not possess that ful- 
 ness of grace and truth which elsewhere enabled the 
 newly converted to withstand any contagion of error; 
 consequently they lent a more or less willing ear to 
 the philosophical vagaries then current in their sur- 
 roundings. 
 
 Knowing under what form, and just how far, this malady 
 had spread in Colossie, Paul was enabled to apply reme- 
 dies for each symptom. But he had no such means of 
 informing himself concerning the other Christian congre- 
 gations of Asia. All that he could learn from Epaphras 
 was that similar perils threatened the faithful there also, 
 and that the most insidious of all emanated from the 
 Jewish inhabitants of the region. This ignorance of local 
 circumstances led him to rise to a higher plane than ever, 
 in the letter now before us ; since, as he could not trace 
 their errors step by step and in all their windings, he 
 set himself to the task of confronting them in all its 
 splendor with that dogma which was more and more 
 absorbing all his thoughts, — Jesus lives in the souls of 
 
 1 Very many Catholic scholars of note have adopted it. Hu^, Einlei- 
 tung, ii. pp. 406 ef seq. ; Glaire, Introduction, vol. vi., pp. 103 et seq. ; Val- 
 roger, Introduction mix Livres du Nouveau Testament, vol. ii., pp. 272 et 
 seq. ; A. Maier, EinJeitung, i)p. 309 et seq. ; Lamy, Introduct., ii. p. 354 ; 
 Eisping, Exeget. Ilandb., vi. 2, p. 8 ; Guillemou, Clef des Epitres de St. 
 Paid, vol. ii. pp. 9 and 10. By far the majority of exegetical writers 
 among Protestants hold this opinion. 
 
74 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 men and perpetuates this divine Life by the operation 
 of the Church. 
 
 We already know what sort of adversaries Paul had to 
 encounter in this struggle. Not men like the Judaizers 
 of Syria and Galatia, with their narrow and far from 
 enticing formalism, but Israelites versed in philosophic 
 subtleties, expert in the art of dazzling men's minds by 
 that Mysticism which they valued far more highly than 
 the teachings of Christianity. This lowering of Jesus to 
 a plane on a level with their human fancies is, to the 
 Apostle's mind, an intolerable blasphemy. He spurns it 
 and asserts that in Faith we have the loftiest revelation 
 which God has given to the world ; without its pale there 
 is no salvation, in it all that heart can desire, — justifica- 
 tion, sanctification, blessedness, world-wide redemption 
 from sin. All things are contained in the Incarnate Word, 
 and in such abundance that our daily speech is powerless 
 to utter " the unfathomable riches of the Christ." ^ For 
 this are required a new terminology and unwonted figures 
 of speech, such as we meet with here in the writings of 
 Paul.2 Nay, it required something more than even his 
 genius, — a tongue attuned to the Thought Divine. And 
 hence it is that, in the Apostle's efforts to depict Jesus as 
 He had been revealed to him, his style becomes more 
 involved than ever, while incidents and digressions so 
 crowd upon each other that the main idea is well-nigh 
 lost sight of altogether. 
 
 Hence the obscure passages in this letter, which are 
 due, as we shall see, to the depth and inexhaustible 
 abundance of its thoughts. And, notwithstanding, these 
 shadows disappear before the gaze of such as scrutinize 
 them humbly ; to these the Apostle's design stands re- 
 vealed in all its majestic development, — namely, to con- 
 front the anti-Christian speculations of the Asiatics with 
 that Divine Mystery which was destined to confound 
 them, — the Incarnation, " Christ's love, surpassing all 
 knowledge [all Gnosis], giving unto us God, in His Ful- 
 
 1 Ephes. iii. 8. ^ pe Wette, Ephes. Einleit., p. 319. 
 
THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 75 
 
 ness," ^ rendering all other revelation henceforth superflu- 
 ous, nay more, impossible. 
 
 Prayer had grown to be Paul's very life, the unbroken 
 occupation of his soul, whenever pastoral cares did not 
 demand his attention for earthly things. And now it 
 was with a mind absorbed in God that he dictated this 
 letter to the Ephesians ; one which, he might well say, is 
 naught but an act of thanksgiving to the Father who gives 
 us every perfect gift in His Incarnate Son. 
 
 " Blessed be God, the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 Who has poured down upon us all manner of spiritual 
 blessings from the heavens ! " ^ 
 
 From all eternity He has chosen us in the Christ, unto 
 the noblest of all ends, that we may become " spotless 
 and holy in His sight in love." ^ Thereby He has predes- 
 tined us to become, through our union with Christ, His 
 adopted children, and by the Blood of Jesus to obtain 
 redemption and forgiveness of sins.^ Thus before the 
 Apostle's inward vision the eternal counsel of God seemed 
 to take shape, as an act of will destined to remain a mys- 
 tery until the hour when, the time He had set fulfilled, 
 this Eevelation was vouchsafed us : " all things have been 
 united in the Christ, yea, both that which is of Heaven 
 and that which is of earth." ^ 
 
 Whoever, by Faith, welcomes " this Word of Life, the 
 Glad Tidings of our salvation,"^ that man is stamped by 
 the hand of God " with the seal of the Spirit promised " ^ 
 
 1 VvQjvaL . . . Tr)V virep^aXKovaav ttjs yvucreci}^ dyaTnjv rod 'KptcfTod, ha 
 irXTjpwdrJTe ets ttSj' t6 irX-qpwfia rod deov. Ephes. iii. 19. 
 
 2 Ephes. i. 3. 
 
 3 " Before Him," in other words so imbued with holiness down to the 
 very depths of our being that even the eye of God sees nothing there save 
 what is pure ; consequently tenderly united unto Him "in the love which is 
 God." (i John iv. 8), wherefrom, as in an ocean of grace, every true be- 
 liever draws new life and breath ; for the Christian there is no perfectness 
 save in and through this Love. 
 
 * Ephes. i. 5, 7. 
 
 ^ Ibid., i. 10. Literally in Him are all things condensed, summed up, 
 linked together as unto the sole Head of all creation : 'AmKccpaXaiuja-aadai 
 TO, iravra eu t($ 'KpicrrC}. 
 
 6 Ephes. 1. 13. 7 Ibid. 
 
76 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 by Jesus. Now this spirit once poured into the believing 
 soul by Grace is its surety that it shall inherit Heaven.^ 
 
 In painting the picture of the universal redemption, 
 Paul is moved by a peculiar sentiment of mingled joy 
 and tenderness for the Church of Asia, since he is well 
 aware of " its faith in the Lord Jesus, and its love for all 
 the Saints." 2 
 
 "I cease not to give thanks for you in my prayers,' ' 
 he tells them, "beseeching the God of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, the Father of Glory, ^ to grant you the Spirit of 
 Wisdom and of Light to know Him ; that He may enlighten 
 the eyes of your heart to know what is the hope whereunto 
 you are called, how great are the riches of glory prepared 
 for the Saints, how surpassing is the grandeur of the power 
 which He works within us who believe. The strength of 
 that might and that power He has shewn forth in the Christ, 
 by raising Him from the dead, seating Him on His own 
 right hand in Heaven, above every Principality and Power 
 and Might and Domination, above every name which is 
 named, not only in this present age, but in the ages that are 
 to come ; He has put all things under His feet, and given 
 Him to be Head over all things in the Church which is His 
 body ; the fulness of Him fills all in all." * 
 
 While you were dead in sin, he continues, you were 
 walking in the ways of the world, as also you, Jews, de- 
 livered over to the concupiscence of the flesh, even as 
 were we by nature children of wrath.^ 
 
 " But God Who is rich in mercy, constrained by the great 
 love He bears us, even when we were dead in sin, restored 
 us to life in the Christ . . . has raised us up with Him,^ 
 
 1 Ephes. i. 14. 2 i^i^i.^ i 15. 
 
 3 Here St. Paul uses the term "Father of Glory" in speaking of the 
 God and Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ in order to emphasize the fact 
 that the only true glory, which is that of the Divinity, shone forth re- 
 splendent in the Humanity of the Christ. 
 
 * Ephes. i. 16-23. 5 Ibid., ii. 1-3. 
 
 ® Here Paul is speaking principally of the resurrection unto life of the 
 Soul : that of the body is a secondary consideration to his thinking ; it is 
 a consequence of the spiritual resurrection that thus the whole man be 
 born again unto life. 
 
THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 77 
 
 seated us in Heaven in Jesus Christ, that He might make 
 manifest unto the ages to come, through His kindness unto 
 us in Christ Jesus, the surpassing riches of His Grace.'' ^ 
 
 But Paul is not so wrapped up in this theological ex- 
 position of Our Lord's Mission as to leave out of his 
 Epistle the theme of his earliest strifes, the absolute 
 gratuitousness of Grace. He is careful to impress this 
 fundamental dogma on the minds of the Asiatic members 
 who were by origin Gentiles, and to reiterate it as urgently 
 to them as to the Judaizers of Syria and Galatia. In the 
 grand scheme of Salvation, what place have these new- 
 comers ? What are they in the eyes of Israel, which, re- 
 bellious though it be, is none the less God's chosen race ? 
 "A carnal people," " aliens to the covenants of the prom- 
 ise, without a Messiah, without hope, without God in this 
 world." 2 But, now, through Jesus alone, and by the 
 power of His Blood, they who were once afar off have 
 been brought near.^ 
 
 "For this is our peace,'' says Paul, "He Who has made 
 the two people one, Who has broken down the wall of separ- 
 ation, Who in His flesh has destroyed the enmity that 
 parted them, — that Law weighted with so many precepts ; 
 that so out of both peoples He might create ^ in Himself 
 one new man.^ . . . Therefore is He come, publishing the 
 Glad Tidings of peace to you that were afar off, and peace 
 to them that were near : through Him we both have access 
 to the Father in the fellowship of one Spirit.^ . . . For this 
 cause I bend my knee before the Father, the Chief and 
 Head of the whole household, in Heaven and on earth ; that, 
 according to the riches of His glory He may strengthen you 
 
 1 Ephes. ii. 4-7. » Ibid., ii. 13. 
 
 2 Ibid., ii. 11, 12. 
 
 * Again and again St. Paul returns to this thought, — that our redemp- 
 tion is a new creation and entire regeneration, which transforms us into the 
 handiwork of Christ : we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus to 
 do good works, which God has prepared aforehand, that " we should walk 
 therein." Ephes. i. 10. "You have learned ... to put on the new 
 man, created after God's likeness in the righteousness and holiness of the 
 truth." Ibid., iv. 24. 
 
 6 Ephes. ii. Ibid., 15. 6 Ibid., ii. 17, 18. 
 
78 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 in might by His Spirit, in so far as concerns your inner man ; 
 that so the Christ may dwell in your hearts by Faith, and 
 that you may be rooted and founded ^ in love. Would that 
 you might comprehend, with all the Saints, somewhat of 
 the breadth, the length, the height, and the depth of this 
 Mystery, and know the love of Christ which passeth all 
 knowledge, that you may be filled therewith even unto the 
 fulness of God Himself. Now unto Him Who, by the Power 
 which works within us,^ can do infinitely above all that we 
 ask or think, unto Him be glory in the Church, through 
 Christ Jesus, from generation to generation, Amen ." ^ 
 
 The last words of this prayer, which mention Jesus and 
 the Church in the same breath, show us what a deep hold 
 the latter had taken upon the Apostle's mind in his medi- 
 tations. Indeed, the only way to prevent such lapses in 
 doctrine as were now disquieting him, was to provide for 
 some definite constitution of the Hierarchy. At first, it 
 is true, the teachings of the Apostles, and in the absence 
 of the Twelve, the abundance of spiritual gifts had suf- 
 ficed to forestall any such aberrations ; but already this 
 early fervor was beginning to cool. Grace, which at the 
 outset had endowed their souls with the perfect manhood 
 of Christianity, now that they were no longer sufficiently 
 devoid of self-seeking to be freely wrought upon, could 
 breed but infants in the supernatural order ; and so the 
 Asiatic Christians, like many in our day, were drifting 
 along, " tossed about, blown hither and thither by every 
 wind of doctrine, falling a prey to the trickiness of 
 men and their cunning devices to lead them astray into 
 crooked ways."^ There was urgent need of some visible, 
 divinely constituted authority to exercise its powers with- 
 out any intermission ; in a word, the Church alone could 
 
 1 These two figurative expressions probably meant to recall the imagery 
 employed by the Saviour to depict His Church: "Thou art Peter, and 
 upon this rock I will build my Church." Matt. xvi. 18. "I am the stock 
 of the vine, you the branches." John xv. 4. To these images, as we shall 
 see shortly, Paul preferred that of the human body. 
 
 2 Manifestly this power is that of the Holy Ghost, poured into our 
 hearts through grace. 
 
 8 Ephes. iii. 14-21. * Ibid., iv. 14. 
 
THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 79 
 
 keep these dreamers in the unity of the one Faith and 
 majestically reiterate the Apostle's words : " You are one 
 body and one spirit, even as you were called to share the 
 common hope. There is but one Lord, one Faith, one 
 Baptism, one only God, Father of all. Who is above all, 
 amid all, and within us all." ^ 
 
 This Church, with which Paul's thoughts are occupied 
 in the Epistle to the Ephesians, is no mere creature of 
 his fancy, no phantom of power ; she lives, speaks, and 
 acts, — she is Jesus, Jesus evermore pouring forth and 
 perpetuating His life within the body of the faithful. All 
 that is wrought by the Church is Jesus' doing, and all 
 that Jesus does is done throusrh the Church. Figures 
 and images multiply in the Apostle's mind when he en- 
 deavors to illustrate this Unity. The one hallowed by 
 the Master's own expression occurs most naturally to 
 him, — the Church rises before him as "a holy Temple 
 . . . God's Household, built upon the foundation of the 
 Apostles and the Prophets," yet owing all its stability 
 to " Jesus, its Cornerstone." ^ 
 
 There was another type, however, which to his taste 
 shadowed forth this Divine Unity yet more completely, 
 and to this he reverts again and again. The Christ is 
 the Head of the regenerated world ; the Church is His 
 body ; all true believers His members,^ drawing from their 
 Divine Head both strength and action. He receives, then, 
 without stint, for there is no one of His gifts which the 
 Church would not shower on us : His glorified Humanity, 
 His union with the Father, the abundance of His Spirit, 
 all He possesses is given to them. He makes the Church 
 His other self, prolonging and developing His life within 
 her so unstintingly that Paul does not hesitate to call this 
 mystical body of Jesus " the fulness of Him Who fills all in 
 all." * By virtue of this union with Christ, the authority 
 and the workings of the Church cover the entire domain 
 
 1 Ephes. iv. 4-6. 2 jbi^,^ ij. 20, 21. 
 
 3 1 Cor. vi. 15 ; X. 17 ; xii. 12-27 ; Rom. xii. 4, 5. 
 * Ephes. i. 23. 
 
80 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 of Him Who beholds beneath His feet the whole wide 
 world, matter, mankind, even the Angels themselves.^ 
 
 Nor was it enough to exhibit the Church invested with 
 this panoply of power; it was of the highest importance 
 to show through what organs the Christ speaks and acts 
 in her. We have already seen how in the first outpour- 
 ings of spiritual graces the Holy Spirit, taking possession 
 at will of some one or another of the disciples, by means 
 of these inspired instruments instructed, counselled, and 
 even directed the Christian communities.^ But now the 
 time had come to concentrate in a few hands the author- 
 ity thus diffused. Accordingly the Apostle, though not 
 as yet giving to the Hierarchy the determined form which 
 we find in the letters to Timothy and Titus, proceeds al- 
 ready to restrict to certain offices, which he designates by 
 name, the right of speaking in the Saviour's stead. The 
 lengthy list of spiritual gifts found in the Epistle to the 
 Corinthians is given in a very much shortened form in 
 his message to the Ephesians ; ^ aside from the Apostolate 
 — centre and source of all power — it comprehends no 
 offices save such as make for the maintenance in the 
 Church of pure teaching and orderly discipline. " The 
 prophets, evangelists, pastors, doctors," labor solely for 
 " the edification of the body of Jesus Christ," ^ and they 
 do not attain " to the state of perfect manhood, to the 
 fulness which Christ" must needs have in the Church, 
 save by unity of faith and action.^ And in order that 
 Charity, whence this increase is derived, should really be 
 operative in the mystical body of Christ, it is necessary 
 that while the diverse parts of the organism remain bound 
 together and well adjusted, life should likewise circulate 
 freely through all the vessels.^ Only in such harmony 
 " this bond of peace," ^ " fulfilling the truth in love, can 
 
 1 Ephes. iii. 10. 
 
 ^ St. Paul and His Missions, chap. viii. 
 3 1 Cor. xii. 6-11, 28 ; Ephes. iv. 11. 
 * Ephes. iv. 11, 12. 
 
 ® El's tV evoTTjTa ttjs Trtcrrews . . . els dv5pa t^Xclov, ei's fx^rpov 7]\iKias 
 Tov TrXripib/j-aTos tov Xpiarov. Ephes. iv. 13. 
 
 ^ Ephes. iv. 16. ^ n^i,].^ iy. 3. 
 
THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 81 
 
 we grow up in all things in the Christ which is our 
 Head." i 
 
 The practical counsels with which the letter closes are 
 merely, as is fitting in an encyclical, general precepts of 
 conduct. Probably his remarks on immorality and wine- 
 bibbing ^ were directed at failings common throughout 
 the province of Asia, especially among those false teach- 
 ers who were leading the Churches of this region astray. 
 Paul puts his disciples on their guard against the foolish 
 vaporings of these men. 
 
 " Have no dealings with them," he says ; " you were 
 sometimes darkness, now you are light in the Lord. 
 Walk as children of the light. Now, the fruit of the 
 light consists in all goodness, righteousness, truth.^ . . . 
 Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of dark- 
 ness, but condemn them, for it is a shame even to speak 
 of the things which these men do in secret." * 
 
 Here the Apostle is alluding in veiled terms to the im- 
 morality which he had discovered in these innovators, 
 and which he was soon to denounce openly : ^ wherefore 
 he defies them to stand forth as they are^ and display 
 themselves in that light which searches all things, in the 
 sight of any Christian " clothed in the new man, who is 
 created according to God in the righteousness and holiness 
 of truth." '' As for their chimera of a perfection and reve- 
 lation superior to Christianity, he is content to contrast 
 theirs with the sublime calling of the believers. 
 
 " Be ye imitators of God, as you are His dearly beloved 
 children, and walk in love, as the Christ has loved us and 
 has given Himself for us, an Offering and a Sacrifice to 
 God for a sweet-smelling savor." ^ 
 
 1 Ephes. iv. 15. 2 i^id., iv. 19 ; v. 3-12, 18. _ 
 
 8 All these expressions, darkness, light, children of light, fruits of light, 
 so common among the Gnostics, were probably as much in use among the 
 Theosophists of Asia. 
 
 * Ephes. V. 7-12. 
 
 6 1 Tim. i. 19 ; iv. 1-3 ; vi. 3-5 ; 2 Tim. ii. 17 ; iii. 1-9 ; Tit. i. 11-16. 
 
 6 Ephes. V. 13. 
 
 ' " Righteousness" here seems to designate a perfect equilibrium of all 
 the parts, all the faculties of the soul ; "holiness " the perfection of the 
 virtues in these faculties. 
 
 8 Ephes. V. 1, 2. t) 
 
82 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL, 
 
 The attention paid to family duties in the Epistle to 
 the Colossians is to be noted again here. Again the 
 Apostle dwells upon the mutual obligations of children 
 and parents, slaves and masters,^ man and wife ; but he 
 speaks in the same lofty tone which distinguishes the 
 Epistle to the Ephesians throughout. Amid his deepest 
 speculations we have seen how the idea of the Church, 
 with which Paul's mind was then filled, dominates every 
 other thought. So, then, we need feel no surprise to find 
 that when passing to moral applications he can think of 
 no more perfect model for the union of Christian couples 
 than the union of Jesus with this Church. 
 
 " The husband is the head of the wife," he says, " as the 
 Christ is the Head of the Church, even as He is its Saviour. 
 Therefore, as the Church is subject unto the Christ, so let 
 the wives be to their husbands in all things. And you, 
 husbands, love your wives as the Christ has loved His 
 Church and given Himself to death for her, that He might 
 sanctify her, purifying her in the baptism of water by the 
 word of truth, 2 that so she might appear before Him, not 
 having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, but holy and 
 irreproachable." 
 
 Her quality as the Bride of Christ best indicates the 
 free choice which Jesus has made of the Church, His 
 loving forethought and tenderness for her. This Paul 
 delights in dwelling upon. Nevertheless, as this glorious 
 title does not sufficiently declare their close, their com- 
 plete Union, he returns to his favorite image ; he adds that 
 the Christ by espousing the Church has made it literally 
 and for all time His own body, " bone of His bone, flesh of 
 His flesh," ^ " two in the one same flesh." * This prophetic 
 utterance had been verified but imperfectly in Adam and 
 Eve, their union being but the conjunction of two beings. 
 
 1 Ephes. vi. 1-9. 
 
 2 The sacramental words, whicli when joined to the pouring of the 
 Water, the matter of Baptism, regenerates the true believer. ** Detrahe 
 verbum et quid est aqua nisi aqua ? Accedit verbura ad elementum, et fit 
 sacramentum." St. Augustine, InJoayi., Tract. Ixxx. 3. 
 
 3 Gen. ii. 23, 24. 4 Ephes. v. 31. 
 
THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 83 
 
 In Jesus and the Church, " this great Sacrament," the mys- 
 tery of love, is consummated, and realizes actual oneness, 
 unity. In the Church there is no personality,^ no distinct 
 life, no action, no utterance, save as Jesus lives again in 
 her and through her.^ 
 
 Since, as has been said, Paul had no particular adver- 
 saries in mind, he was not obliged in this letter, as in the 
 preceding ones, to descend into the lists, in order to meet 
 the foe at close quarters ; consequently his thought con- 
 tinued its flight in those serene heights where it was wont 
 to soar, afar from the noisy clamor of the arena. Before 
 closing, however, he realized the urgent need of reminding 
 his Christian flocks of Asia that this was no time for in- 
 dolence and a feeling of security ; the Spirit of Evil, the 
 Prince of Darkness, Satan,^ was lulling them with foolish 
 dreams to which they were lending a far too ready belief. 
 They must needs rouse themselves, to arms ! Beat back 
 the foe ! 
 
 The equipment of the soldier on guard over Paul fur- 
 
 ^ Here it is a question of the Church considered as an ethical person 
 united with the Christ, and not as a collection of human beings, each 
 having his own physical life and proper activity ; a life and activity 
 which can be attributed, in a rigorous sense, to Jesus Christ alone. 
 
 2 ' ' The Church, in so far as She is the Spouse, belongeth unto Jesus 
 Christ by His own choice ; the Church, in so far as She is the body, be- 
 longeth to Jesus Christ by a most intimate inworking of the Holy Spirit 
 of God. Therewith by the pledging of Heavenly promises the Mystery of 
 Her election is made manifest in Her title of Spouse ; and the mystery of 
 their Unity, perfected by the infusion of the Spirit, appears in the expres- 
 sion, Her body. The latter gives us to understand how entirely the 
 Church belongeth unto Jesus Christ ; the title Spouse gives us to under- 
 stand that She had been a stranger unto Him and that it was out of His 
 own choice that He sought Her out. Thus the name of Spouse implies 
 their unity through love and through free will ; and the name body implies 
 that this unity is natural ; so that in the unity of the body there would 
 seem to be implied something most intimate, and in the Unity of the 
 Spouse something most sensitive and tender. But at bottom it is all one 
 and the same ; Jesus Christ hath loved the Church and hath chosen Her to 
 be His Spouse ; He hath consummated His marriage with the Church and 
 hath made Her His body . . . thus the Unity of body is the final seal 
 whereby Her title of Spouse is confirmed. Praise be to God for the weld- 
 ing together of these ever adorable truths ! " Bossuet, Lettre iv. a une 
 Demoiselle de Metz, xxxii. 
 
 3 Ephes. vi. 11, 12. 
 
84 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 nished him with details of the divine armor wherewith he 
 wished to array his disciples : " about the loins the girdle 
 of truth,^ for your breastplate righteousness." ^ " Have 
 your feet shod," ^ the Apostle proceeds, to protect them 
 from the roughness of the roads, and thereby to be ever 
 alert and tireless. At the least signal the legionary starts 
 up prepared to march ; and this instant eagerness of the 
 soldier at the battle-call, this the Christian should show 
 for the Gospel of Peace, for the victories long since sung of 
 by Isaias : " How lovely on the mountains are the feet of 
 the bearers of the Good News, the messengers of Peace." * 
 ''Above all," adds Paul, "take the shield of raith,^ 
 whereby the fiery darts of the wicked shall be broken 
 and extinguished. For helmet, take ye the hope of salva- 
 tion," ^ — in other words, the assurance of victory. Noth- 
 ing is more effectual than this steadfast confidence to 
 prevent all wavering and fear, to make one master of one's 
 self, clear-headed, with that just and calm vision which 
 always wins the day. 
 
 Paul puts but two weapons of offence into the hands of 
 his warriors : " the Word of God " as their sword, — " the 
 Sword of the Spirit," — but, above all, prayer. " Call 
 upon God," he concludes, " through the Spirit and at all 
 times . . . watching thereunto in all perseverance. Pray 
 for all the Saints, and for me likewise ; that it may be 
 given unto me to open my mouth boldly, and to preach 
 openly the mystery of the Gospel, whereof I am the am- 
 bassador loaded with chains ; (pray) that I may speak 
 boldly as I ought." ^ 
 
 1 To gird his loins in order to present a sturdy and steadfast figure was 
 the soldier's first thought : to show one's self in all things true, loyal, and 
 honest is the very foundation of Christianity, without which no virtue is 
 aught save a delusion and a snare. 
 
 2 This piece of armor protects the vital parts of the body : in like man- 
 ner the sum total of virtues which makes a soul righteous in Christ clothes 
 it with a Divine Power, and guards it from every deadly wound. 
 
 3 Ephes. vi. 15. 
 
 * Is. lii. 7. 5 Ephes. vi. 16. 
 
 6 The figure under this form, when used again in the first letter to the 
 Thessalonians, v. 8, is clearer than in the more concise expression in this 
 Epistle, " Take the helmet of salvation." 
 
 7 Ephes. vi. 17-20. 
 
THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 85 
 
 The last words, set as a signature by the Apostle at the 
 end of his letter, are a supreme appeal for Union in the 
 Faith, a supreme warning against those who would cor- 
 rupt it : " Grace be with all those who love Our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, preserving them from all corruption." ^ 
 
 1 Ephes. vi. 24. 
 
GHAPTEK V. 
 
 SAINT PAUL'S DELIVEKANCE. — THE WORK OF 
 SAINT LUKE. 
 
 Two years had dragged along since the day the Cen- 
 turion Julius delivered Paul over to the Prefect of the 
 Prietorium. So far as we can discover, the very same 
 combination of circumstances which then saved the 
 Apostle from summary execution was now become the 
 cause of his prolonged detention. The Jews of Jerusa- 
 lem, whose attention had been diverted from him as soon 
 as he had quitted the shores of Palestine, sent no one to 
 Eome to press the charge ; even Poppsea, their proselyte, 
 although all-powerful at that stage of his imprisonment, 
 was not solicited to move against the captive. The neg- 
 ligence of Israel alone preserved Paul during the two years 
 in which he was left to the mercy of Nero and an immoral 
 woman. 
 
 On the other hand, what could the court cognizant of 
 the case do, except await the witnesses for the prosecu- 
 tion, without whom no accused person could be tried ? 
 In the present instance a long delay was inevitable, since 
 the accusers must journey, not only from Judaea, but from 
 the scattered Jewish communities which the bill of indict- 
 ment undoubtedly accused the Apostle of disturbing by his 
 ministerial work.^ 
 
 Nevertheless, since for this a delay of two years seemed 
 amply sufficient, at its expiration the conclusion forced 
 
 1 " The appellant must needs obtain from the judge in the first instance 
 certain litterce dimissorice or Apostoli ; that is to say, a brief destined to 
 make known the cause of appeal, and accompanied by the documents in 
 the case." {Digest, xlix. 6, Paul, Sent., v. 34;) Daremberg, Dictionnaire 
 des Antiquites, Appellatio. 
 
SAINT PAUL'S DELIVERANCE. 87 
 
 itself upon them that the prosecution had failed by default. 
 Little as they may have been versed in Jewish affairs, 
 wherein hatred and fanaticism played so prominent a part, 
 such a conclusion of the whole business would surprise no 
 one. The governors of Judaea knew precisely what to think 
 of the sincerity of his accusers. In most of the denuncia- 
 tions of Paul, both Felix and Festus had been able to dis- 
 cern nothing but a blind and furious persecution, in no 
 way justified by the facts. The Koman tribunal soon 
 began to lean to the same view ; for this Imperial Court 
 of Appeals was composed of experts perfectly cognizant 
 of the agitations and controversies going on in the whole 
 world, even of the religious quarrels of Israel.^ Else- 
 where we have seen how the Apostle's captivity had not 
 hampered his ministry, but that he preached Jesus con- 
 tinually, — had even made his Master known and loved 
 in the palace of the Caesars.*-^ 
 
 Through his new brethren in the Christ, he became 
 aware of the favorable sentiments of his judges, and from 
 this fact conceived such a certitude of his speedy release 
 that, in writing to Philemon, he begs him to prepare for 
 him a lodging-place in some Christian community in Asia.^ 
 Nor was this confidence deceived. In the spring of 64 the 
 Court of Appeals quashed Paul's indictment and ordered 
 his release. It was high time to save him. Only a few 
 months later Nero's fury was enkindled against the 
 Church of Kome and worked its devastation. 
 
 1 Mommsen, Romisches Staatsrecht, vol. ii. pp. 948-952. The court 
 before which Paul appeared was a Council of Justice which the Emperor, 
 in common with all Roman magistrates, kept in his service in order to 
 enlighten himself in the exercise of his judicial functions. Although 
 this body was not then so perfectly organized as it was later under the 
 Antonines, it was composed, even at this date, of a chosen few (Dion Cas- 
 sius, Ixxvi. 17) over whom the Emperor, or his delegate, presided, their 
 sessions being held sometimes in the Palace, sometimes in the Forum. 
 The president stated the questions ; the counsellors handed down their 
 opinions, generally based on the brief, whereafter the Emperor gave de- 
 cision ; but the latter hardly ever did anything except sanction their judg- 
 ment, — that is, in all cases where neither his passions nor his caprices 
 were at stake. 
 
 3 Philip. 1. 13 ; iv. 22. 3 philem. 22. 
 
88 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 The Apostle's eyes had been so fixed upon Asia during 
 the latter days of his imprisonment, as to make us infer 
 that as soon as he was liberated he would turn his steps 
 thitherward. However, his plan, so long cherished, of 
 evangelizing Spain returned to his mind,^ and so insist- 
 ently that he decided to accomplish it without delay. 
 Thereby, doubtless, he conceived that he was fulfilling 
 the command given him by tlie Lord, " I have set thee up 
 to be a light unto the Gentiles, to bear salvation unto the 
 ends of the earth." ^ Spain being one of the border lines 
 of the Eoman world, Paul believed himself bound to 
 visit it. 
 
 Some may be surprised, perhaps, that I should weave into 
 the tissue of history a fact which is based solely on an in- 
 tention expressed in one short line written by the Apostle, 
 and with no contemporary testimony to uphold it. That I 
 so readily accept it is because the authority of later tradi- 
 tions testifying to this missionary journey seem to me 
 weighty enough to make it a certainty. Indeed, only 
 thirty years after Paul's death. Pope Saint Clement re- 
 minds the Corinthians that the Apostle had preached " on 
 the confines of the West ; " ^ and in the next century (about 
 170) a list of the Sacred Books, compiled in Kome, men- 
 tions in express terms the mission to Spain, and in a manner 
 which leaves no room for doubt as to the meaning attrib- 
 uted by the Roman Church to the words of its third 
 Bishop.^ Thereafter, this incident in Paul's ministry is 
 everywhere believed and given out as historical.^ Such 
 a succession of witnesses, going back to the first centuries, 
 
 1 Rom. XV. 28. 2 Acts xiii. 47. 
 
 3 'ETTi TO T^p/xa TTjs dijaeios eXddiv. St. Clement of Rome, Ep. ad. Cor. 5. 
 
 4 Muratorian Fragment, lines 37 and 38, " . . . ised profectione Pauli ab 
 urbe ad Spaniam proticescentis . . ." This fragment of a Latin manuscript 
 in the Ambrosian Library (Cod. 101) contains a canon of the books of the 
 New Testament which in all likelihood was once part of some apologetieal 
 work composed in Rome about 170 at the latest. It was published for the 
 first time by Muratori in his Antiquitates Italicce (iii. 251 et seq.) ; hence 
 its name. 
 
 ^ St. Jerome, In Is. ii. 10 ; St. Athanasius, Ad Dracont., iv. ; St. 
 Epiphanius, Adv. Hceres., xxvii. 6; St. John Chrysostom, In 2 Tim, 
 Horn. X. 3. 
 
SAINT PAUL'S DELIVERANCE. 89 
 
 has had its weight with even the radical criticism of our 
 times. To the thinking of even the most sceptical, Saint 
 Paul's journey into Spain scarcely admits of a doubt.^ It 
 would ill become us to be more exigent than they. 
 
 Unfortunately the fact of his having labored there is 
 the only advantage gained ; not a detail has come down 
 to us concerning the Apostle's ministry on this frontier 
 of the ancient world. All that we can infer is that the 
 Apostle must have made the journey by means of the 
 coasting barks which plied their trade from one end of 
 the Mediterranean to the other. If he adopted this usual 
 route of travel, he could not have passed along the shores 
 of Gaul without touching somewhere. At one or another 
 of these ports he must have landed in France, consecrated 
 it by his prayers, and obtained for it that it should become 
 what it is to this day, a land of Apostles, a most Chris- 
 tian folk. 
 
 God removed Paul from Eome on the eve of that cruel 
 trial which was about to afflict this Church. He removed 
 him as he had kept Peter away likewise, in order that 
 these two Apostles might have time to finish their work. 
 Nevertheless their little flock was not to be left untended. 
 According to all appearances several of Paul's disciples 
 remained there.^ But, most important of all, they had in 
 their hands a Book, wherefrom they could breathe again 
 the faith, the teaching, the very spirit of the Apostle to 
 the Gentiles. Thereby I allude to the work which Saint 
 Luke put the finishing touches to under his master's eyes 
 during the last few days of his imprisonment. These in- 
 spired pages are so clearly linked with the preaching of 
 Saint Paul that, to show how far they seconded it, we 
 must needs enter into certain details, and for this purpose 
 drop the thread of our narrative for a while. 
 
 The beginnings of our Faith are retraced by Saint Luke 
 in two books of a great and simple beauty. The Life of 
 the Saviour is told in the first ; in the second, that of the 
 
 1 " Weighty reasons induce us to believe that he carried out his project 
 of a journey to Spain." Eenan, Antichrist, p. 106. 
 
 2 Hebr. xiii. 23. 
 
90 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 Church, up to the imprisonment of Saint Paul. There is 
 nothing to indicate that the author had had in mind this 
 twofold picture from the outset. His original purpose, 
 probably, went no further than to put in writing the oral 
 Gospel in the form which the Apostle of the Gentiles was 
 wont to deliver it to his congregations ; in other words, to 
 repeat what Saint Matthew had done for the Christians 
 of Jerusalem, and Saint Mark for the disciples of Peter. 
 The charm and success of this first painting suggested of 
 itself a longing for a companion work upon the Acts of the 
 Apostles, and thus gave rise to the work which bears that 
 name. 
 
 That both works came from the same pen, there is 
 no doubt ; ^ throughout we find the same style, the 
 same favorite turns of speech, the same manner in 
 composition.''^ The author introduces himself in the 
 book of the Acts as the companion of Paul in his last 
 journeyings, but without giving his name, which is fur- 
 nished us by the manuscripts of the third Gospel,^ as well 
 
 1 I shall not weary the reader with the discussion of the question as to 
 what sources the author may have used iu the composition of his work, — 
 a question overmuch debated in our day ! Certain modern critics have 
 exercised their imagination on this theme to such good purpose as to 
 discover as many as eight distinct revisions in a work wherein, on the con- 
 trary, there seems to reign a perfect unity of thought and purpose. Jiingst, 
 £>ie Quellen der Apostelgeschichte (Gotha, 1895), will give the reader ample 
 information concerning these hypotheses. The arbitrary and exaggerated 
 character of these phantasies is at last causing reaction among more rea- 
 sonable thinkers. See in particular the edition of the Acts recently pub- 
 lished by Professor Blass : Acta Apostoloriivi, sive Lucae, ad Theophilum, 
 liber alter (Gcittingen, 1895). If the author of the Acts was, as he states, 
 Paul's fellow-traveller, he would have had no need of other than his own 
 personal recollections when narrating events in which he took part. 
 As for the others, he had the testimony of Christians in Jerusalem and 
 of the Apostolical men among whom he lived, Paul, his master, Peter, 
 James, Philip, Mark, etc. Even the discourses which he inserts in his 
 work do not prove that he had any written documents at hand ; reduced as 
 they are for the most pai't to a few sentences, they are in all probability but 
 abstracts of the original, and give us merely the essential groundwork of 
 their ideas. 
 
 2 See Beelen, Commentarius in Act. Apost., Prolegomena, pp. 4, 5 ; 
 Zeller, Die Apostelgesch., pp. 387 et seq., 414 et seq. 
 
 ^ All bear the heading, BvayyeXiov Kara AovKav, or an analogous title : 
 Kara Aovkuv (B. F. 5<) ; AovKas (A°-), etc. 
 
THE WORK OF SAINT LUKE. 91 
 
 as by Tradition. He is none other, as we know, than the 
 Saint Luke w^hose name has been mentioned so often in 
 the course of this narrative. According to Eusebius and 
 Saint Jerome, this disciple of the Apostle to the Gentiles 
 was born at Antioch,i of a Pagan family, who had him 
 instructed in Greek literature, in the art of elegant speak- 
 ing in that tongue, and in the practical science of medi- 
 cine.2 The exercise of his profession must have led him 
 far away from his native town, since it was at Troas that 
 he met Paul and became his follower.^ It is said that he 
 combined the art of painting with the practice of medicine, 
 and bequeathed to the first believers several portraits, 
 among them one of the Saviour, His Holy Mother, and the 
 Apostles. This tradition, of Greek origin, is open to sus- 
 picion.^ But though Luke may never literally have plied 
 the brush, he deserves no less the painter's high renown, 
 because of his skill in coloring his narrative ; he has left 
 us a series of pictures as striking and animated to-day as 
 in the age of the Apostles. 
 
 In what place and at what time did he finish his work ? 
 His last history, the book of the Acts, so brusquely inter- 
 rupted, makes us think of Eome and the close of Paul's 
 captivity,^ — that is to say, somewhere about the year 64. 
 The Apostle once liberated, made haste to set out for 
 Spain, and, according to all appearances, would seem to 
 have taken his habitual travelling comrade with him. 
 The latter, desiring to leave his second work with Eoman 
 friends, and forced to finish it at once, summed up in one 
 passage the two years which the Apostle had just spent 
 in prison. This hypothesis explains so naturally the 
 sudden break in the story, his silence concerning the later 
 labors and the death of Saint Paul, that it is very gen- 
 erally adopted.^ 
 
 1 Eusebius, Histor. Eccles., iii. iv. ; St. Jerome, De Vir., ch. 7. 
 
 2 Coloss. iv. 14. 3 Acts xvi. 8-10. 
 
 * See Tillemoiit, Memoires pour servir a I'histoire ecclesiastique, Saint 
 Luc., vol. ii. p. 137. 
 
 5 Acts xxviii. 30, 31. 
 
 6 " Historia usque ad biennium Romse commorantis Pauli pervenit, id 
 
92 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 As for the Gospel of Saint Luke, it is self-evident that 
 its composition preceded that of the Acts. Probably it 
 was written in the period already discussed,^ during Paul's 
 imprisonment at Csesarea. The prospect of the Apostle's 
 detention being prolonged, the abandoned condition of the 
 Churches accustomed to be encouraged by his words, the 
 opportunity of meeting in Judsea the eye-witnesses of 
 the Saviour's life, and, by their aid, of completing the Glad 
 Tidings as preached by Paul, — all these circumstances 
 impelled Luke to yield to the promptings of the Holy 
 Ghost. Together they make the date I have assigned to 
 the completion of his first work the likeliest one as yet 
 proposed. It is possible, however, that it was not pub- 
 lished and given out until after his arrival in Eome. 
 
 The Author dedicates his two books to Theophilus, an 
 unknown and perhaps fictitious personage. Even in the 
 first century, scholars like Origenand Saint Epiphanius 
 considered this name as merely a generic term, meant to 
 designate any one who loves God or is beloved of Him.^ 
 Whatever opinion one may adopt in this regard, the nature 
 of the work declares plainly that the Evangelist had in 
 mind some particular body of believers. He is writing for 
 those born in the Gentile world, — for Greeks, as Origen 
 and Saint Jerome tell us.^ Hence his care to avoid any 
 subject offensive to Pagan ears, and to emphasize, on the 
 contrary, everything which does them honor or might 
 increase their hopes of salvation. 
 
 This constant preoccupation of mind is made manifest 
 to any one who simply compares the same facts as related 
 by Saint Matthew and Saint Luke. In the first Gospel, 
 which was intended for the Hebrews, we encounter this 
 command of the Lord to His Apostles : " Go ye not unto 
 
 est usque ad quartum Neronis annum, ex quo intelligimus in ea urbe 
 librum esse compositum." S. Jerome, De vir. ill. vii. This testimonj'-, 
 which Professor Harnack makes light of, deserves, according to Professor 
 Blass, all the respectful consideration which Catholic Tradition has ever 
 accorded it. 
 
 ^ St. Paul and His Missiojis, chap. xvii. 
 
 2 Origen, In Lucam Horn., i. ; St. Epiphanius, Hceres., xxi. 7. 
 
 3 Origen, In Matt., vol. i. ; St. Jerome, Epist. ad Dora., 20. 
 
THE WORK OF SAINT LUKE. 93 
 
 the Gentiles, neither enter into the cities of the Samari- 
 tans ; go ye rather unto the lost sheep of the house of 
 Israel." 1 Saint Luke omits this prohibition. Saint 
 Matthew reports literally another sentence of the Saviour : 
 " If you salute your brethren only, what do you more 
 than others ? Do not even the Gentiles so ? " ^ Saint 
 Luke softens the severity of this line ; he says, " Sinners 
 do as much." ^ A score of precautionary measures analo- 
 gous to this might be cited ; but what principally charac- 
 terizes Saint Luke's work is that same anxiety to omit 
 nothing which might breathe the hope of salvation into 
 Gentile souls which characterizes all the works of Saint 
 Paul. There is hardly a page where this intention is not 
 apparent. The genealogy of the Christ, which starts with 
 Abraham in the first Gospel,* in Saint Luke's goes back 
 to Adam,^ designing to show thereby that not only the 
 Jewish people but all humankind, though involved in the 
 fall of the first man, are raised up by the new Adam and 
 in Him regain grace and life. The Angels hovering over 
 the cradle of the Christ sing of a peace offered unto all 
 "men of good will."^ Simeon, in the Temple, adores 
 Jesus as " the Salvation prepared before the face of all 
 nations, the Light destined to enlighten the Gentiles." ^ 
 The same Gentiles take the precedence over Israel, 
 beginning with the very first sermon at Nazareth. The 
 Saviour, when repulsed by His fellow-countrymen, tells 
 them whither the great gifts disdained by the chosen 
 people shall be transferred, — unto Pagans : " There were 
 widows in Israel in the days of Elias, what time the 
 heavens were shut up three years and six months, inso- 
 much as there was a great famine throughout all the land, 
 and Elias was not sent to any one of them, save unto 
 a widow of Sarepta, in the land of the Sidonians. And 
 there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Eliseus 
 the Prophet, and none of them was cleansed save Naaman 
 
 1 Matt. X. 5, 6. 5 Luke iii, 38. 
 
 2 Ibid., V. 47. 6 lbicl.,i. 14. 
 
 3 Lukevi. 32, 33. "• Ibid., ii. 30-32. 
 * Matt. i. 1. 2. 
 
94 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 the Syrian ! " ^ The same deference to the Gentiles ap- 
 pears in the narrative of John Baptist's preaching. Saint 
 Matthew mentions only Jews as present ; Saint Luke tells 
 how the Forerunner proclaimed the Messiah's coming to 
 all, without distinction, — to publicans and to Pagan sol- 
 diers.'-^ It would take too long to turn over page after 
 page of Saint Luke's version after this fashion : what I 
 wisli to remark concerning the plan pursued throughout 
 his two works will complete what is omitted here and 
 will prove that everywhere this disciple of Paul was 
 addressing the very same audience, the very same readers 
 as was his master, — a Gentile folk. 
 
 This unanimity of views and teaching appeared from 
 the very beginning so manifestly in Saint Luke's first book, 
 his Gospel, that Antiquity, with one voice, attributed it 
 to the Apostle of the Gentiles. " Luke," they said, " did 
 no more than put in writing, as it were, setting in order 
 and editing, what he had heard Paul preach." ^ If we are 
 to believe these witnesses, the Evangelist's part in the 
 work bearing his name would be very trifling; it is 
 impossible, however, to restrict it to this extent^ for, in 
 his preface. Saint Luke gives us a very different idea as 
 to the originality of his labors and of the end he had in 
 view : " Forasmuch as many," he says, " have already set 
 themselves to relate the story of those things which 
 occurred among us, as they have been handed down to us 
 by those who from the beginning have been eye-witnesses 
 and ministers of the Word, I too have seen fit, after ha,ving 
 examined all things with care from the outset, to give to 
 thee in writing the whole order of events, dear Theophilus, 
 that so thou mayest know the certainty of the things 
 wherein thou hast been instructed."^ 
 
 From this it follows that Saint Luke was not content 
 with merely writing down some oft-heard evangelical 
 
 1 Luke iv. 25-27. 2 Matt. iii. 5, 7 ; Luke iii. 7, 12, H. 
 
 3 " LuciB digestum Paulo adscribere solent." Tertulliau, Adv. Mar- 
 cionem, iv. 5. "Lucas sectator Pauli, quod ab illo prjedieabatur Evan- 
 gelium in librocondidit." St. Ireu;eus, Cont. Hcer., iii. 1. Cf. Muratorian 
 Fragment., i. 2-7, etc, 
 
 * Luke i. 1-4. 
 
THE WORK OF SAINT LUKE. 95 
 
 version ; that his work is not that of a mere scribe, but of 
 an historian ; that he goes back to the sources, scrutiniz- 
 ing them carefully, and that from them he is constructing 
 an orderly narrative which is properly his own. Doubt- 
 less, for him, Paul is always the principal authority, " the 
 master, the enlightener," as Tertullian calls him ; ^ but 
 besides him he has not failed to consult " those who from 
 the beginning have seen these things with their own eyes." 
 Frequent occasions were offered him to consult these eye- 
 witnesses of the earliest events. In Rome, he must have 
 talked with Peter ; in Csesarea, with Philip the Deacon, 
 in Jerusalem, with James the Less, perhaps even with 
 the Mother of Jesus. Many contend that it is to this 
 Holy Virgin that he owes the story of the Saviour's Child- 
 hood, and the supposition is far from unlikely.^ 
 
 Were the first two Gospels among the documents 
 which Luke had at hand ? This none of the Fathers 
 would lead us to infer, and Saint Jerome would seem to 
 be echoing their general opinion when he asserts that 
 Luke wrote down what he had heard, not what he had 
 seen,^ or what he had gathered from the foregoing Gos- 
 pels. It does not follow from this that he ignored the 
 work of his predecessors. We have just heard him in 
 his preface allude to the many narratives of the Saviour's 
 life which were current in his time ; why suppose that 
 among these testimonies, those alone should have escaped 
 him which were inspired by God ? So, then, according to 
 all probability, he knew them ; but by so saying we are 
 not admitting that from them he slavishly copied pas- 
 
 1 Tertullian, Adv. Marcionem, book iv. chap. 2. 
 
 2 Resell claims that he has discovered in our present Gospel the traces 
 of two earlier narratives which St. Luke made use of: 1. A history of the 
 childhood of the Saviour, written in Hebrew, to which he gives the name 
 of the "Generations of Jesus ;" 2. A primitive Hebrew Gospel, entitled 
 Td Xoyta 'lijaou, and containing the words and deeds of Jesus. Aussrj-canon- 
 ische Paralleltexte zu den Evangellen : Paralleltexte zu Lucas gesammelt und 
 untersucht von Resch. [Texte und Untersuchutigen, 1895). The existence 
 of any such documents is too problematical for us to give them a place 
 among the original texts which St. Luke examined when composing his 
 work. 
 
 ^ St. Jerome, Commentariorum in Evang. Matt. Prologus. 
 
96 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 sages of his Gospel where the same events are related in 
 terms more or less similar. How, indeed, did it happen, 
 if he is really copying from them, that in telling the same 
 facts he omits many interesting details ? Why, for no 
 reason whatever, should he change so many words and 
 phrases ? And why does he pass over altogether a no- 
 table part of the incidents recounted by his forerunners ? 
 The one plausible explanation of these differences is 
 that which we have seen elsewhere, when treating of the 
 composition of the Gospels.^ For the early Christians no 
 document, however highly authorized it might be, could 
 be compared with a recital of the Saviour's words and 
 acts coming from the very lips of witnesses of His life. 
 This they never tired of listening to, for in that historical 
 catechism of the primitive Church it often happened that 
 some new trait, some new detail, till then omitted, would 
 occur to the narrator's remembrance and thereby enriched 
 the treasury of belief. Handed down in this wise, the 
 Glad Tidings did not, like the written Gospels, assume an 
 immutable form ; it still preserved the sap, the ceaseless 
 fecundity of life. It would seem that, in his preface 
 Saint Luke is referring principally to these oral tradi- 
 tions/'^ Free and unfettered as they may have seemed 
 within their hallowed bounds, the habitual rehearsal of 
 the same facts, their anxiety to repeat them with the 
 utmost fidelity, must have brought about a certain fixity 
 of expression ; at least on all important points they were 
 bound unavoidably to repeat the same words and to tell 
 the same things. Numerous passages where it would 
 seem vSaint Luke is using Saint Matthew and Saint Mark 
 as his models are in all probability merely extracts made 
 by him from this common fund, — the Spoken Gospel. 
 From it he borrowed, as did the two Synoptics before 
 him, without stint, as he was moved by the breath of the 
 Spirit from on High.^ 
 
 1 St. Peter, chap. xii. 1 ; The Evangelical Preaching. 
 
 ^ Ka^cbs Trapidocrav rjfjuv oi air dpxv^ avrbirTCLL Kai viryjp^Tai yevofievoL 
 Tov \6yov. Luke i. 2. 
 
 2 Schanz, Comentar ilber das EvangeUiim des Heiligen Lucas,^. 12etseq.; 
 
THE WORK OF SAINT LUKE, 97 
 
 To me, in proportion as the influence of Matthew and 
 Mark appears more and more restricted and often doubtful, 
 so much the more does that of Saint Paul seem manifest 
 throughout the whole of his disciple's work. Saint Luke 
 asserts it himself ; his design is to prove to his readers, 
 by the acts of the Saviour and His Apostles, the sound- 
 ness of the teachings they had received.^ Now we have 
 seen to whom he addresses these words, — to Christians 
 instructed by Saint Paul. Consequently it was the cus- 
 tomary teaching of the Apostle to the Gentiles which he 
 intends to confirm by a recital of the Evangelical Deeds. 
 Thereby he means to illumine, illustrate, and as it were 
 revivify, the abstract doctrines of his master, — the Em- 
 pire wielded by Sin over the World; Eedemption, through 
 Faith in the Christ ; Salvation, offered to Pagan and Jews 
 alike ; the necessity, the universality, the divine riches 
 of Grace. In Jesus, Saint Matthew had portrayed the 
 Messiah ; Saint Mark, the Son of God ; while Saint 
 Luke represents Him as the Saviour of the world, a 
 Saviour compassionate and helpful to all alike, no dis- 
 tinguisher of persons, no exclusive heritage of any race, 
 religious state, or moral system. Everywhere of course 
 the order followed by the Saviour in the Synagogue at 
 Nazareth ^ is faithfully observed, — to the Jews first, then 
 to the Pagans this offer of Salvation is made. But upon 
 its rejection by the former the door is flung wide open to 
 the Gentile world, and Saint Luke delights in showing 
 the eagerness of the latter to fill the place disdained 
 by the chosen race. The Samaritan so despised by 
 Israel,^ takes the place of honor in the third Gospel. 
 'T is neither Priest nor Levite that cares for the hapless 
 traveller maltreated by bandits and left groaning along- 
 
 Traditions hypothese : Tilh. Quartahchr. (1885), pp. 216 ef seq.; Cornely, 
 Tntroductio, Sections 45-51 ; Reithmaj^r, Einleit, pp. 345 et seq. ; Revue 
 Biblique, articles by the R. P. Semeria (1892, pp. 520-559), by M. Tabbe 
 Batiffol (1894, pp. 377-381), by the R. P. Lagrange (1895, pp. 4-22 ; 1896, 
 pp. 5-38). 
 
 1 Luke i.3-4. 2 ibi,|_^ ^y^ 16-30. 
 
 ^ See The Christ the Son of God, voL i. ; Appendix v., The 
 Samaritans. 
 
 7 
 
98 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 side the Jericho road ; 't is the good Samaritan ; and 
 Jesus gives him as a model to that Doctor of the Law 
 who came to tempt Him.^ Of the ten lepers cured, one 
 alone returns to throw himself at the Saviour's feet and 
 offer his thanks, — " and he was a Samaritan." " Where 
 then are the nine others ? " asks Jesus. " There are not 
 found that returned to give thanks to God, save only this 
 stranger." ^ 
 
 The same consideration is shown to the Publicans, an- 
 other class pursued by the people's scorn. Saint Luke 
 depicts them as submitting willingly to baptism at the 
 hands of John,^ in like manner thronging about Christ, 
 happy at welcoming Him to their homes and entertaining 
 Him at their boards. Great is the scandal thereby given 
 to the Pharisees, who point Him out as a glutton, a wine- 
 bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners.* Jesus' only 
 reply to this is a description of the Pharisee praying in 
 the Temple, with haughty mien, disdain curling his lips ; 
 far behind him in the background stands the Publican, 
 not daring so much as to raise his eyes from the ground, 
 beating his breast and murmuring, " My God, be merciful 
 unto me who am a sinner ! " 
 
 "I declare unto you," the Saviour concludes, "this 
 latter went on his homeward way justified, and not the 
 former." ^ 
 
 Nay, lower still in the social scale, in the very sink of 
 worldly iniquity. Saint Luke delights to portray the tri- 
 umphs of God's grace. Two of his most touching pic- 
 tures are inspired by this thought : one, the Magdalene 
 still unshrived, kissing and bathing with her tears the 
 feet of Jesus ; the other, the Magdalene purified, rapt in 
 ecstasy at her Saviour's feet, and receiving from Him the 
 assurance that she has chosen the better part. ^ 
 
 This, doubtless, is but the fulfilment of the words re- 
 peated by the three other Synoptical writers, " I am come 
 
 1 Luke X. 25-37. ^ Ibid., iii. 12-13. 
 
 2 Ibid., xvii. 11-19. 
 
 * Ibid., V. 27-39; vii. 29-34 ; xv. 1-2 ; xix. 2-10. 
 
 6 Ibid., xviii. 9-14. « Ibid., vii. 37-48 ; x. 38-42. 
 
TEE WORK OF SAINT LUKE. 99 
 
 to call, not the righteous, but sinners to repentance ; " ^ 
 not one of them, however, endeavors to illustrate this 
 principle in action as does Saint Luke. 
 
 The Acts, even more than his Gospel, serve to set this 
 economy of Eedemption in more striking relief. In the 
 course of the first thirty years of the Church's existence, 
 the salvation so persistently rejected by Israel was being 
 offered to all such as the Jews abhorred as doomed to 
 infamy and sin. Peter takes the first step by calling 
 down the Heavenly Spirit upon the Samaritans, and on 
 the Pagans of Csesarea.^ Paul follows in his footsteps: 
 once driven from the Synagogues which he had striven 
 in vain to evangelize, he seldom seeks to return thither 
 save to warn the Jews of the Lord's sentence of disin- 
 heritance: "You were the first to whom it behooved us to 
 proclaim the Word of God, but seeing you reject it and 
 deem yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, we are 
 going to the Pagans."^ 
 
 To this Gentile world Saint Luke holds out no other 
 means of salvation save only Faith, which his master 
 represented as sole source of justification and holiness. 
 This Faith, working through Charity, is all that is needed 
 to transform men's hearts and infuse therein a new life, 
 that of God Himself. Examples of such wondrous trans- 
 formations abound. Within a few hours Philip makes a 
 Christian of the eunuch from Ethiopia. 
 
 "Who hinders me from being baptized?" asks this 
 Gentile. 
 
 " If you believe with your whole heart," the Evangelist 
 replies, "you may be."* 
 
 Still more rapid is the working of grace during Peter's 
 preaching to the Pagans of C?esarea. God's Spirit does 
 not wait for the Apostle to finish speaking, but forthwith 
 descends upon them and communicates to them the Gift 
 of Tongues. Peter's companions are overwhelmed with 
 awe at the suddenness of this manifestation ; he himself 
 
 1 Matt. ix. 13 ; Mark ii. 17 ; Luke v. 32. 
 
 2 Acts viii. 14-15 ; x. 44-47 ; xi. 1-18. 
 
 3 Ibid., xiii. 46. * Ibid., viii. 26-39. 
 
100 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 can but cry out, '* Can any one refuse them baptism ? 
 They have received the Holy Ghost as well as we." ^ At 
 once he orders that they be baptized in the name of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ. Paul and Barnabas spend but one 
 week in Antioch of Pisidia,^ yet they leave behind them 
 a goodly community of believers, "filled with joy and 
 with the Holy Ghost." ^ Facts like these need no com- 
 mentary to make men realize the might of regeneration 
 inherent in Faith, its all-power fulness in purifying and 
 sanctifying, aye, in creating a supernatural life in the 
 souls of men, even as God created the world in one out- 
 burst of Love. 
 
 Nor does Saint Luke excel simply in making us com- 
 prehend the effects of his master's Theology; he is even 
 happier in displaying its most lovable side. The third 
 Gospel, though always the same austere revelation granted 
 by Jesus to the Apostle of the Gentiles, becomes in the 
 hands of his disciple a veritable balm of life poured into 
 the wounds of sad humanity ; it is essentially a proclama- 
 tion of " forgiveness," * " of mercy poured forth from gen- 
 eration to generation,"^ — the Gospel of the Heart of 
 Jesus. Saint Luke alone has limned those first rays of 
 the reign of loving-kindness which emanated from the 
 cradle of the Divine Babe : John, while still in his 
 mother's womb, is thrilled by the nearness of the 
 Christ ; ^ the Forerunner is charged to preach salvation, 
 the remission of sins through the bowels of mercy of our 
 God;^ the angels, choiring over the Saviour's crib, sing 
 " Peace on earth unto men of good will." ^ 
 
 In the recital of the public life of Jesus there is ever 
 the same underlying thought. His first act in the Syna- 
 gogue at Nazareth is to read this significant oracle from 
 Isaiah : " The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me. He hath 
 anointed Me to preach the Glad Tidings to the poor, 
 deliverance to captives, sight to the blind, to set at lib- 
 
 1 Acts X. 44-49. 5 Ibid., i. 50. 
 
 2 Ibid., xiii. 14, 42, 44. e j^id., i. 41. 
 
 * Ibid., xiii. 52. ' Ibid., i. 77-78. 
 
 * Lukeiv. 19. 8 ibid., ii. 14. 
 
THE WORK OF SAINT LUKE. 101 
 
 erty them that are bruised." ^ To James and John, who 
 would fain call down fire from heaven upon the city of 
 the Samaritans which had spurned them, the Lord makes 
 answer, " You know not what spirit you are of. The Son 
 of Man is not come to destroy men, but to save them." ^ 
 And how His Heart beats high with joy at the thought 
 that the Gospel, hidden from the wise and the learned, 
 is revealed to His little ones ! ^ And then that cry of 
 Divine Love, '' I am come to spread a fire on the earth, 
 and what will I, if not that it be kindled now ? " * He 
 stays the arm raised to chop down the barren fig-tree. 
 " Let be," he says, " till I dig about its roots and dung it : 
 perchance it will bear fruit." ^ 
 
 In Saint Luke as in Saint Matthew, small is the num- 
 ber of the elect,^ narrow the gate of Heaven, and a manful 
 struggle lies before him who would win therein ; ^ but 
 Jesus stands waiting there, renewing our courage, show- 
 ing us that besides the reprobates whose unbelief enchains 
 them, weeping and grinding their teeth, there is a whole 
 multitude of the elect entering the Banquet Hall. " They 
 shall come from the East and from the West, from the 
 North and from the South, and shall sit at the table in 
 the Kingdom of God." ^ A strange sight, assuredly, this 
 festival hall, where, jumbled together, beggars and crip- 
 ples, the blind and the maimed are occupying seats dis- 
 damed by those guests of rank who were the first to be 
 invited to the board ! And as there are still many empty 
 places, " Go forth ! " the master bids his servant, " go out 
 into the highways and along the hedges and compel them 
 to enter, that my house may be filled ! " ^ We well know 
 whence came these last recruits summoned by the Saviour: 
 from the dregs of the populace, publicans, sinners, courte- 
 sans.^^ Seeing Him in such company, the Pharisees are 
 
 1 Luke iv. 18-19. * Ibid., xii. 49. 
 
 2 Ibid., ix. 52-56. ^ i^d., xiii. 6-9. 
 8 Ibid X., 21. 
 
 6 Matt. xix. 30 ; xx. 16, Luke xiii. 30. 
 
 7 Ibid., vii. 13, 14 ; Luke xiii. 24. 
 
 8 Luke xiii. 25-30. » Ibid,, xiv. 16-23. 
 M Matt. xxi. 31, 32 ; Luke vi. 34-50. 
 
102 LAST YEAIiS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 loud in their protestations of horror.^ But Jesus meets 
 their mutterings with some of His most touching para- 
 bles : the prodigal son ; ^ the groat lost but found again ;^ 
 the shepherd leaving his flock in the wilderness while he 
 hastens in search of the strayed sheep, then returning 
 bearing it upon his shoulders in great joy; "for there 
 shall be more joy in Heaven over one sinner that re- 
 penteth than over ninety and nine just persons that 
 need no repentance."* 
 
 Such is the picture Saint Luke has painted for us of 
 the Divine Master : above all and unto all a Saviour, so 
 merciful and so tender-hearted that even in the Magda- 
 lene's sin He sees naught but the love whence it sprang, 
 and which now wipes it clean away ; " Manifold the sins 
 forgiven her because she hath loved much : he loveth less 
 to whom less is forgiven."^ Paul is thinking of these 
 words when he declares that "the Law has intervened 
 that sin might be multiplied, that there where sin had 
 abounded, Grace might be much more abundant." ^ Yet 
 it is only when we set this commentary of the Apostle 
 side by side with the Evangelist's text that we realize 
 all we owe to Saint Luke, — how, by inspiration from 
 on High, that figure of Jesus Whom Paul preached is, 
 so to say, become more tender and gracious under the 
 brush of his disciple. It is no longer the Christ, clothed 
 in dazzling majesty, Whom he describes to us, combining 
 in Himself "all the treasures of wisdom and of knowl- 
 edge," ^ __« the Plenitude of the Godhead; "« a Christ 
 Who is "Image of the invisible God,"^ Master of that 
 world which He beholds at His feet,^^ seated at the right 
 hand of the Father,^^ hisrh above the Angels and all crea- 
 tion ! Here we have rather that Christ Whom Paul met 
 upon the highway leading up to Damascus, felling to 
 earth the malevolent Scribe, it is true, yet only that He 
 
 1 Luke XV. 1, 2. ^ Coloss. ii. 3. 
 
 2 Ibid., XV. 11-32. 8 Ibid.,ii. 9. 
 
 3 Ibid., XV. 8-10. 9 Ibid., i. 15. 
 
 4 Ibid., XV. 4-7. 10 Ephes. i. 22. 
 
 6 Ibid., vii. 47. " Coloss. ill. 1 ; Ephes. i. 20, 21. 
 
 6 Rom. V. 20. 
 
THE WORK OF SAINT LUKE. 103 
 
 may appeal most gently to him : " Saul, Saul, why perse- 
 cutest thou Me ? " 1 
 
 From beginning to end Saint Luke is ever searching 
 for similar traits in the Life of Jesus, his aim always to 
 gather up such words and acts as are most fitted to win 
 the hearts of men. He is the only one of the Evangelists 
 who has handed down to us that prayer of Jesus upon the 
 Cross, " Father, forgive them 1 They know not what they 
 do." 2 Matthew and Mark tell us only of the blasphemies 
 uttered by the thieves crucified at either hand ; ^ Luke 
 alone gives us the last word, the coup de grace, which 
 converted one of them, as well as the accompanying 
 dialogue, which so marvellously illustrates the all-power- 
 fulness of Faith. 
 
 " Lord, remember me when Thou shalt come into Thy 
 Kingdom ! " 
 
 " Of a truth I say unto thee : this very day thou shalt 
 be with Me in Paradise." * 
 
 Certainly, while trying to distinguish in the third 
 Gospel the share due to the disciple from that due to 
 the Apostle, we should be far from forgetting how greatly 
 Paul loved the Lord and made others love Him. No one 
 was ever completely so consumed by that Love Divine, 
 none has ever discoursed thereof in terms more ardent ; 
 but the flame which glows within him, which he himself 
 enkindled in men's hearts burns upon the heights ; Paul's 
 concept of the Christ is ever that of the loftiest souls. It 
 would seem that God had inspired Saint Luke to bring 
 this Divine Saviour within the limits of our weakness. 
 The Jesus Whom he depicts for our adoration is the 
 refuge and salvation of the little ones of this earth, the 
 unlearned and the lowly, the Crucified Kedeemer, Who 
 reappears in the Upper Chamber, stretching forth His 
 pierced hands to the Apostles, showing them His wounded 
 side to draw them thither and press them close to His 
 Heart : " Peace be unto you all ; 't is I, be not afraid." ^ 
 
 1 Acts ix. 4. 3 Matt, xxvii. 44 ; Mark xv. 32. 
 
 2 Luke xxiii. 34. * Luke xxiii. 42, 43. 
 
 5 Ibid., xxiv. 36. A reading preserved by the Vulgate which is to be 
 found in quite a number of MSS. (G. P., etc. ) and very many versions. 
 
104 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 Saint Luke had need of very special gifts thus to com- 
 pose a Gospel of the Glad Tidings, which should find its 
 way to every sincere and loving heart. And Heaven 
 lavished upon him all that was necessary for his task. 
 In contrast to the other writers of the New Testament, 
 who were all Hebrews bearing the stamp of their race 
 and age, he is Greek by birth as well as by education ; 
 he is endowed with its universal genius, — its order, its 
 simplicity, clearness of thought, a charming diction, a 
 wonderful facility in conceiving, expressing, hinting at 
 what he will, — in a word, its "sweetness and light." 
 These qualities render his work all the more attractive, 
 inasmuch as imagery and feeling dominate it throughout : 
 they render lovable and accessible to all that doctrine 
 which the strenuous flights of thought bear so far aloft 
 in the Epistles of Saint Paul, but which were too often 
 obscured to the eyes of the plain people by the subtilty 
 and unfamiliar method of the Apostle's reasoning. Luke 
 hardly ever has recourse to such dialectics ; he narrates, 
 explains, portrays the facts in such luminous pictures 
 that Christian Art has always gone to him first to seek 
 inspiration. The frescos and stained windows of our 
 temples are for the most part reproductions of scenes in 
 the third Gospel or the Acts. To the same source we 
 owe the hymns which, re-echoed there, still thrill our 
 souls, the Magnificat . . . the Gloria in excelsis . . . 
 the Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel . . . the Nunc 
 DiMiTTis. Luke it was who preserved these songs, and 
 thus laid upon the cradle of the new-born Church the 
 first flowers of our Liturgy. 
 
 The sphere of his influence in the preaching of the 
 Gospel must, therefore, be conceded to have been indeed 
 considerable ; without likening his performance, or even 
 considering it as equal, to that of Saint Paul, his master, 
 it certainly aided, and in some respects completed it ; 
 taken together, the two form a body of revelation 
 wherein nothing essential is lacking. Had the other 
 writings of the New Testament been lost to us together 
 with so many other early documents, the twofold testi- 
 
THE WORK OF SAINT LUKE. 105 
 
 mony of Paul and his disciple would have sufficed to 
 preserve for us the Christ, His Theology, His Life, and 
 His Work. And this testimony of theirs is the most 
 important we possess, since our most determined foes 
 are forced to acknowledge its weight. No candid critic 
 nowadays denies the authenticity of the principal Epis- 
 tles of Paul ; none disputes the fact that somewhere in 
 the fifties, that is, about twenty years after the Saviour's 
 death, Luke joined company with the Apostle of the 
 Gentiles,^ and began his task of collecting the data he 
 has handed down to posterity concerning Jesus and His 
 Church. It is generally admitted, therefore, that here we 
 have witnesses to our Faith who were not remote from 
 its earliest origins, — with only the works of Paul and 
 his disciples we can study its first foundations. 
 
 1 Acts xvi. 10. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 THE MASSACRE OF THE CHRISTIANS OF ROME. 
 
 I. The Burning of Rome. 
 
 Saint Luke's work appeared at a period when it was 
 most needed by that Roman society which Nero day by 
 day was plunging deeper in an abyss of debauchery and 
 bloodshed. Paul has described it to us as it was in the 
 latter part of his imprisonment, "having their under- 
 standing darkened . . . their hearts hardened, no feeling 
 for morality, unbridled in their lusts ; ever eager in the 
 search for new impurities, and greedily gorging them- 
 selves therewith ; ^ " what they do in secret," he adds, 
 " modesty forbids me so much as to mention." ^ That the 
 Apostle still ventured to leave his faithful followers, de- 
 spite the danger they stood in of contagion, was due 
 doubtless to his appreciation of the fact that " their 
 loins were girt about with Truth, and shielded by the 
 buckler of Faith ; " ^ due likewise to the fact that in 
 " The Gospel of Peace," * which he had inspired his dis- 
 ciple to compile, he left with them a mighty armor, — 
 "the Word of Life,"^ — which should ward off all the 
 deadly onslaughts of the foe. The occasion was soon 
 to offer itself which should prove how far this confi- 
 dence was warranted by the event, for hardly had Paul 
 arrived in Spain when a persecution, as formidable as it 
 was unforeseen, assailed the Christians of Rome. 
 
 This tempest was one of the whirlwinds of madness 
 which swept down from the Palatine unnoticed and un- 
 
 1 Ephes. iv. 18, 19. ^ Ibid., vi. 15. 
 
 2 Ibid., V. 12. 6 Philip, ii. 16. 
 8 Ibid., vi. 14, 16. 
 
THE BURNING OF ROME. 107 
 
 checked, now that Burrhus and Seneca were no longer 
 there to stay their insensate fury. Nero, as we have 
 seen, was but the puppet of two councillors, or rather 
 two instigators of his fury, Tigellinus and Poppsea. 
 
 What power the former possessed was used solely to 
 gratify his avarice and revengefulness ; " he was a man in 
 naught save his appetite for crime." ^ Cornelius Sylla, 
 Eubellius Plautus,^ Octavia,^ were his first victims ; no 
 one ventures to record the list after Piso's conspiracy. 
 Denunciations, confiscations, torturings, bloodshed, — all 
 these but whetted his vilest instincts, which waxed daily 
 worse ; but at the time we are speaking of he stands forth 
 clearly as Nero's evil genius.* It was in the year 64 that 
 he gave his festival on Agrippa's Pool, to pander to the 
 passions of his master, — that festival of direful renown, 
 its excesses forming a fitting climax to this reign of 
 shame.^ In that same year the Christians were to real- 
 ize what ferocious lusts lurked in this creature, blighted 
 by sin from childhood, bred in an atmosphere of crime, 
 doomed to a lascivious old age, ending in suicide amid the 
 orgies of his foul crew.^ 
 
 The influence of Poppsea, though quite as disastrous to 
 the disciples of the Christ, was less degrading to Nero. 
 This woman, though destitute of moral sense, was never- 
 theless of high rank, and still possessed some spark of 
 nobility despite her dissolute life.''' True, she had sold 
 herself, but not without demanding haughtily her price, 
 even if it were to the dictating of new laws.^ A meek and 
 
 1 "Crudelitatum mox, deinde avaritiamet viriliasceleraexercuit . . ." 
 Tacitus, Histor., i. 72, 
 
 2 Tacitus, AnnaL, xiv. 57. 
 
 3 Ibid., xiv. 61-64 ; Suetonius, Nero, 35, 57 ; Dion Cassius, Ixii. 13. 
 * " . . . Corrupto ad omne facinus Neroue." Tacitus, Hist., i. 72. 
 ^ Tacitus, Anna/., xv. 37. 
 
 6 " Sophonius Tigellinus obscuris parentibus, fseda pueritia, impudica 
 senecta . . . accepto apud Sinuessanas aquas supremse necessitatis nuntio, 
 inter stupra concubinarura et oscula et deformes moras, sectis novacula 
 faucibus, infamem vitam foedavit etiara exitu sero et inhonesto. Tacitus, 
 Histor., i. 72. 'AcrcXyeia re Kal ixLaLipovlq. irdura^ tovs Kad' eavrbv avdpwpovs 
 vTrepd4>avTa. Dion Cassius, Ixii. 13. 
 
 7 Tacitus, AnnaL, xiii. 45. * Ibid., xiii. 46. 
 
108 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 gentle freedwoman named Actsea was then all-powerful 
 with Nero. Poppsea dared to characterize this liaison as 
 " low and slavish," ^ and succeeded, if not in breaking it off, 
 at least in weakening its bonds. Octavia, though aban- 
 doned, had still retained her position as wife and Queen. 
 Poppaea drove her from it. Then, as the people began to 
 mutter at the outrage offered to the daughter of Claudius, 
 she demanded her rival's head, and she had her way.^ 
 This crime proves that at certain times she was capable 
 of rivalling, if not excelling, Nero in ferocity. Usually, 
 however, her better instincts had the upper hand; she was 
 in sympathy with the patrician ladies, then so numerous, 
 for whom Eome and its ephemeral joys were not enough, 
 and who looked forward to a better world beyond the 
 tomb, and had visions of a light and peace and happiness 
 without shadow, without end.^ The secret of this future 
 some sought to discover from the " Mysteries " of Asia or 
 of Greece, or from the religions of the East ; ^ others had 
 recourse to the soothsayers of all races who haunted their 
 palaces.^ Poppsea's apartments were always open to such 
 as these ; but more learned counsellors than they, like- 
 wise, had found admittance therein, and had initiated 
 her in the love of Mosaism.^ Till death she remained a 
 devotee of Israel's God:^ instead of being burned, accord- 
 ing to Eoman customs, her body was embalmed, as among 
 the Jews.^ The intellectual assent she gave to their 
 teachings did not, as we have seen, prevent her from 
 committing base cruelties ; these simply harmonized with 
 the weaker side of the woman. Poppsea always, even in 
 her moments of coquetry, preserved a certain air of great- 
 
 1 "Neronem, pellice ancilla et adsiietudine Actes devinctum nil e con- 
 tubernio servili, nisi abjectum et sordidum traxisse." Tacitus, Annal.y 
 xii. 46. 
 
 2 Tacitus, xiv. 60-64. 
 
 8 Friedlaender, Moeurs Romaines, t. i. livre 5 ; Les Femmes. 
 * The worship of Isis, among others, was in high favor with them. 
 Juvenal, vi. 526 et seq. ; Tibullus i. iii. 23 et seq. 
 
 ^ Juvenal, vi. 542 et seq. "^ Tacitus, Histor.^ i. 22. 
 
 ^ Josephus, Antiq. Jud., xx. viii. 11 ; Vita, 3. 
 8 Tacitus, Annal., xvi. 6. 
 
THE BURNING OF ROME. 109 
 
 uess ; though she was so proud of the beauty which had 
 won her an empire, sparing nothing to enhance its charms, 
 
 — even to having five hundred she asses always in her 
 train in order to bathe in their milk,^ yet on the day that 
 her mirror told her that her efforts were in vain, and 
 that age was withering her loveliness, she cried on death, 
 rather than survive this loss.^ Mad vanity this ! Granted, 
 yet it betrays pride rather than corruption. However 
 terrible her crimes, she was always careful not to lower 
 herself, always to remain what she was by birth, a woman 
 of rank and exquisite distinction. No ornament was lack- 
 ing in the wardrobe of this paragon of patrician elegance, 
 not even the garb of modesty, whose allurements she 
 practised so well. " Very rarely did she appear in pub- 
 lic, and then always half veiled, perhaps because she 
 would not satisfy the starers, perhaps because thus she 
 but added to her charms."^ Sumptuous refinement,^ 
 brilliant wit, that of a delightful conversationalist,^ — all 
 these made one forget the courtesan under the finished 
 exterior of an ideal noblewoman. 
 
 Nero was deeply attached to her. His heart was won, 
 
 — indeed it is no exaggeration to assert that she was 
 the only woman he ever loved.^ So it came about that 
 after he had given her her death wound in one of his 
 fits of madness, so frantic was his remorse that he clung 
 despairingly to any and every one who reminded him of 
 her in form or feature, and pursued them as he had pur- 
 sued her, with his brutal love.'' 
 
 Poppsea's empire over him could not instil into Nero a 
 love for humanity and uprightness of living, — feelings 
 this woman knew naught of, — but it contributed toward 
 fostering in him a love for the arts and literature, for all 
 
 1 Pliny, Hist, natur., xxviii. 50. ^ Tacitus, Anna!., xii. 1. 45. 
 
 2 Dion Cassius, Ixii. 28, 
 
 * She even went so far as to have her favorite mules shod with gold. 
 Pliny, Hist, natur., xxxiii. 49. 
 
 ^ "Sermo comis nee absurdum ingenium.'" Tacitus, Anna!., xiii, 45. 
 
 6 " Poppaeam . . . dilexit unice." Suetonius, Nero, 35. 
 
 7 Suetonius, Nero, 35 ; Tacitus, Anna!., xvi. 6 ; Dion Cassius, Ixii. 28 ; 
 Ixiii. 12, 13. 
 
110 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 intellectual culture. Burrhus and Seneca, while they had 
 the duty of instructing the son of Agrippina, had not 
 failed in their task entirely ; their pupil, who, when left 
 to his own promptings, proved himself a monster of cru- 
 elty and debauchery, always, even amid his most abom- 
 inable exhibitions of passion, retained his tastes for poetry, 
 music, literary fame ; his unchanging ambition was to be 
 known as an artist, even if only as an actor, if necessary, 
 and we shall see that to this phase of his character he 
 was faithful to the end.^ 
 
 He but exhausted himself in his ridiculous efforts, for 
 his education had given him merely a smattering of the 
 arts. Of genius he had not a spark, and little, if any, 
 natural talent. He strove to paint, to carve, and to sing, 
 accompanying himself on the lyre, each fresh attempt 
 but emphasizing his mediocrity ; his verses did not lack 
 a certain easiness,^ but tliey were spoiled by a bombastic 
 style, false emphasis, and striving after effect. In the 
 hour of death he still posed in the presence of outraged 
 and rebellious Eome, while he racked his brain for the 
 most telling retort. True enough, these were the most 
 common faults of his day. Seneca himself is not exempt 
 from them, but, in him, the greatness of his thought 
 makes us forget the unlovely robes which trammel it. 
 Nero reflects his teacher only in his faults. His learning 
 was all summed up in a fanatic reverence for Greece, its 
 institutions, its mythological dreams, and in a wild desire 
 to imitate them. 
 
 Public games, held in so great esteem among the Hel- 
 lenes, had never gained foothold in Eome. The narrow 
 pride of the Quirites led them to regard these amusements 
 as dishonorable, and they abandoned them to the servile 
 classes ; Nero resolved to rescue them from this ignominy 
 by appearing in person as a charioteer in the Great Circus. 
 This was during the days when Burrhus and Seneca still 
 retained some vestige of influence over him, but they 
 realized their powerlessness to check this caprice of a 
 
 1 Suetonius, Nero, 39. 2 i|,ij.^ 52, 53, 
 
THE BURNING OF ROME. Ill 
 
 young madman made master of the world at twenty- 
 two; in the hope of avoiding worse extravagances, they 
 assisted him in this. 
 
 The main thing, it seemed to them, was to keep this 
 degrading spectacle as much as possible from public 
 sight ; to this end they chose the circus begun by Cali- 
 gula and continued by Claudius in the valley of the 
 Vatican ; ^ there at least they would not be in a public 
 domain, but surrounded by the wide-reaching gardens of 
 Nero. Thus, at first, the ruler had only his own courtiers 
 for spectators, but it was not long before their too perfunc- 
 tory applause palled on his ear ; the gates of the Imperial 
 Circus must be thrown ajar to admit the plebeian throngs 
 whose howls of delight completely upset the vainglorious 
 Ctesar. Thereafter he dreamt of nothing but the theatre, 
 forcing consular dignitaries, even patrician nobles to play 
 the parts of clowns and ribald louts ; then he would ap- 
 pear among them, lyre in hand, chanting his verses before 
 the populace and bent on their applause.^ Burrhus was 
 there among his own Prsetorians, his head bowed in shame, 
 groaning secretly, yet covering these follies by the pres- 
 tige of his presence, hoping thereby to shield the world 
 from a new reign of terror.^ 
 
 Nero's passion for everything Grecian had, on the 
 other hand, the merit of inspiring in him tastes more 
 becoming to a prince. He loved beautiful things, the 
 masterpieces of Hellas and the Orient, statues, precious 
 vases, anything of artistic interest, and he lavished his 
 gold to obtain them.* Especially in architecture, he let 
 
 1 An obelisk brought from Heliopolis and to-day standing in the circle 
 in front of St. Peter's. In that day the obelisk was located at the ex- 
 tremity of the long wall (La Spina) which divided the length of the cii-cus 
 in half. The drivers must needs turn their chariots around its spacious 
 pediment, covered with marble, upon which were erected a profusion of 
 statues, altars, obelisks, fountains, and trophies of every description. 
 
 2 Tacitus, Annal, xiv. 14-16 ; Suetonius, Nero, 11, 12, 21, 23, 24, 25, 
 27, 30 ; Dion Cassius, Ixi. 17-21 ; Ixii. 15. 
 
 3 " Accesserat cohors militum, centuriones tribunique, et moereus Bur- 
 rus ac laudans." Tacitus, Annal, xiv. 15. 
 
 * Suetonius, Nero, 47 ; Pliny, Histor. natur.y xxxvii. 7. 
 
112 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 his fantasies have full fling. From the Csesars, his pre- 
 decessors, he had inherited an estate upon the Palatine, 
 which in the beginning boasted of but a decent dwelling 
 occupied by Augustus ; ^ Tiberius, however, had notably 
 enlarged the scope of the original plan, while Caligula, 
 by extending it till it embraced the entire hill, trans- 
 formed it into such a majestic residence that the name 
 Palatium, " Palace," has remained to this day that of all 
 royal mansions throughout the civilized world. 
 
 From the heights covered by the main edifices, the 
 various outbuildings occupied the hillsides down to the 
 Forum, and stretched as far as the temple of Castor and 
 Pollux, which served as a sort of vestibule. A bridge 
 near by connected the Palatine with the Capitol, thus 
 permitting the master of the world to visit that of Olym- 
 pus at his pleasure, and without descending to the plain 
 below.^ Such vast undertakings must have been re- 
 garded as prodigies of human effort. Nero treated them 
 as unworthy of his genius ; scoffing at his forebears for 
 their stinginess, he boasted that he would show the world 
 what a Coesar could do.^ Accordingly he bade the engi- 
 neers, Severus and Celerus, to erect provisorily, an out- 
 line, as it were, of his architectural dreams. 
 
 This " House of Passage," ^ as he styled it, rivalled the 
 most extravagant inventions of Egyptian and Assyrian 
 monarchs. His fancy tickled by this first essay, he 
 resolved to execute the work in such magnificence that 
 it might justly be called " The House of Gold." But one 
 characteristic trait of maniacs is that they can never 
 satisfy themselves. The appurtenances of the new palace 
 only half pleased him ; what mattered it if the park had 
 been extended as far as the Gardens of Maecenas on the 
 Esquiline ? ^ Nero wanted still more space, and, as the 
 
 1 Suetonius, Augustus, 72. 2 ibid., Caius, 22. ^ ibid., Nero, 37. 
 
 * "Non in alia re damnosior quara in rediticando, domum a Palatio 
 Esquilias usque fecit. Quara primo transitoriam, mox, incendio absump- 
 tam restitutamque, auream nominavit." Suetonius, Nero, 31. 
 
 s "Palatium et Maecenatis hortos continuaverat." Tacitus, Annal., 
 XV. 39. 
 
THE BURNING OF ROME. 113 
 
 Palatine arose from the heart of the old city, he 
 bethought himself how he could sweep away these 
 populous quarters and thereby enlarge his estate, thus 
 extending it, by means of galleries and arcades, even as 
 far as the outlying hills. 
 
 An event, fortuitous in its origin, but terrible in its 
 consequences, especially to the Christians, offered him 
 an opportunity of realizing his dreams. On the nine- 
 teenth of July, 64, a conflagration burst forth not far 
 from the Porta Capena, at the extremity of the Great 
 Circus, contiguous to the Palatine and the Cselius.^ Shops 
 and booths were here crowded most densely, and all filled 
 with inflammable merchandise; the fire, fanned by a 
 strong wind, had soon invaded the Circus from end to 
 end, its rich materials adding fuel to the furnace. The 
 narrow, crooked streets of this section made it almost 
 impossible to bring any aid ; besides which, in a twink- 
 ling, they were thronged with people, half crazed by the 
 sudden awakening amid the crackling flames, unable to 
 save themselves and shrieking for help: this frenzied 
 multitude swayed this way and that, a confused and 
 struggling mass, in awful tumult and disorder.^ En- 
 countering no obstacle, the fire swept on triumphantly : 
 from the valley transformed into a brazier of burning 
 coals, it leaped up to lick the heights around about, 
 whence it rushed more fiercely down again, like tor- 
 rents of lava, upon the lower levels, as if bent on 
 ravaging the whole town. 
 
 The districts which encircled the Palatine, — the Vela- 
 brum, the Forum, and the Carinse, — were utterly devas- 
 tated. It was not until the sixth day that they managed 
 to arrest the progress of this scourge, at the very foot of 
 the Esquiline, " by levelling a goodly number of buildings 
 in order to quell this devouring contagion by bringing it 
 face to face, so to say, with the naked wilderness below 
 
 1 Tacitus, Annal, xv. 38-44, 52 ; Suetone, Nero, 31, 38, 39 ; Dion Cas- 
 sius, Ixii. 16-18, Cf. Jordan, Topographic des Stadt Rotn in Alterthum, 
 t. i. pp. 487-491. 
 
 2 Dion Cassins, Ixii. 16. 
 
114 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 and the naked vault of heaven above." ^ The number of 
 the lost was considerable, some overtaken by the flames, 
 others abandoning themselves to their fate in despair at 
 having lost their all. The great mass of the populace 
 survived it, however, crowding the streets and lying 
 about the open campagna. 
 
 The terror of it all had but just begun to die down, 
 when the conflagration, suddenly springing up again on 
 the estate of Tigellinus, raged for three days more ; not 
 so violently, however, and with less damage to property, 
 for in the temples and spacious porches of this district 
 the flames found less to feed upon than in the centre of 
 the town.2 Thereafter it began to be possible to take 
 some account of the enormity of the disaster. Out of 
 the fourteen districts of Eome, four alone had escaped 
 unscathed; everywhere else there was nothing but a 
 waste of half wrecked houses, a huge mass of smoking 
 ruins. 
 
 Nero was at his seaside residence, at Antium, when the 
 conflagration first started.^ At the earliest reports of an 
 accident of such frequent occurrence in the city, he 
 evinced little if any emotion. But later on, learning 
 that the combustion was gaining ground and threatened 
 to consume everything, he hastened homewards, and at 
 the outset was entirely preoccupied by his eagerness to 
 combat the awful scourge. He was to be seen during 
 the night and unattended, rushing hither and thither in 
 the very midst of the flames ; it was by his order that, 
 after six days of ineffectual labors, the great battering- 
 rams were brought out and made an open space amid 
 the crowded buildings, the manoeuvre which checked the 
 flames. He evidenced his sympathy for the homeless 
 multitudes by opening the public monuments, his own 
 private gardens, caused shelters to be built, and lowered 
 the price of bread. But that monstrous passion of his 
 for artistic effects shortly regained the upper hand of him. 
 As soon as he became wonted to the horrors of this public 
 
 1 Tacitus, Anna!., xv. 40. 2 jbid. 3 ibid., Annal., xv. 39. 
 
THE BURNING OF ROME. 115 
 
 calamity, he had eyes only for its magnificence. Did he 
 display any signs of indecent delight at sight of this dire- 
 ful spectacle ? Did the onlookers detect in his words, his 
 expressions, or his actions, the joy he felt at seeing his 
 " Temporary Eesidence " reduced to ashes, with the wide 
 spaces round about it at last cleared for the " Golden 
 House" of his dreams, — in a word, that new Eome he 
 meant to build? One is justified in inferring as much, 
 for almost immediately a rumor was noised abroad that 
 the conflagration was his work, that he alone was the 
 Great Incendiary. 
 
 Certain grievous memories went to support this sus- 
 picion. The fall of Troy was, of all incidents recounted 
 in the Grecian Epic, the one which appealed most strongly 
 to his imagination ; ^ as a child he was fond of reproduc- 
 ing it in his plays ; later on, when represented in his own 
 theatre, the scenes depicting its destruction by fire had 
 excited him to the highest pitch of passion. 
 
 " Happy Priam ! " he would cry, " to have beheld his 
 empire and his country perish together under his very 
 eyes ! " 2 
 
 Another time, when listening to that line in Euripides : 
 " At my death may earth and fire be confounded ! " he re- 
 plied, " Aye ! say rather during my life." 
 
 "He acted consistently, therefore," adds Suetonius. 
 " Feigning a great disgust for the ugliness of the an- 
 cient edifices, the narrow and tortuous streets of the 
 town, he burned Eome, and did it so brazenly that none 
 durst hinder the Praetorians and slaves of the palace, 
 when caught in the act, within the imperial possessions, 
 with torches and blazing tow in their hands. The site 
 occupied by the shops which surrounded his House of 
 Gold were the special object of his envious longings ; 
 battering-rams were sent to demolish their walls, which 
 were of stone, and thus give free passage for the flames. 
 . . . From his lofty lookout place on the Tower Maecenas, 
 
 1 " Tener adhue, necduin raatura pueritia, Circensibus ludis Trojam 
 constantissime favorabiliterque lusit." Suetonius, Nero, 7. 
 
 2 Dion Cassius, Ixii. 16. 
 
116 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 Nero gazed his fill at the conflagration ; ravished by the 
 beauty of the flames (such were his very words), he 
 thereupon decked himself in a theatrical costume and 
 declaimed the destruction of Ilion." ^ 
 
 Such is the story as it was generally accredited fifty 
 years after the event, and which Pliny and Dion Cassius 
 accept as implicitly as does Suetonius.^ Tacitus, it is 
 true, seems to cast doubt over certain details, notably the 
 description of Nero chanting his lays over the smoking 
 ashes of Eome. He raises the question whether the 
 threatening voices which forbade any one to extinguish 
 the flames, the unknown forms publicly throwing their fire- 
 brands, and shouting that they were acting under orders, 
 might not have been plunderers, pure and simple, using 
 this device to prosecute their business unchecked.^ As 
 regards the main point, however, he does not hesitate 
 any more than did his contemporaries, to reckon the 
 act of incendiarism among the crimes of which Nero 
 is justly accused.* The part played in it by the Prince 
 was apparently that which I have sketched above : he 
 neither desired nor commanded the conflagration, but, 
 struck with its awful majesty, he was filled with insane 
 delight, and recognized moreover that here was his sole 
 chance to clear away the centre of Eome and make room 
 for his own great projects. As to the assertion that there- 
 after he directed the march of the flames along certain 
 lines favorable to his fantasies, nothing would seem more 
 likely. The mysterous kindling of the conflagration on 
 the estate of Tigellinus was enough to strengthen this 
 suspicion, which became certitude as soon as it was re- 
 marked how eagerly the Prince seized upon the oppor- 
 tunity of turning the public disaster to his private profit 
 In fact, the palace of gold and precious stones which had 
 floated so long in his dreams, was erected in mad haste 
 over the ruins of the " Transitory House." The neighbor- 
 
 1 Suetonius, iViero, 38. 
 
 ^ " Neronis principis incendia, quibus cremavit urbem." Pliny, Hist, 
 natur., xvii. 1 ; Dion Cassius, Ixii. 16, 17, 18, 
 
 » Tacitus, Annal, xv. 38. * Ibid,, xv. 38, 67. 
 
THE BURNING OF ROME, 117 
 
 hood, now laid waste round about it, was converted into 
 a huge park. Celerus and Severus rivalled each other in 
 their demands upon the Prince's treasury, and within the 
 enclosed space, designed " fertile fields, pools, artificial 
 solitudes, groves, terraces, and perspectives, everything 
 which in the very heart of a city might produce the illu- 
 sion of the countryside.^ 
 
 Kome, convinced after this that her misfortunes were 
 due to no blind Chance, looked on sadly enough at this 
 fever of restoration, but not without muttered words of 
 discontent. Up to this their ruler's extravagance had 
 been regarded with great indulgence by the common folk : 
 what had they to do, forsooth, with the tragic happenings 
 at court, or with the orgies which dishonored it ? Nero 
 took good care to keep the people amused as no Caesar 
 before him had done, lavishing upon them games and 
 shows, one festival following hard upon another. So long 
 as his follies resulted only in degrading the Emperor and 
 the nobility, the populace applauded. But with the day 
 when they beheld the lower parts of the town, where 
 were the quarters of the poorer classes, in flames, and real- 
 ized that they were to be driven thence by the insolent 
 encroachments of the imperial domain, then, indeed, their 
 admiration for Nero suddenly ceased. His unpopularity 
 was of course increased at the sight of the blackened 
 walls of the Forum, for with it the most venerable temples 
 of Eome, together with its most time-hallowed relics had 
 disappeared : the sanctuary consecrated to Luna by Ser- 
 vius Tullius ; the altar of Hercules, Evander's handi- 
 work ; the temple dedicated by Eomulus to Jupiter Stator ; 
 Numa's Palace ; the Penates of the Eoman people ; the 
 masterpieces of Greek art, trophies of so many victories, 
 — all were wiped away.^ In vain Nero endeavored to 
 dazzle them by the splendors of the new city ; mourn- 
 fully they stood by with averted gaze, — the blow had 
 pierced Home's heart. 
 
 ^ Tacitus, Annal., xv. 42 ; Suetonius, Nero, 38. 
 ^ Tacitus, Annal., xv. 41 ; Suetonius, Nero, 38. 
 
118 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 II. The Massacke of the Christians. 
 
 Nero was too fond of the intoxication which he was 
 wont to imbibe from the plaudits of the multitude to re- 
 sign himself to the present situation, marking only the 
 long countenances of his subjects, and hearing only the 
 whispered criticisms of his whilom friends. 
 
 " What is the good of all these open spaces where the 
 sun beats down upon us ? " they murmured ; " the shady 
 nooks of our old streets were better far." ^ 
 
 To divert their minds from these bitter broodings he 
 tried to interest them in religious ceremonies. But in 
 vain. The Sibylline Books had been opened, and what 
 was prescribed therein accomplished : prayers to Vulcan, 
 to Ceres, to Proserpine, lustrations of the Eoman ladies, 
 supplications, holy vigils.^ Nothing he could do, how- 
 ever, could smother the sense of a wrong done to them, 
 which daily waxed more insistent in its demands for the 
 culprit, until its cries rose to the very ears of the Prince 
 himself. At all costs he must needs find some victim as 
 a scapegoat before the people. Like a lost man Nero 
 scanned the w^hole earth for some outlet from this maze. 
 At last some one suggested the Christians, and at once, 
 with an impetuosity which was spurred on by fear and 
 spite, he seized at the idea. 
 
 How did this sudden change come about, and, first of 
 all, what was the general opinion concerning the disciples 
 of Jesus ? Undoubtedly their numbers, which at first 
 glance seemed enormous, — "an immense multitude," ^ 
 says Tacitus, — had brought them into prominence even 
 then. But, besides this, there were abominable stories 
 circulated concerning them, and their kinship by origin 
 with the Jews quite sufficiently compromised them in 
 public opinion. Indeed the East was looked upon as the 
 main cesspool of iniquity. "The sewerage which con- 
 
 1 Tacitus, Annal, xv. 43. 2 Ibid. xv. 44. 
 
 ^ Ibid, Annal., xv. 44. St. Clement of Rome makes use of the same 
 expression : iro\i> ttXtjOos e/cXe/fTw. Ad Corinth., i. 6. 
 
THE MASSACRE OF THE CHRISTIANS. 119 
 
 taminates our reservoirs," Juvenal declared, " is the Oron- 
 tes, that Syrian stream which disgorges its filth into the 
 Tiber."! 
 
 As soon as Nero evidenced any desire to catch the cul- 
 prits, all eyes turned instinctively to the Jewish quarters. 
 Had not the fire started upon their boundaries ? and had 
 not its progress been checked at the very regions where 
 the Jews were to be found in largest numbers, the dis- 
 tricts of Porta Capena and Trastevere ? ^ Even their 
 writings betrayed them, always harping upon the purifi- 
 cation of the world through sword and flames : "On that 
 same day," it is written in the Book of Henoch, " blood 
 shall flow in waves like a stream. . . . From the rising 
 of the sun unto the going down thereof, they shall slay 
 one another. The steed shall wade in the blood of the 
 sinner, until his very breastplate be wet, and the chariot 
 up to the axle-trees. Woe unto you, sinners, for ye shall 
 burn in a bed of flames ! " ^ These threats are re-echoed 
 by the song of the Jewish Sibyl : " From heaven there 
 shall fall fiery swords upon the earth ; huge torches shall 
 fall likewise, and shall blaze in the midst of mankind. 
 . . . God shall judge them all . . . by fire." * 
 
 Between the preaching of crime and its commission 
 there is little difference, according to popular logic; 
 there is still less between suspicion and certainty. The 
 Jews realized that they were marked out for victims, and 
 to save themselves straightway cast all the odium of the 
 conflagration and the Emperor's cruelties upon the Chris- 
 tians. One line of St. Clement's, apparently vague, but 
 most significant in its deep meaning, establishes this fact 
 beyond peradventure. 
 
 " This persecution," he writes, '' was due to jealousy." ^ 
 
 The expression is obscure if we take it to mean tha 
 
 ^ Juvenal, Sat., iii. 62. 2 gge St. Peter, chap. xiv. 
 
 3 Das Buck Henoch (ed. Dillmann), chap. 100. 
 
 * Carm. Sibyl., iii. 672 et seq. This expectation of a fearful conflagra- 
 tion occurs again and again in the Sibylline Apocalypses, i. 199 et seq. ; 
 iii. 72 et seq., 82 et seq. ; vii. 118 et seq., 141 et seq. ; viii. 203 et seq.y 217 
 et seq., 237 et seq. 
 
 ^ St. Clement, Ad. Cor., 5. 
 
120 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 animosity between Pagans and Christians, or internal 
 feuds among the latter: his meaning is clear as soon 
 as we apply it to the Jews. The aversion displayed 
 by Israel toward the disciples of the Crucified is matter 
 of history ; we have encountered it at every step in this 
 recital of the beginnings of Christianity, ever growing in 
 intensity, approaching nearer and nearer to the new cen- 
 tre, becoming finally a sectarian warfare, a family feud. 
 
 The obscurity of the Church at Kome must have spared 
 it for a long while from any such violent demonstrations, 
 since, on Paul's arrival, the heads of the Eoman Syna- 
 gogue frankly avowed their ignorance of the new doc- 
 trine.i But a new era began with the appearance of the 
 Apostle. Its propagandists, inflamed by his ardor, pro- 
 claimed the Gospel from the housetops ;2 he himself, 
 more than all the rest combined, helped to spread it ; for 
 the words uttered by this man, free even though in fet- 
 ters, gained great renown in the Prsetorium, at court, and 
 throughout the town.^ When the Apostle departed after 
 his two years' imprisonment, he left behind him a very 
 different body of believers, no longer wrapped in shadows, 
 but standing forth in the light of day, firm and prosper- 
 ous. Thenceforth the hostility of the Jews was a matter 
 of course : while now, made all the keener as their own 
 peril grew more threatening, it burst all bonds. The 
 weapon they used was a calumny which would ensure 
 them at once safety and revenge. 
 
 Furthermore, nothing could be easier than to make 
 Pagans believe that the Church had foretold their sor- 
 rows. Quite as often as the Israelites, and perhaps more 
 openly, the Christians had been wont to speak of the final 
 conflagration and the flames which should chase away the 
 abominations of the new Babylon. The prophecy which 
 Peter, then their acknowledojed Head, was to indite two 
 years later had long been maturing in his mind, and his 
 instructions were repeated by his flock : — 
 
 " The heavens and the earth are to-day reserved unto 
 
 1 Acts xxviii. 22. 2 philip. i. 14. 3 n^i^., i. 12, 13 ; iv. 22, 
 
THE MASSACRE OF THE CHRISTIANS. 121 
 
 fire, against the Day of Judgment and the perdition of 
 ungodly men. . . . The day of the Lord will come as a 
 thief, and on that day, amid the howling of the storm, 
 the heavens shall pass away, the elements shall melt 
 with fervid heat, the earth also shall be burned up to- 
 gether with all which it contains."^ 
 
 This alone made them suspicious of the new teaching. 
 The Jews were quick to see their advantage and were 
 easily enabled to disseminate their suspicions among 
 the higher classes, for their influence at court was almost 
 equal to that of the favored few. Their intrigues during 
 the reign of Caligula and Claudius had been more than 
 successful, as we have seen ; ^ naturally they were no less 
 active in Nero's time. Slaves, freedmen, and actors of 
 their race thronged about him ; ^ Poppsea, half Jewess as 
 she was, was now acknowledged by all as mistress of the 
 court. What more was needed to accomplish the ruin of 
 that detested folk ? 
 
 The Emperor, angered by the public threats, was too 
 much concerned in clearing his own skirts, to take time 
 for verifying the proofs of these accusations. Like a 
 hound he dashed upon this new scent with all the pas- 
 sionateness of his worst days, with all the instincts of a 
 wild beast. True, he had but to extend his hand in order 
 to seize his victims ; in his own palace were Christians 
 with whom Paul the prisoner had been in close relation ; * 
 others equally distinguished both by birth and wealth 
 were well known in Eome.^ Many of them when cast 
 into prisons confessed their faith with generous fearless- 
 
 1 2 Peter, iii. 7, 10. 2 gi^ Peter, chaps, vi., viii., x. 
 
 3 Mommsen, Inscript. regni Neap., 6467 ; Josephus, Vita, 3. 
 
 4 Philip, i. 13 ; iv. 22. 
 
 5 Though to me it seems possible that Christians of high rank would 
 naturally be exposed to the first onslaughts of persecution, it is but fitting 
 to add that believers of this class constituted, evidently, a very small 
 minority in the Roman Church. The " great multitude " Tacitus speaks 
 of belonged to the plebeians, the humiliores, who by law were liable to be 
 flogged, burned at the stake, crucified, cast before wild beasts in the am- 
 phitheatre. (Paul, Sentent. v. xxix. 1. " Humiliores bestiis objiciuntur 
 vel vivi exurtur ; lionestiores capite puniuntur." ) Nero might go to any 
 extremes with this throng legally abandoned to his tender mercies. 
 
122 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 ness. Tacitus, it is true, accuses these first victims of 
 having yielded to torture and of having denounced their 
 brethren ; ^ however, on the other hand, he shows him- 
 self elsewhere so badly informed and so unjust toward 
 all Christians, that this calumny has met with very little 
 credence ; all that we can infer from it is that the heads 
 of the Christian community, having been arrested unex- 
 pectedly, their writings, together with the names of the 
 believers found in their possession, served as a means of 
 identification for the Eoman police. The persecutors were 
 in every event guided promptly and surely, for the first 
 arrests were succeeded by an unnumbered throng of 
 others ; " the multitude " ^ incarcerated in its prisons was 
 so formidable that Kome itself was alarmed. 
 
 It was far easier to lay hands upon this crowd of inno- 
 cent people and to harrow them by the state tortures 
 than it was to convict them of the crime of arson ; but, 
 this crime not proven, there was still the avowal of their 
 faith, their abstention from the state worship, as well as 
 from the public life and customs of Pagan society. Some 
 deemed them guilty of a general " hatred of all human 
 kind," 2 — a vague accusation, but one well calculated to 
 strike the vulgar mind, and quite analogous to that terri- 
 fying expression "suspect,'' which has been a source of 
 agony to so many innocent victims in this land of mine. 
 There were even some more enlightened minds who went 
 further in their hatred. Tacitus, as we know, takes the 
 very worst meaning out of all their words and acts : in 
 his eyes, Christianity is simply an " execrable supersti- 
 tion," a madness fallen upon "men detestable for their 
 hateful practices." * Still, some sympathy is shown in 
 
 1 Tacitus, AnnaL, xv. 44. Monsieur Paul Allard has devoted much 
 serious study in his narrative of the persecutions to a criticism of all the 
 texts which make any mention of it. We cannot do better than refer our 
 readers to his learned work : Histoire des persecutions pendant les deux pre- 
 miers siecles (1892), pp. 35-57. 
 
 2 Tacitus, AnnaL, xv. 44. 
 
 ^ "Hand perinde in crimine incendii quam odio generis humani con- 
 victi sunt." Tacitus, AnnaL, xv. 44. 
 
 * " Exitiabilis superstitio . . ." "Per flagitia invisos." Tacitus, 
 AnnaL, xv. 44. 
 
THE MASSACRE OF THE CHRISTIANS. 123 
 
 his description of their sufferings. Suetonius does not 
 grant them even these few crumbs of commiseration ; 
 unreservedly he praises iSTero for having dehiged the 
 world with the blood of a new and mischievous sect.^ 
 However, we should be far astray if we took the opinions 
 of these historians as those prevailing at the time of the 
 first persecution. Eemember, they wrote a half-century 
 later, they are speaking the language of their own day, 
 they share its passionate hatred, together with all the 
 vile prejudices which had risen up against a Church 
 which, everywhere increasing, threatened to do away 
 with Paganism in short order. In 64 the Christians of 
 Kome inspired no such fears. Although even then they 
 knew that they were charged with all sorts of imaginary 
 abominations, denounced as the foes of God and men, 
 nevertheless, in this instance it is to Nero, to the coterie 
 about him, especially to the Jews, that the infamy of 
 this charge must be attributed. 
 
 Furthermore, it was not simply by such calumnies that 
 the persecutors reckoned upon making the Christians 
 odious. There was also the horrible nature of the pun- 
 ishment which should deepen the public sense of their 
 crime. They were fully convinced that, upon seeing 
 the victims doomed to unheard-of torments, the mob 
 would be finally convinced that they were really guilty. 
 To this end the most refined tortures were invented, and 
 Nero resolved to make the occasion one of those gory fes- 
 tivals ever dear to the populace which had been without 
 them ever since the great disaster. In fact, Rome had 
 not thrown off its mourning garb since the terrible con- 
 flagration. After nine days' struggle against that terrible 
 scourge, the citizens saw naught about them save heaps 
 of rubbish, blackened walls which were being pulled 
 down on every side ; but no meeting-place, no room for 
 pleasure. Weariness had settled down upon them, weari- 
 ness — more dangerous to tyrants than open revolt. How 
 
 1 "Afflicti suppliciis Christiani, genus hominum superstitionis novae et 
 maleficae." Suetonius, Nero^ 16. 
 
124 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 was he to afford them once more those joys of the amphi- 
 theatre which had become to them as necessary as their 
 daily bread ? The Great Circus, although the first prey 
 of the flames, still smouldered, only half consumed. That 
 of Flaminius stood on the outskirts of Mars' Field, one of 
 the wards destroyed in the second outbreak of the fire. 
 But even if these buildings should prove still secure 
 (which would seem more than doubtful), would it be 
 possible to inaugurate his festival there in the very 
 sight of a ravaged waste, with its Temples and Sacred 
 Porches still blackened with smoke ? ^ 
 
 Nero's mind naturally reverted to the gardens which 
 he possessed on the further bank of the Tiber, at the foot 
 of the Vatican Hill. In this domain of his stood the 
 Circus whither lie was wont to summon the populace 
 to various exhibitions. Thither, again, he bade them 
 come to witness this act of public expiation. But this 
 time the cruelty of his councillors, egged on by his own 
 beastly instincts, had together invented such an abomi- 
 nable scene of butchery that Eome itself shrank back 
 aghast. Well do we know how habituated these people 
 were to scenes of blood. The gladiators' combats which 
 they were always so passionately fond of had been the 
 cause, year after year, of hundreds, nay, thousands, of 
 men perishing before their eyes.^ A still crueler cus- 
 tom had been long in vogue : prisoners of war, con- 
 demned to death, were cast as prey before the wild 
 beasts of the amphitheatre ; and lest there should ever 
 be lack of subjects to furnish this horrible spectacle, 
 from all the provinces of the empire there were de- 
 spatched to Eome troop after troop of these victims, 
 doomed to help out the public games. Hardened as 
 were the folk to such scenes of slaughter, Nero suc- 
 ceeded at last in disgusting them by adding to the hor- 
 ror of torture both mockery and abuse. 
 
 The festival set for the early days of August began 
 
 1 Tacitus, Annal., xv. 40. 
 
 2 Suetonius, Ccesar, 10 ; Plutarcli, Vita CcEsaris, v. : Horace, Sat., ii. 
 iii. 84 ; Perseus, vi. 48, etc. 
 
THE MASSACRE OF THE CHRISTIANS. 125 
 
 at dawn of day, with a series of combats between wild 
 beasts ; this lasted, according to custom, the whole morn- 
 ing.^ Nero had no idea of letting any of the Christians 
 appear at this stage, as it might have given them some 
 occasion of exhibiting their courage. Desirous of furnish- 
 ing his audience with a spectacle of bloodshed and torture 
 only, he gave orders that they be conducted in single file 
 upon the scene, and then made to run the gantlet of 
 their jailers. Lofty posts made in the form of crosses 
 had been set up around the arena. To these one set of 
 the martyrs had been either bound or nailed ; whereupon 
 his lions and panthers were set upon them to crunch and 
 tear their limbs.^ Still other believers were set apart for 
 far more barbarous devices of torture. The term " vena- 
 tiones," ^ once applied to fights between wild beasts, had 
 suggested to his mind the diabolical idea of wrapping 
 his victims in the skins of animals ; thus muffled, they 
 were thrown into the Circus, to become the sport of dogs 
 trained to hunt down such animals. These brutes ^ had 
 been carefully selected for their extreme ferocity,^ and 
 soon tore them to pieces and devoured them. 
 
 We may easily fancy that women were in no wise 
 spared in this carnival of butchery. Saint Clement of 
 Kome tells us of Christian ladies, " in this great multi- 
 tude of God's chosen ones, who, after long exposure to 
 insults and tortures, even then furnished us with noble 
 examples of fortitude."^ Although compelled to enact, 
 some the role of Danaides, others that of Dirce, " they 
 bore it all," he tells us, "impious and terrible as were 
 these outrages, and thus have they attained unto the 
 
 1 The custom during the Empire of inaugurating the public festivals 
 with animal combats caused them to be known as the Ludus Matulinus. 
 See Marquardt, Romische Staatsverwaltung , t. iii. : Die Spiele, 4, 2. 
 
 2 Tacitus, AnnaL, xv. 44. 
 
 3 Marquardt, Romische Staatsverwaltung, t. iii :_ Die Spiele, 1, 2, 6 ; 
 Friedlaender, Mceurs romaines, t. ii., lib. vi., chap. iii. 3. 
 
 * " Pereuntibus addita ludibria, ut ferarum tergis contecti laniatu 
 canum interirent." Tacitus, AnnaL, xv. 44. 
 ^ Strabo, Geogr., iv. 5. 
 6 St. Clement of Rome, Ad Cor., i. 6. 
 
126 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 Divine goal of our Faith ; and, weak in body though 
 they may have seemed, they have won the prize of 
 Glory." It was in the afternoon, most probably, that 
 these abominations, so delicately referred to by the 
 Bishop of Eome, took place. To the onlookers, now 
 sated to the point of disgust at such cowardly cruelties, 
 Nero proceeded to offer some of those mythological scenes 
 which always appealed to the baser instincts of the mob, 
 and were as much in favor as were the gladiators' sports. 
 For blood-shedding, voluptuousness, and death, each had 
 its special charm in their eyes. 
 
 The brilliancy of the scenery and costumes, together 
 with a perfection of stage mechanism which gave almost 
 the appearance of reality, all these were no novelty to his 
 public. And hence, to pique their curiosity, he was wont 
 to have all the parts in these fabulous dramas played after 
 a most realistic fashion. Thus, when any part called for 
 the torture or death of some actor, they solved the diffi- 
 culty by casting a condemned criminal for the role. There 
 is hardly one scene of terror recounted in legend or his- 
 tory which Eome had not witnessed revived after this 
 fashion for its amusement : Hercules begirt with flames ; 
 Ixion bound to the wheel ; Orpheus devoured by a bear ; 
 Attys actually mutilated in their presence ; Pasiphae de- 
 livered over to the bull ; Daedalus precipitated from the 
 sky, and the robber Laureolus nailed to the cross.^ From 
 Greece, which would have shrunk in horror from such 
 monstrosities, he had oftenest borrowed both the theme 
 and the circumstances of these representations, at the 
 same time, however, disfiguring all her most poetical 
 conceptions by these brutal plagiarisms. The fad of 
 living pictures, that is to say, plastic groups supposed 
 to reproduce the masterpieces of art, was at this time 
 all the rage. Many of these unfortunate Christians were 
 compelled to enact in its reality a sanguinary tragedy 
 which the celebrated statuary in Naples*^ and the fres- 
 
 1 Tertullian, Apolog., 15; De pudicit., 22 ; Suetonius, iVero, 12; Mar- 
 tial, Spectac, v., vii., viii., xxi. 
 
 2 The group known by the name of the Famesian Bull. After its dis- 
 
THE MASSACRE OF TEE CHRISTIANS. 127 
 
 COS at Pompeii^ represent to this day: the sons of 
 Antiope, to avenge their mother, binding Dirce to the 
 bull which was destined to drag her over the crags of 
 Helicon.2 In like manner, tied by their hair to the 
 horns of maddened beasts, these Christian women were 
 tossed and kicked to pieces in the very presence of a 
 throng gloating over their torn and palpitating members. 
 
 St. Clement, together with the Dirces, mentions the 
 Danaides as having also watered the arena with their 
 blood, without telling us, however, what sort of tortures 
 were assigned to the latter. The perforated cask which 
 the fifty daughters of Danaus were doomed forevermore 
 to fill, certainly offers no opportunity for a very dramatic 
 scene j but, in Tartary, at least, every sort of torture had 
 been attributed to them by folk-lore ; from these fables it 
 was no difficult feat to borrow enough of the horrible to 
 add zest to the monotony of their punishment. At all 
 events, as St. Clement witnesses, no pains were spared 
 to affront their Christian modesty .^ Yet what cared these 
 virgin martyrs in the cause of Christ for any physical 
 outrages ? Their bodies were as naught to these souls 
 self-consecrated to God. Well might Nero and his shame- 
 less crew seize them as their prey ; in their resurrection 
 they would but appear all the more glorious and spotless 
 in His sight. 
 
 The Emperor's ferocity was not glutted even after a 
 whole day's enjoyment of this spectacle. Still other vic- 
 tims had been reserved for the evening. Always Kome 
 had delighted in gay festivals of the night, scenes of fairy- 
 land, bonfires, and sparkling illuminations lighting up her 
 
 covery in the baths of Caracalla it was transported to the Farnesian Palace, 
 and now stands in the Museum of Naples. 
 
 1 Memoria delta R. Accademia Ercolanese, t. ii. pp. 386 et seq. ; vol. iv. 
 part 1 ; vol. vii. pp. 1 et seq. 
 
 2 " Dircen ad taurum crinibusreligatam necant." Hyginus, Fabulce, 8. 
 
 3 AlKLafxara deiua /cat dvocna iradoucraL. St. Clement, Ad Cor., i. 6. 
 Nero was capable of every conceivable infamy. The hideous details left 
 us by his historians give some idea of what the Christian women had to 
 endure when abandoned to the mercy of such a monster. Tacitus, 
 AnnaL, xv. 37 ; Suetonius, Nero, 29 ; Dion Cassius, Ixiii. 13, 22. 
 
128 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 lovely skies.^ Nero never let slip any opportunity to win 
 popularity by such means. In the year 60, when inaug- 
 urating the Quinquennial Games, he had taken care to 
 give orders that this kind of entertainment should last 
 day and night. ^ Nero's nocturnal festival in 64 still 
 sheds its baleful light adown the pages of history. 
 
 On this occasion the Christians were clothed in the 
 horrible "• tunic of the incendiaries," ^ made of a tissue 
 soaked in pitch, resin, and sulphur ; thereafter, bound or 
 impaled upon huge stakes, they made a line of living 
 torches along the road. At nightfall, when the Imperial 
 Gardens were opened to the populace, these human flam- 
 beaux were lighted, and beneath the flickering flames 
 races were run. In these the Emperor himself took part, 
 dressed in a driver's habit, at times directing his own 
 chariot, then again stepping out and mingling with the 
 crowd. But he had gone too far ; this was too much ; 
 amid the popular acclamations there arose a murmur of 
 horror and pity distinctly audible to him. Even those 
 who were most convinced of the guilt of his victims were 
 indignant at the thought that it " was not at all for the 
 general good, but merely to satiate the cruelty of a single 
 person that they were thus immolated." * 
 
 Nero made his exit from this scene of bloodshed a dis- 
 appointed man, still feeling that terrible burden of repro- 
 bation weighing upon him which for the last month he 
 had felt dragging him down, and which he had vainly 
 striven to shake off. The real triumph still belonged to 
 the brethren of these martyrs, to that multitude of be- 
 lievers which his guardsmen had been unable to appre- 
 hend. They had been there, though, all through that 
 cruel night, sustaining the witnesses of their faith by 
 their presence. Beholding these holy ones fastened to 
 the spikes which pierced their entrails, burning and roast- 
 
 1 Marquardt, Romische Staatsverwaltung : Die Spiele, i. p. 474 ; Fried- 
 laender, Mceurs romaines, book vii. chap. i. 
 
 2 Tacitus, Annul, xiv. 19, 20, 21 ; xvi. 5. 
 
 3 The tunica molesta, Juvenal, Sat., i. 155-157; viii. 233-335; Mar- 
 tial, Epigr., x. xxv. 5. 
 
 * Tacitus, Annal.y xv. 44. 
 
THE MASSACRE OF THE CHRISTIANS. 129 
 
 ing in unspeakable torments,^ they learned the lesson of a 
 noble pride in that Christ Who had given to weak creat- 
 ures such superhuman courage and holy serenity amid 
 fearful tortures ; more earnestly than ever before they 
 renewed their vows to this Divine Master, to live and die 
 for Him.2 
 
 These, then, were the first fruits and glories of the Eo- 
 man Church, trophies of wide-reaching importance for the 
 future ; since it was the means of ensuring her perma- 
 nence in that locality whence by God's will she was there- 
 after to rule the souls of men. This domain of the 
 Vatican which had drunk of Christian blood was to re- 
 main ever sacred in the eyes of Her subjects, was to 
 become, as it were, the heart of Eome, and to be regarded 
 as holy ground. Nor will it be long ere we shall see 
 them bearing thither the body of the Head of the Church, 
 thus transforming Nero's Gardens into the very See of 
 Peter, than which no place in the world is more vene- 
 rated, save only the Holy Sepulchre of our Divine Lord. 
 
 1 Pone Tigellinum, tseda lucebis in ilia 
 Qua stantes ardent, qui fixo gutture fumant 
 Et latum media sulcum diducis arena. 
 
 Juvenal, Sat, i. 155-157. 
 The satirist, according to all appearances, has in mind this nocturnal 
 festival of 64, and attributes to Tigellinus the horrible invention of these 
 living torches. 
 
 2 "In two of his letters to Lucilius it would seem that Seneca, in his 
 retirement from the world and while in the sumptuous solitude of his 
 beautiful villas, expiating the weaknesses of his life, makes some allusion 
 to the awful spectacle prepared by Nero for the delectation of the Roman 
 people : ' The executioner's sword, the burning flame, the clank of chains, 
 the hosts of ferocious beasts glutting themselves on human entrails, im- 
 prisonment and the cross, the rack and the hook, the stake thrust into the 
 victim's trunk and protruding through his head, dismembered limbs, and 
 the tunic coated and interwoven with inflammable material (Ep. xiv.) . . . 
 Amid such suff"erings some uttered not a groan, — that is not so much ; nor 
 cried quarter, — that is not so much ; nor answered one word, — that is not 
 so much ; but rather smiled, and smiled out of a full heart' (Ep. 78). The 
 ineff"able smile of the humble Christian expiring for his God in the Vatican 
 Gardens, pursued and thrilled the imagination of Nero's former tutor like 
 a vision at once sweet and poignant. In common with all Romans of his 
 day, Seneca had often seen men die ; he had never seen them die like this." 
 Paul Allard, Histoire des persecutions pendant les deux premiers siecles, 
 pp. 54-55. 
 
CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 FIKST GENERAL PERSECUTION. 
 
 I. The Edict of Persecution. 
 
 Every battlefield presents but a wrecked and often 
 deserted aspect on the morrow after the strife. This one, 
 whereon the Church of Eome had just given such a mag- 
 nificent demonstration of its heroism, outwardly appeared 
 given over to desolation in the period following the mas- 
 sacres of the Vatican heroes. The prisons, crowded to 
 suffocation as they were, had no room for the multitude 
 of Christians arrested in the capital of the empire. Those 
 whom the magistrates had not committed during the 
 period of judicial investigation, found no difficulty in 
 concealing themselves in the great city, for the masses 
 were in a state of wilder confusion than ever before ; 
 hunted out of the quarters of the lower classes, where 
 the wreckers were tearing down the ruins, the poor folk 
 had to seek shelter as best they could. Many of the 
 believers, however, considered it their safest plan to leave 
 Eome and to scatter themselves throughout Italy. It is 
 these Christians, thus dispersed abroad, that St. Paul 
 in his letter addresses under the name of Hebrews, an 
 Epistle which we will shortly have to consider.^ 
 
 At the beginning of this period the poor fugitives found 
 some semblance of security in the scattered towns where 
 they had sought refuge. At first they were viewed with 
 indifference on the part of the inhabitants, were toler- 
 ated by the local officials to whom they were unknown, 
 and consequently enjoyed the unwonted privilege of 
 leading their life of prayer, withdrawal from the world, 
 
 1 Ilebr. xiii. 24. 
 
THE EDICT OF PERSECUTION. 131 
 
 pure and fraternal union unhindered. But the influence 
 and example of Eome little by little drew public atten- 
 tion upon them and soon put obstacles more or less seri- 
 ous in the path of the adorers of Christ, sometimes simply 
 insults,^ elsewhere acts of bloodshed and violence. 
 
 What was the fate, during these days of ill-omen to all 
 Christians, of the poor prisoners who had not been deliv- 
 ered over to the torturers during those August feast- 
 days ? No written history of their sufferings has come 
 down to us ; nevertheless, there is every reason to believe 
 that the murmurings of the people, which had made them- 
 selves audible on that occasion, had likewise put a stop to 
 the massacre.^ Their persecutor, too, had found much 
 more advantageous use for the lives which he had been 
 forced to spare. In his haste to see his plan of rebuild- 
 ing Eome completed, he was impatiently pushing on the 
 work by employing thousands of laborers in his quarries, 
 the sooner to extract the materials wherewith he meant 
 to reconstruct the length and breadth of the city.'^ The 
 
 1 In all probability we are justified in supposing that certain inscrip- 
 tions found in a Pompeian mansion are to be traced back to insults such 
 as these. The name "Christians" charred along the walls of this dwell- 
 ing has given rise to the belief that it served as a meeting-place for the 
 faithful ; and by an ingenious restoration vSignor de Rossi extracts from 
 the letters which precede and encircle this name an insolent jest aimed at 
 the Faithful. " Audi Christian os, ssevos olores." "Hark to the Chris- 
 tians, the cruel swans." (De Rossi, Bidlettino dl archeologia Christiana 
 (1864), p. 69 ; Corpus Inscript. Latin., vol. iv. pi. xvi. n. 3.) This, in the 
 opinion of the celebrated archaeologist, is an allusion to the last words, 
 the Swan's Song, of certain Christian Martyrs, and to the Divine retribu- 
 tion wherewith they threatened their torturers. The hypothesis is cer- 
 tainly not devoid of probability ; and with equal likelihood we may 
 regard the sentences encircling it as another bit of raillery flung at Chris- 
 tian teachings : " Here a mule gives lessons to flies." "Falsehood sends 
 greeting to Truth." Mulus hic Muscellas Docuit. Mendax Veraci 
 Salutem. (De Rossi, Bidlettino, 1864, p. 71.) The inscription written on 
 the outer wall seems also to have been couched in the same spirit : 
 ** No room for loafers here; move on, ye loungers." Otiosis Hic Locus 
 NoN Est, Discede MoPwATOR. (Corpus Inscript. Latin., t. iv., p. 813.) 
 There is good reason to believe that the Pompeians did not stop at this, 
 but that acts of violence followed hard upon the heels of insult ; for the 
 Jews, here as everywhere the Christians' most formidable foe, had their 
 synagogue close by. De Rossi, Bullettino, 1864, p. 70. 
 
 3 Tacitus, Annal., xv. 44. ^ Ibid., xv. 45 ; Suetonius, Nero, 31, 38. 
 
132 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 number of free or servile workmen huddled together in 
 Kome could not meet his demands, and accordingly or- 
 ders were sent to the provinces to despatch thither all 
 their convicts.^ But here, near at hand and in his very 
 grasp, the tyrant had his Christian prisoners ; and well 
 did he make use of them. As far as they were con- 
 cerned, he might rest assured there would be no lack of 
 new recruits ; for, though the persecution was no longer 
 a wholesale massacre, as was that of the Vatican, 
 Christian-bating was still the order of the day, and had 
 been extended beyond the walls of the capital and the 
 boundaries of Italy itself, thus furnishing to the master- 
 workmen who were thronging toward Eome with their 
 tools, victims prepared to suffer all things with resig- 
 nation. 
 
 What were the laws by which these iniquitous pro- 
 ceedings were maintained ? We have at hand several 
 scraps of testimony which enable us to conjecture the 
 answer to the question, and indicate the view-point of 
 Eoman jurisprudence in the premises. At the outset 
 of the persecution, as Tacitus has already told us. Chris- 
 tians " were convicted not so much of the crime of incen- 
 diarism as of hating all human kind." ^ It was, therefore, 
 under the last-named charge that the magistrates con- 
 demned them, and that Nero subjected them to such a 
 horrible punishment in the Vatican Garden. Our his- 
 torian, who regards their faith as an " execrable supersti- 
 tion," ^ makes hardly any distinction between them and 
 the sects which were then thronging Eomeward, and were 
 propagating " the most atrocious and shameful teachings 
 
 1 ' ' Quorum operum perficiendorum gratia, quod ubique esset custodise 
 in Italian! deportari, etiam scelere convictos non nisi ad opus damnari, 
 prseceperat." Suetonius, Nei^o, 31. 
 
 2 " Hand perinde in crimine incendii quam odio humani generis con- 
 victi sunt." Tacitus, Annul., xv. 44. "Perhaps they may have allowed 
 the charge of incendiarism to stand so far as the first arrests were con- 
 cerned ; but as to the multitude of accused that came after them, it was 
 not as incendiaries but as 'enemies of the human race/ that they were 
 condemned to various forms of punishment." Allard, Le Chr'istianisme 
 et UEmpire roma'in, p. 15. 
 
 3 "Exitiabilis superstitio." Ibid. 
 
THE EDICT OF PERSECUTION. 133 
 
 of foreign lands." ^ Suetonius also uses much the same 
 language, and charges the Christians with spreading " a 
 new and mischievous superstition." ^ 
 
 These, then, are the only direct accusations against 
 them, known to us, in the period we have in hand. Cal- 
 umnies they were, of course, and vaguely worded, it is 
 true; nevertheless sufficiently damaging when we con- 
 sider their bearing. What, indeed, was meant by that 
 " hatred of all mankind," if it was not the secluded life 
 and systematic withdrawal from the world which Chris- 
 tianity seemed to teach the faithful ? Yet there was no 
 other way of escaping the idolatry and immorality of 
 their enviroment, save to shun all religious festivals, pub- 
 lic games, and sometimes even family intercourse. Thus 
 it came about that they were regarded as a very exclusive 
 set, forbidding in appearance, and generally supposed to 
 be a party of malcontents, simply because their members 
 kept away from public functions, did not enter the militia, 
 refused to take the oath when making contracts, would 
 not illuminate their dwellings during Pagan solemnities,^ 
 and, finally, deemed themselves but strangers and pilgrims 
 on this earth.* Then, when the time came, when in Eome 
 they had become that " multitude " ^ whereof Tacitus 
 speaks, then not merely the common folk, but great states- 
 men as well, realized that an unconquerable power was 
 growing up in their very midst, one calculated to disturb, 
 
 1 "Erumpebat . . . per urbem . . . quo cuncta undique atrocia aut 
 pudenda confluunt." Ibid. 
 
 2 " Afflicti suppliciis christiani, genus hominum superstitionis novse et 
 maleficse." Suetonius, Nero, 16. 
 
 " These words imply permanent and systematic repression, urging as its 
 provocation 'the novelty' and the mischievous quality of the Christian 
 'superstition.' The context must be studied if we would grasp its full 
 meaning, for the phrase which we have just quoted is but one extract from 
 a lengthy enumeration of measures meant to be permanent, judicial rul- 
 ings, laws, and edicts, all having for their object the repression of abuses 
 and the firmer establishment of public order." Allard, Le Christianisme et 
 V Empire romain, p. 17. 
 
 3 Tertullian, De Idol., 17 ; De Cor., mil, i. 15. 
 
 * 1 Peter ii. 11 ; Hebr. xi. 13 ; Tertullian, Apol. i, 41 ; Epitre a Diog- 
 nete, v. 5. 
 
 5 Tacitus, Annal. xv. 44. 
 
134 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 if not to destroy, the social fabric so intimately bound up, 
 in Eome at least, with the traditional worship. 
 
 It is true that the Jews also avoided Pagan temples, 
 and we have seen before this that they were often con- 
 founded with the disciples of Christ ; but at least they 
 had their synagogues, which were official sanctuaries, re- 
 cognized by law and under the surveillance of the muni- 
 cipal police. The Christians gave them no such hold over 
 them ; their gatherings being held in private houses, if 
 possible at night-time, and in all secrecy. Now all this 
 mystery was the more calculated to awaken mistrust 
 from the fact that the secret meetings of the Oriental 
 Eites were always used as a cloak to cover the deepest 
 depravity.^ Suspicions spread rapidly enough, like those 
 calumnious fables which found ready credence in the 
 succeeding centuries,^ charging the faithful with the 
 crimes of which the populace usually accuses magicians 
 and sorcerers, — of child-murder, abominable banquets, 
 and incestuous orgies.^ When Tacitus speaks of the 
 crimes which rendered the new faith odious,* he is only 
 
 1 This recalls the Bacchanals (Titus Livy, xxxix. 16), and the unhappy 
 influence upon the city of their mysterious orgies. In the opinion of Ko- 
 man statesmen all foreign religions, illicit colleges, midnight gatherings, 
 and infamies of every description followed one another in fatal succession, 
 like a steep descent whereon once you set your foot, you are doomed to be 
 precipitated to the bottom ; consequently they deemed no measures too 
 severe, if they would avert such perils. 
 
 2 " Three accusations are brought against us," says Athenagoras 
 (Legat., 3), " Atheism, the banquet of Thyestes, and the incest of 
 tEdipus ; the two last-named calumnies were especially adapted to incite 
 popular hatred, ' the murder of children to be devoured at their midnight 
 feasts, and such like instances of monstrous debauchery.' This is the real 
 meaning of the infamous slanders attached to the name of Christian : 
 'flagitia cohserentia nomini.'" Pliny, EpistoL, x. 97. 
 
 '^ Cicero, In Vatin., vi. 14; Horace, Epod.,v.; Juvenal, vi. 522; 
 Arnold (Die NeroniscJie Christenverfolgunfj, pp. 65-66) alludes to the 
 curious fact that magicians are called " enemies of humankind" in the 
 Justinian Code (ix. tit. 18), and the penalties inflicted upon the Christians 
 by Nero are the same to which the laws condemned such as were found 
 guilty of sorcery. " Qui sacra impia nocturnave ut quem obtruncarent, 
 defigerent, obligarent, fecerint, faciendave curaverint, aut crucibus suffi- 
 guntur aut bestiis objiciuntur . . . Magiese artis conscios summo sup- 
 plicio adfici placuit, id est bestiis objici aut crucibus suffigi : ipsi autem 
 magi vivi exuruntiir." Paulus, Sent., v. 
 
 * Tacitus, AnnaL, xv. 44. 
 
THE EDICT OF PERSECUTION. 135 
 
 the echo of certain rumors which after the year 64 were 
 current among the people, until their mutterings became 
 a growl of hatred. 
 
 Accordingly Nero found that public opinion was on his 
 side in his treatment of the Christians ; that he could 
 even attain his end and arrest them without referring to 
 the ordinary judges. As a matter of fact, it was the duty 
 of the City Prefect, in all urgent cases, to punish any 
 class of men coming under the head of dangerous ill- 
 doers. And in all likelihood it was to this personage 
 that the Emperor, in the month of August, 64, intrusted 
 the task of hunting down the Christians. The method 
 of procedure used against prisoners brought before this 
 delegate of the Emperor was much more expeditious than 
 that of the other courts ; the inquest, examination, and 
 sentencing of the accused parties were all got through 
 with after the most summary fashion.^ Nero now felt 
 himself at once surer of his victims and freer to divert 
 to them, through the dread inspired by their sufferings, 
 those suspicious looks which were still fastened upon 
 him. 
 
 Such was the first act in the persecution, — an admin- 
 istrative repression of crimes, falsely imputed to innocent 
 men, despotism and violence given full sway. Did this 
 state of things continue in the period that follows ; did 
 they still persist in condemning all Christians, as a police 
 ordinance necessary for the maintenance of good order, 
 
 1 This exceptional course of procedure is designated in the Eoman Law 
 as " cognitio ; " it constituted a special process by which the magistrate 
 gave decision concerning the matter submitted to him, without referring 
 it to the ordinary judges. The Emperors, by arrogating the right oi cog- 
 nitio as their own, set themselves up at will as judges both in civil and 
 criminal affairs, and pronounced sentence either directly or through their 
 delegates, but without attempting to obtain the verdict either of a jury or 
 of the Senate. (Mommsen, Romisches Staatsrecht, vpl. ii. p, 925.) The 
 Prsefectus Urbi was the personage to whom the Emperor delegated this 
 right in Rome. (Ibid., p. 929.) In the provinces the Governors made 
 use of the same process, st3ded cognitio. (Ibid., p. 982.) The reader will 
 find this historical point in Roman Law treated at length by Mommsen. 
 Der Religions/revel nach Romisch Recht, Historische Zeitschrift (1890) ; 
 Ramsay, The Church in the Roman Empire, chaps, ix., x., xi. ; Hardy, 
 Christianity and the Roman Government, sects, iv., vi., vii. 
 
136 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 without going to the trouble of passing any special laws 
 for their suppression ? The provincial governors had the 
 same prerogatives and powers as the City Prefect of the 
 Capital. Taking the hint from Eome, did they too pro- 
 ceed as was their wont under exceptional circumstances, 
 applying to the profession of Christianity those punish- 
 ments which usually were the penalties for the crime of 
 sacrilege or lese-majest^ ? This theory has been adopted 
 by very many historians of our times. ^ It appears at first 
 glance to simplify the whole matter, as well as to explain 
 the diverse aspects of its prosecution throughout the Em- 
 pire, sometimes undertaken only to be abandoned and then 
 renewed again, always pushed forward more or less ac- 
 tively according to the good pleasure of individual magis- 
 trates or the fickle demands of the mob. 
 
 Nevertheless, there are some very serious objections to 
 be brought against this theory .^ First and foremost this, 
 that our most ancient ecclesiastical authors held just the 
 contrary opinion. Not alone the historians of the fourtli 
 century, but the Apologists of the preceding ages as well, 
 give us to understand that both Nero and Domitian issued 
 edicts for a general persecution. About the year 170 
 Melito of Sardis declares that these two Emperors " were 
 the only ones who sought to wipe our Faith out of exist- 
 ence by means of calumny." ^ TertuUian, thirty years 
 later, is still more explicit. " All Nero's acts have been 
 abrogated," he tells us ; " one only Neronian contrivance 
 subsists," his " condemnation " ^ of the Christians. Is not 
 this plain enough testimony to the existence of that Edict 
 
 1 Mommsen, Historische Zeitschrift, vol. Ixiv. (1890) pp. 339-424 ; Ex- 
 positor, July (1893), pp. 5-6 ; Neumann, Die romische Staat und die allgc- 
 meine Kirche bis auf Diocletian, 1890, vol. i. ; Ramsay, The Church in the 
 Roman Empire, pp. 171-374. 
 
 2 They have been set forth by M. Guerin with such convincingness as 
 to make Mommsen's theory quite untenable ; he insists, as does M. Allard 
 {Histoire des persecutions pendant les deux premiers siecles, pp. 58-65), 
 upon the existence of proscriptive edicts in the time both of Nero and 
 Domitian. 
 
 8 Melito in Eusebius, Historia ecclesiastica, iv. 26, 9. 
 * " Sub Nerone damnatio invaluit . . . permansit erasis omnibus hoc 
 solum institutum Neronianum." TertuUian, Ad Nationes, i. 7. 
 
THE EDICT OF PERSECUTION. 137 
 
 of Persecution so often alluded to in the writings of 
 Christian antiquity ? 
 
 And once its existence is admitted, it certainly becomes 
 easier to clear up certain obscure points in the history of the 
 first persecutions. Granting this, Pliny's correspondence 
 with Trajan in the matter of certain Asiatics denounced 
 as Christians, presents no further difficulties ; for while 
 it is well-nigh impossible to conceive why an Imperial 
 Legate should need advice as to the exercise of powers 
 purely despotic; on the other hand, nothing could be 
 more natural than his perplexity when confronted with 
 an implacable statute attainting an enormous throng of 
 individuals, or than the monarch's reply, wherein he goes 
 out of his way to urge his Legate to temper the severi- 
 ties of the law.^ The same may be said of the methods 
 of procedure which the Acts of the Martyrs are always 
 referring to during this period ; in their formal and terse 
 style they all take for granted the fact that there was an 
 Imperial Edict which transformed the mere profession of 
 Christianity into a capital crime. As a matter of fact, 
 we never find the judges investigating as to whether the 
 accused have committed any one of those misdemean- 
 ors which come under the head of " Majestas " or 
 " Sacrilegium." 
 
 As a general rule the examination was limited to this 
 single question, "Are you a Christian, and are you re- 
 solved to remain one ? " A simple confession of faith, 
 especially any firmness in professing it, entailed inevi- 
 tably the conviction of the accused.^ It would seem, 
 
 1 The letter to Trajan flatly contradicts the new theories which connect 
 the persecutions with the cultus due to the Emperor, either to the Sacri- 
 legium or to the Majestas. Guerin, Nouvelle ' Revue historique de droit 
 (1895), p. 636. The study which this learned jurist has devoted to this 
 document warrants his assertion in every particular. Compare Ramsay, 
 The Church in the Roman Empire, pp. 196-225 ; Hardy, Christianity and 
 the Roman Government, pp. 102-139. 
 
 2 " The avowal made thus before a magistrate was styled confessio, and 
 the delinquent who had recourse to it was known as a confessus, against 
 whom it was no longer necessary to bring any proof of the facts alleged. 
 The confessio carried with it certain very serious consequences to the pris- 
 oner at the bar ; once uttered, there was no more defence possible, and the 
 
138 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 therefore, that Sulpicius Severus gives the correct notion 
 of both the origin and further progress of these judicial 
 proceedings. After having narrated the horrors com- 
 mitted in the Vatican Gardens, he goes on to say, " This 
 was the beginning of the persecution of the Christians; 
 afterwards laws were passed interdicting their religion, 
 and by virtue of certain Edicts which were published 
 abroad officially, it was no longer lawful to be a Chris- 
 tian." 1 In all probability Nero issued the first of these 
 Edicts in the period immediately following the August 
 massacres, while Domitian re-enacted them thirty years 
 later.2 
 
 II. The First Letter of St. Peter. 
 
 But few authentic traces of Nero's persecution have 
 been unearthed in Eome. Indeed it is difficult to dis- 
 cover on what authority certain traditions are based, when 
 referring the death of many Martyrs to this early date.^ 
 The most illustrious of these Confessors belonged to 
 Milan, — Saints Gervaise and Protaise, Nazarus and Cel- 
 sus. The finding and translation of their relics in the 
 fourth century gave to the names of these Saints a wide 
 
 assistance of an advocate became superfluous. The penalty inflicted by 
 the law must be at once pronounced, and Roman lawyers were wont to say, 
 in their terse and energetic style, that the accused passed sentence on him- 
 self." (Guerin, op. cit., p. 722. ) " It is worthy of note that the Christians 
 adopted this name of Confessi, or Confessors of the Faith, as a glorious 
 title indicating that they had affirmed their faith in the face of a magistrate. 
 Had they been prosecuted for sacrilege, lese majeste, or any other offence, 
 they certainly would never have done this. For the confessio was then 
 applied to this misdemeanor, and not to the Christian Faith." Ibid., 
 note 1. 
 
 1 Sulpicius Severus, Chron., ii. 41. 
 
 2 Imperial edicts remained obligatory only during the life of the Prince 
 that uttered them ; but they were often confirmed, sometimes by the Sen- 
 ate, sometimes by a succeeding Emperor. Daremberg, Dictionnaire des An- 
 tiquities, Edictum, p. 451. 
 
 ,« St. Paulinus and St. Torpetus, of Pisa ; St. Ptomanus of Nepi ; St. 
 Ursisinus; St. Vitalis ; St. Valeria of Ravenna ; St. Hermagorus and St. 
 Fortunatus, of Aquileia. See Tillemont, Memoires pour servir a I'histoire 
 ecdesiastique, vol. ii. Persecution de l'Eglise par NEron, and notes 
 iii., iv., v., vi. 
 
THE FIRST LETTER OF SAINT PETER, 139 
 
 renown,^ but nowhere in contemporary documents con- 
 cerning these famous solemnities do we find it stated 
 that they suffered in Nero's day. The tradition which 
 assigns them to this date appears for the first time in the 
 sixth century. Was there any foundation for the asser- 
 tion ? We at least know of none ; for in the preceding 
 century Paulinus, when writing the life of Saint Ambrose, 
 declares that he had been unable to discover at what 
 time Saint Nazarus was martyred.^ 
 
 The only quarter of the empire where we come upon 
 any unmistakable marks of the persecution is Asia 
 Minor, and notably the Churches of that country to 
 which Saint Peter addresses his first Epistle. We may 
 assert as an established fact that the Apostle conceived 
 this letter with the idea of helping the faithful to bear 
 the terrible tests they were put to after the massacres at 
 Eome. Everything about it would indicate this design. 
 When writing it Peter evidently had the Epistle to the 
 Ephesians before him ; again and again it recurs to his 
 mind and inspires his words. Consequently his letter 
 cannot be of an earlier date than 64. On the other hand, 
 he makes the most manifest allusions to a persecution of 
 far greater proportions than the seditions which, as we 
 have seen, pursued Paul's footsteps in Galatia, or in Mace- 
 donia, at Corinth, Ephesus, and Jerusalem. 
 
 Of these uprisings the most riotous in character were 
 at worst but fleeting and purely local. Almost always 
 the departure of the Apostle and his companions sufficed 
 to quell the storm. This trial which Peter describes the 
 Church as undergoing has, on the contrary, every appear- 
 ance of a persecution lowering over all the Asiatic prov- 
 inces, — Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Proconsular Asia, 
 and Bithynia.^ Indeed this is to state it too mildly, since 
 the text adds that " throughout the whole world ruled by 
 Eome," " Christian communities are made the sport of the 
 
 1 Tillemont, Memoires, vol. ii. : St. Gervaise et St. Protaise ; St. 
 Nazaire et St. Celse. 
 
 2 Patroloaice latince (ed. Migne), vol. xiv. p. .38. 
 8 1 Peter"!. 1. 
 
140 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 self-same afflictions ; " ^ " everywhere they were likely to 
 be haled before the courts, there to make answer to such 
 as demanded of them the reason of their hopes." ^ The 
 advice he here gives all believers to urge their defence 
 " respectfully, with sweetness and discretion," ^ is another 
 sign that the Apostle had in mind those magistrates of 
 the Empire whom he so urgently bids them honor and 
 obey : " Be ye subject to the King who is over all, as well 
 as to the governors sent by him for the punishment of 
 evil-doers, and for the praise of them who do right." * In 
 the Apostle's letters written previously to the massacres 
 at Eome, we shall look in vain for any such precise ad- 
 monitions as to the conduct to be observed when brought 
 before the bar of justice. From these facts, therefore, 
 we are justified in drawing two conclusions, one that the 
 Christians were being hunted down through the length 
 and breadth of the Empire, the other that Saint Peter's 
 letter to the Christians of Asia dates from the time of 
 these persecutions.^ 
 
 Peter notes that he is writing from Eome, which in his 
 letter he designates by the symbolic term of Babylon. 
 Of course it would be well-nigh absurd to take the latter 
 name literally and understand him as meaning the an- 
 cient city of the Euphrates. What likelihood is there 
 that the Apostle should have wandered so far afield to a 
 city then tenantless,^ and but lately deserted by the rem- 
 nant of Jews who had clung to the ruins ? ^ Indeed, the 
 Churches of Mesopotamia, anxious as they have always 
 
 1 1 Peter v. 9. 3 Hjjd., Hi. iq, 
 
 2 Ibid., iii. 15. * Ibid., ii. 13-14. 
 
 s III this letter St. Peter exhorts the faithful not to be ashamed of the 
 name of Christians for which they suffer, but to use their own good works 
 to confound such as treat them as evil-doers. Similar expressions occur 
 in the narratives which Roman historians have left us of this persecution. 
 " Quresitissimis psenis affecit eos, quos per flagitia invisos vulgus Chris- 
 tianos appellabat." Tacitus, Annal., xv. 44. " Afflicti suppliciis sunt 
 Christiani, genus hominum superstitionis novse et maleficce." Suetonius, 
 Nero, 16, These are certainly curious and interesting resemblances, but to 
 me at least they do not warrant our deducing from them any precise date 
 for the Apostolic letter. 
 
 6 Strabo, xvi. i. 5; Pliny, Histor. Nat., vi. 26. 
 
 ^ Josephus, Antiq. Jud., xviii. ix. 8. 
 
THE FIRST LETTER OF SAINT PETER. 141 
 
 been to plume themselves upon their Apostolic origin, 
 have never claimed Peter among their founders. With 
 Papias, Clement of Alexandria, Eusebius, Saint Jerome,^ 
 with all antiquity, in fact, they too recognized in the 
 Babylon of this Epistle, the one city then Queen of the 
 World, v^hose wanton wickedness recalled the capital of 
 Assyria so often anathematized by the Prophets. Chris- 
 tians as well as Jews used this mystical name among 
 themselves, the more freely to stigmatize that pest-hole 
 of iniquity wherein they were forced to live : " the Beast 
 with the blasphemous names," " that great Babylon, the 
 mother of harlots and all the abominations of the earth." ^ 
 Considering the circumstances they were then living in, 
 it was only natural that Peter should indicate his 
 place of residence under veiled terms. Though at some 
 distance from Rome during the August massacres, he had 
 returned thither to breathe new life into the blood-stained 
 remnant of his Church, yet he could hope to escape the 
 vigilance of the Roman police only by observing the 
 strictest secrecy as to his whereabouts. 
 
 Any words spoken by him during the season of trial 
 are made all the more memorable because they come to 
 us like a voice from the realm of the unknown and 
 unchronicled, in which we have been forced to leave the 
 Head of the Church for a period of ten years now past. 
 The part taken by him in the Assembly at Jerusalem and 
 his discussion with Paul at Antioch are the last mentions 
 made of him in our Holy Books; some facts, it is true, 
 we have sought to supply by the aid of Roman tradition, 
 but without trying to deceive ourselves as to the large 
 measure of uncertainty and conjecture in these docu- 
 ments.^ Here our feet are again on solid ground, for the 
 authenticity of the first Epistle of Saint Peter is not 
 questioned by any save the most prejudiced critics, and 
 we have just seen with what perfect probability this let- 
 ter fits into the circumstances of the first persecution. 
 
 1 Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., ii. 15 ; St. Jerome, De vir. ill., iii. 8. 
 
 2 Apoc. xiv. 8. 
 
 * See St. Peter, chap, xviii., St. Peter's Ministry in Rome. 
 
142 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 The task of bearing Peter's message to the Asiatics was 
 confided to Silvanus, a fellow-worker of Paul's in his 
 second missionary journey.^ What had become of this 
 disciple since the day we saw him for the last time at 
 Corinth ? ^ At that time we agreed that in all probability, 
 after having followed the Apostle of the Gentiles to Jeru- 
 salem, he saw fit to remain there when the latter departed 
 to visit Asia Minor for a third time.^ But Silvanus had 
 led too active a life, and was too imbued with Paul's ideas 
 as to the free scope of the Faith, to dwell for long con- 
 tented in any communities half Jewish in character, 
 narrow in notions, and close-barred against all ideas of pro- 
 gress. It is unthinkable that he should have been trans- 
 formed so suddenly and completely in ideas and plans as 
 to see nothing beyond the walls of Jerusalem, or that he 
 should have shut himself up among them for half a score 
 of years (from 55 to 64). No, his zeal for the Apostolate 
 must soon have led him back into Pagan lands, to those 
 Christian congregations which he had evangelized with 
 Saint Paul. Perhaps he was intrusted by the latter with 
 the mission of watching over these communities, acting 
 as a guide and a guardian to them. Perhaps, again, Peter 
 confided to him the same functions as far as concerned 
 the Churches of Bithynia, Pontus, and Cappadocia. Be 
 this as it may, we know from the Apostolic Epistle that 
 Silvanus was just then in the company of Peter, and that 
 he was charged with the responsibility of carrying his 
 messages.* From this it seems we are justified in infer- 
 ring that this disciple was in closer relationship than any 
 other at his disposal with the Christian congregations of 
 Asia ; indeed it would seem reasonable to suppose that he 
 had come thither in their name to inform the heads of the 
 Church of the persecution threatening them, and to seek 
 from their leaders means to enlighten and strengthen their 
 souls. 
 
 1 Acts XV. 40. Silas (ZiXas) is a contraction of Silvanus {ZiKovavSs). 
 
 2 Ibid., xviii. 5. 
 
 ^ See St. Paul and His Mission, chap. ix. 
 * 1 Peter v. 12. 
 
THE FIRST LETTER OF SAINT PETER. 143 
 
 But Paul had departed upon his journey Spain ward, 
 and was no longer at hand to speak words of assurance to 
 his faithful converts. Peter alone remained, and he alone 
 was in a position — let us say rather, under an obligation — 
 to exercise his supremacy and thus prove himself a father 
 and a pastor to the Christians converted by Paul, as well 
 as to his own. Here for the first time we see him making 
 full use of those powers which the Saviour had conferred 
 on him when establishing him as Head of the whole 
 Church. But the time had come for this change ; since 
 the rule laid down by the Apostles themselves " not to 
 build upon foundations laid by another,"^ though ex- 
 pedient in the earlier days, was not so necessary now that 
 the Christian communities, having attained both form and 
 consistency, had each an individual existence of its own. 
 
 Five years previous to this Paul had declared his inde- 
 pendence of this custom, by writing his Epistle to the 
 Romans. Since then he had not hesitated, during his two 
 years of imprisonment, to evangelize Rome, despite the 
 fact that he was actually within the domain allotted to 
 Peter. The latter acted in like manner so far as con- 
 cerned the Churches of Asia, and this all the more freely 
 because he felt the bonds of unity between him and the 
 Apostle of the Gentiles drawing them ever closer and 
 closer together. Peter had grown to love this generous 
 heart, whose genius, though very different from his own, 
 yet overflowed with the spirit of the Master, Who was 
 the Life of both. For this reason the Epistles of Paul, 
 " his well-beloved brother," ^ were especially dear to him ; 
 indeed he had meditated deeply upon them, for the Apos- 
 tle's words seemed to him sometimes hard to comprehend.^ 
 This, however, did not prevent his fondness for them ; 
 often he seeks his inspiration from them, and this so 
 plainly that, if we may believe certain critics, numerous 
 passages in his first letter are actually borrowed from the 
 writings of Paul. This is, however, an exaggerated view, 
 and one tending to rob the Apostolic Epistle in a way no 
 
 1 Rom. XV. 20. 2 2 Peter iii. 15. 3 Yb{A m kj. 
 
144 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 interpreter of sound sense and unprejudiced mind would be 
 willing to justify. Undoubtedly we do come across many 
 striking resemblances in its style to that of Paul ; here 
 and there we find the same expressions, the same turn of 
 a sentence, the same counsels concerning the conduct of 
 life, couched in similar terms.^ From this general con- 
 formity it follows, evidently, that Peter retains in his 
 memory the very words of the Apostle of the Gentiles, 
 and that he appropriates them when the occasion calls 
 for it ; indeed it is more than likely that at this time he 
 had the Epistles to the llomans and Ephesians at hand,^ 
 for between these two documents and Peter's letters there 
 are some curious correspondences to be noted ; and yet no 
 matter how far we may push these parallelisms, this 
 Work of the chief of the Apostles is none the less his 
 own ; even the very phrases borrowed from Saint Paul 
 take on an individual character as they fall from his pen ; 
 he coins them anew and stamps them with his own image 
 and superscription.^ 
 
 Furthermore, not only in its expression but still more 
 in its conception, the whole work is original with Peter ; 
 Christianity, while appearing to him in the same light as 
 it did to Paul, is set forth in his Epistles from a different 
 view-point. For him, one word sums up the Glad Tid- 
 ings, — Grace, " the true grace of God." ^ Later on, in his 
 
 1 The student will find a long list of these similarities in Meyer and De 
 Wette's Commentaries, and in Schenkel's Dictionary of the Bible, iv. pp. 
 496 et seq. 
 
 2 1 Peter i. 3 ; Ephes. i. 3 : 1 Peter i. 14 ; Rom. xii. 2 : 1 Peter i. 21 ; 
 Rom. iv. : 1 Peter ii. 1, 2, 5 ; Ephes. ii. 3 ; Coloss. iii. 8 ; Rom. xii. 1 : 
 1 Peter ii. 13 ; Rom. xiii. 1-4 : 1 Peter ii. 16 ; Gal. v. 13 : 1 Peter ii. 
 18 ; Ephes. vi. 5 : 1 Peter ii. 24 ; Rom. vi. 18:1 Peter iii. 1 ; Ephes. v. 
 22 : 1 Peter iii. 9 ; Rom. xii. 17 : 1 Peter iv. 10, 11 ; Rom. xii. 6, 7 : 
 1 Peter v. 8 ; 1 Thess. 5, 6 : 1 Peter v. 14 ; 1 Cor. xvi. 20. 
 
 ' Thus St. Paul's phrase "to live in God," fcDi'ras ry dec^, becomes in 
 St. Peter "to live unto justice," rri biKaLoavvrj ^■{jcrwfj.ev (Rom. vi. 11; 
 1 Peter ii. 24) ; obedience unto the Faith, els viraKorjv TrtVrews, obedience 
 unto the Truth, cv rfi vwaKorj ttjs aKrjdelas (Rom. i. 5 ; 1 Peter i. 22) ; 
 "things hidden in the heart," to. Kpvirra r^s Kapdlas, "the hidden man 
 of the heart," 6 kpvtttos ttjs KapdLas dudpuTros. 1 Cor. xvi. 25; 1 Peter 
 iii. 4. 
 
 * 1 Peter v. 12. 
 
THE FIRST LETTER OF SAINT PETER. 145 
 
 second letter, we shall hear him explain what he under- 
 stands this to mean, — "a participation in the Divine 
 Nature." ^ Thereafter he does little more than enlarge 
 and comment upon this definition, the most exact, let it 
 be noted, as well as the most complete, which it would be 
 possible to give of this supernatural state. 
 
 The first rays of Grace are revealed to his mind's eye 
 as he gazes upon the predestination of the Christ and the 
 calling of the chosen race ; ^ but it is only in the resur- 
 rection that it unveils itself in all its splendor. This 
 glorious Mystery becomes to him the focus, as it were, 
 whence stream all light and life : the regeneration of the 
 soul, baptism, faith, hope, merit, and the power to glorify 
 God.^ In other words, the Christ Whom Peter adores and 
 proclaims to mankind, is not so much that Jesus of Beth- 
 lehem and Nazareth and the three years of evangelical 
 ministry, but rather the Christ risen from the tomb, the 
 Christ of glory and of eternity. Even in the Passion he 
 sees naught but the resurrected Divinity, cares only to 
 prove Him Conqueror over Death, opening the gates of 
 Hell, " ascending into Heaven, seated at the right hand 
 of God, and there holding sway over Angels, Dominations, 
 and Powers." * His eyes fixed on this crowning consum- 
 mation of the Life of Jesus, Peter is all-absorbed with 
 visions of the future and its high hopes ; with Eternity 
 also, which to his thought seems so nigh unto us that, 
 when encouraging his faithful followers to bear up under 
 the present persecution, he reminds them time and again 
 that they are but strangers in a land of trial, — wayfarers, 
 who, if they but push forward toward their native land 
 which is their goal, are already within sight of Home.^ 
 
 Such views concerning Faith constantly intermingled 
 with practical advice concerning the Christian virtues, 
 make Saint Peter's Epistle less a didactic work than a 
 sort of homily, a sublime and touching exhortation to the 
 sufferers and martyrs. Here it would be but labor lost 
 
 1 2 Peter i. 4. ^ I Peter i. 10-12, 20. 
 
 3 Ibid., i. 3, 21 ; iii. 18-22; iv. 13 ; v. 1. 
 * Ibid., iii. 22. ^ Ibid., ii. 11. 
 
 10 
 
146 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL, 
 
 were we to seek to distinguish, as in the letters of Saint 
 Paul, between the parts devoted to doctrinal discussion, 
 and others following consecrated to moral precepts. 
 Here everything tends, unbrokenly and yet unhampered, 
 toward the one object in view, — to arouse and strengthen 
 their courage in the presence of persecution. Not with- 
 out a purpose have I insisted so at length upon the 
 originality of this Inspired Document, since it has been 
 so widely contested in our day ; nevertheless, I repeat, 
 it would seem that all Peter owed to the Apostle of 
 the Gentiles is the exterior form of his letter ; the wide- 
 sweeping sentences, loaded with epigrams so striking and so 
 illuminating that too often the reader's mind halts, diverted 
 from the principal thought which the Author has in 
 view ; the greetings, too, which begin and terminate the 
 letter with so much majesty ; finally, the Doxologies, which 
 breathe forth the grateful adoration of the writer. 
 
 With one of these beautiful hymns of praise to God the 
 letter opens, and its doctrine, as set forth above, is per- 
 fectly embodied in it : — 
 
 "Blessed be God and the Father of Our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, Who, according to His great mercy, hath regener- 
 ated us unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus 
 Christ from the dead, unto an incorruptible heritage, stain- 
 less, unfading, which is reserved in the Heavens, for you 
 whom the power of God guardeth by Faith, that you may 
 partake of the joys of salvation. . . ." ^ 
 
 At the thought of the merciful designs of the eternal 
 Father, and of Jesus, drawing nigh unto men's souls to 
 breathe therein His life, Peter's first impulse is to break 
 forth in a transport of joy and gratitude toward the 
 Divine Saviour. 
 
 "You love Him," he says to his faithful followers, "al- 
 though you have not seen Him ; you believe in Him, though 
 as yet you see Him not ; and therefore you shall be filled 
 with joy unspeakable, glorified, and win salvation for your 
 souls, which is the end and recompense of your Faith." ^ 
 
 1 1 Peter i. 3-5. 2 jbid., i. 8, 9. 
 
THE FIRST LETTER OF SAINT PETER. 147 
 
 This Salvation which the Prophets have hastened by 
 their instant supphcations,^ and which even the Angels 
 envy us, is a boon so priceless that it may well concen- 
 trate all our hopes, keep us ever on the alert, and incite 
 us to become holy, even as is the God Who calls us 
 thereto. Peter reduces the rule of sanctity to two prin- 
 cipal duties : to keep our souls pure by a loving obedi- 
 ence to the Lord ; to love our brethren without feigning, 
 or rather, with an ardent charity which springs from the 
 depths of the heart.'*^ A little later the Apostle will con- 
 sider in detail those virtues which go to make up Chris- 
 tian perfection as a whole, but for the present he is 
 content to remind his readers of the immovable founda- 
 tion whereon they must needs build. 
 
 " Being born again, not of corruptible substance, but 
 of an incorruptible, by the Word of God which liveth 
 and abide th forever," ^ theirs is a firm basis, their corner- 
 stone is ever living, and once come in touch with Him, 
 " they too become living stones built into the structure 
 of the Edifice."* Thus the Church is formed, " a Spiritual 
 House, a holy Priesthood, to offer unto God spiritual sacri- 
 fice, acceptable unto Him through Jesus Christ." ^ All, 
 thus united to the Saviour, partake in some measure in 
 the very Being of Him Who is their Divine Head : to all 
 Peter addresses these words : — 
 
 " You are a chosen race, a royal Priesthood, a holy na- 
 tion, a people whom God hath set apart unto Himself, that 
 you may declare the might ^ of Hiin Who hath called you 
 out of darkness into His marvellous light." ' 
 
 Let them but keep their gaze fixed upon this heavenly 
 vision, their Eternal Home, and they have naught to do 
 here below, save to press onward as " strangers and travel- 
 lers, stripping themselves of all carnal desires which war 
 
 1 1 Peter i. 10-12. 4 Ibid., ii. 4, 5. 
 
 2 Ibid., i. 22. 5 Ibid., ii. 5. 
 
 3 Ibid., i. 23. 
 
 ^ Tots dperas : literally, "the virtues," — that is to say, the all-powerful 
 and merciful action of God. 
 ' 1 Peter ii. 9. 
 
148 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 against the soul,^ ever on their guard, more vigilantly now 
 than of yore, since they are journeying through a world 
 grown doubly hostile and malevolent in its persecutions. 
 "Wherefore conduct yourselves honestly among the 
 Gentiles," pursues the Apostle ; " they accuse you of being 
 * a mischievous set ; ' ^ see to it that on the day which 
 they shall set for your examination ^ they shall be con- 
 strained to glorify God, beholding your good deeds." 
 Whereupon he proceeds to discuss at length the fruits of 
 a Christian life : submissiveness to all established author- 
 ity, to the Emperor first as their over-lord, and to the 
 governors appointed by him. Nevertheless, it must be 
 the obedience of free men, who, liberated by Christ, are 
 no longer slaves of aught save duty, righteousness, and 
 God ; wherefore, " honor all men, love the brotherhood, 
 fear God, respect the King." ^ No class nor condition of 
 life is omitted : " Slaves be subject to your masters with 
 all deference, not only to such as are good and kind, but 
 also to the harsh and frov/ard." And if it be that when 
 doing good you suffer unjustly, remember that it is to 
 this you are called, "because the Christ by suffering 
 for you, has left you an example, that you might follow 
 in His footsteps. . . . Who when he was reviled, reviled 
 not, . . . but delivered Himself to Him who judgeth 
 justly." ^ 
 
 " And you, women, be subject to your husbands ; win them 
 back to the Faith if they have wandered from it, without 
 wearying them with many words, but simply by the purity 
 of your conduct. Adorn yourselves, not outwardly by curl- 
 ing of the locks, trinkets of gold, or the fineness of your 
 
 1 1 Peter ii. 11. 
 
 2 Ka/fOTTOicD;/. As we have seen above, Suetonius expresses himself in 
 similar terms : " Superstitionis novae et malejicce." Nero, 16. 
 
 2 Eu i)/jL^pq. iTTLa-KOTrrjs, in die visitationis. "Diem visitationis CEcu- 
 menius, Aria Montano sufFragante, exponit inquisitionem hominum 
 mundanorum, scilicet eorura qui male de Christianis loquebantur." This 
 interpretation of (Ecumenius, Estius regards as most plausible. 
 
 4 1 Peter ii. 17, 25. 
 
 ^ Ilapedidov de rcpKpivovTi. diKaius. Sensus igitur grsecse lectionis est : 
 Christus non seipsum vindicabat, sed tradebat seu committebat causam 
 suam Deo, qui juste judicat,judicandam etvindicandam." Estius, in loco. 
 
THE FIRST LETTER OF SAINT PETER. 149 
 
 apparel ; rather adorn the invisible man hidden in the 
 heart, by the incorruptible purity of a gentle and peace- 
 able spirit, which is of such great value in the sight of God. 
 . . . Likewise you, husbands, live wisely with your wives, 
 giving honor to this weaker sex, which is heir even as you 
 to that grace which giveth life." ^ 
 
 " In fine, let there be between you a unity of feeling, 
 kindly forbearance, love of the brotherhood, compassionate 
 charity, and humility. Do not return evil for good, nor 
 insult for insult ; answer only with words of benediction ; 
 for unto this have you been called." ^ 
 
 Here we have not so much an ideal sketch of Perfection 
 as it was set forth in Apostolic times, but rather a faith- 
 ful picture of the Christian life, as it then existed in very 
 many Churches. "And who is he," cries Peter, "who 
 would wish to do you wrong if your only thought be 
 but to do good ? " 3 Yet forthwith, his mind recalled to the 
 sad realities of the present, to that persecution that was 
 threatening, nay, even now harassed his faithful follow- 
 ers in Asia, " But if, notwithstanding," he adds, " we must 
 needs suffer for righteousness' sake, be glad and rejoice ! 
 Fear not the evils wherewith they shall try to terrify 
 you, and be not troubled thereby, but sanctify the Lord, 
 the Christ in your souls.^ Be always ready to answer 
 [before the bar of justice] with modesty and respect 
 toward whosoever shall ask of you the reason of the hope 
 which is within you. In all things preserve a clear con- 
 science, so that those who malign the holy life which you 
 lead in the Christ shall blush for having thus defamed 
 you." ^ In case that even your manifest innocence does 
 not disarm them, you have but to lift your eyes unto the 
 Christ, " Who likewise suffered for sins, the just for the 
 unjust, that He might lead you unto God." ^ 
 
 And how wide-reaching and generous is this Eedemp- 
 
 i 1 Peter, iii. 1-7. ^ Ibid., iii. 13. 
 
 2 Ibid., iii. 8-9. 
 
 * That is to say, they should be a temple, a sanctuary, wherein Jesus 
 abides ; thenceforth what trouble could shake their souls ? 
 6 1 Peter iii. 14-16. ^ Ibid., iii. 18. 
 
150 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 tion ! When the Soul of Jesus, for awhile separated from 
 His Body, descended into Limbo, it found among the 
 other prisoners there many sinners who had repented 
 what time the Deluge swallowed up all save such as 
 were in the ark of Noe. The world might well believe 
 that only those eight persons had escaped the universal 
 condemnation. But the Divine Mercy had discerned 
 among that throng of victims some penitent hearts, and 
 Jesus went to them, that by publishing unto them the 
 Glad Tidings for the last time He might accomplish their 
 purification and conduct them into Paradise. The waters 
 of the Deluge had but prefigured the waters of Baptism ; 
 but how much more fruitful are the latter for our Salva- 
 tion ! 1 " The Christ, therefore, having suffered death in 
 His flesh, be you likewise armed with the same thought," ^ 
 with this resolution to suffer and to die in Him. 
 
 No thought occurs oftener in the course of the Epistle 
 than this earnest exhortation to seek strength from the 
 Passion of Jesus, and from the Blood Divine which waters 
 our souls at every outpouring of Grace.^ Unto this Peter 
 looked as. to the source of all strength and of all patience, 
 those two virtues doubly necessary to his followers in 
 these trying times. His aim was not, as was the case 
 with Paul in the majority of his letters, to clear up dis- 
 puted points of doctrine, to wage war against certain 
 errors threatening the Faith, or against internal dissen- 
 sions and a disorderly conduct of life. The persecution 
 which was born of the inherent antagonism between the 
 religion of Christ and Pagan customs, was monopolizing 
 all their thoughts ; accordingly we find that it is the sole 
 danger singled out by the Apostle as threatening them : 
 " They think it strange indeed that you no longer run 
 with them, as once you did, into the same slough of de- 
 bauchery,* wherefore it is that they take occasion to heap 
 
 1 Here I thought I could not do better than simply summarize the 
 commentary of Estius; for no more satisfactory interpretation of this 
 difficult passage has as yet been given. 
 
 2 1 Peter iv. 1. 
 
 3 Ibid., i. 2, 11, 19 ; ii. 21-24 ; iii. 18 ; iv. 1, 13 ; v. i. 
 
 * This passage would seem to imply tliat the persecution was set on 
 
THE FIRST LETTER OF SAINT PETER. 151 
 
 their curses upon you."i Face to face with this deadly 
 hatred, Peter strives to fortify the faithful by mingling, 
 ever more tenderly, words of comfort and consolation the 
 while he bids them be of good courage in the presence 
 of their foes. 
 
 "My dearly beloved, be not astonished at the burning 
 flame which is within your midst, ... as though something 
 extraordinary were befalling you ; rejoice rather for that 
 you are made partakers in the sufferings of the Christ ; be 
 exceedingly glad in the manifestation of His Glory. If 
 you be insulted because of the Name of the Christ, rejoice, 
 for the Spirit of Glory, the Spirit of God, resteth upon 
 you ; but let none of you suffer as a murderer or thief, as 
 an evil-doer, or as a meddler in the affairs of others ; but if 
 he suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed ; let him 
 rather glorify God ! " 
 
 The last thought which still preoccupied the Apostle's 
 mind when bringing his letter to a close, rose from his anx- 
 iety in regard of the maintenance in every Christian con- 
 gregation of perfect unity, obedience, a thorough and stern 
 discipline in the face of the enemy. The Episcopate not 
 being as yet constituted in the Churches of Asia, their 
 government still continued to be exercised as in the early 
 days, by a body of Pastors.^ Unity of action among 
 these several heads, purity of living, and an absolute de- 
 foot by Pagans, and not by Jews, andrthat the raostlfrequent cause for it 
 is to be found in the refusal of the Christians to take part in their ceremonies 
 and licentious festivals. 
 
 1 1 Peter iv. 4. 
 
 2 There is in fact nothing in the Epistle to indicate that we should 
 regard these " Elders " {irpea^vripovs) as Bishops in the proper sense of the 
 word. It was only two years later, in QQ, that, as we shall see, Paul puts 
 Timothy over the Church of Ephesus, intrusts him with the functions of 
 the Episcopate, with a charge to govern Priests and Deacons, to censure 
 them and to entertain accusation brought against them, and administer 
 justice. (1 Tim. iii. 1-13 ; iv. 12; v. 17, 19-20.) Hitherto, in all likeli- 
 hood, the direction of the Christian congregations in Asia had remained in 
 the hands of certain Colleges of Priests, which were visited and superin- 
 tended in the name of the Apostles by some of the more renowned among 
 their disciples, — Epaphras for the region of the Lycus, Silvanus for all 
 Asia. 
 
152 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 pendence on the Christ, the Prince of Pastors, — all these 
 were of more urgent necessity than ever. Of this Peter 
 reminds them, adjuring them to feed the flock of God in- 
 trusted to their care ; not perfunctorily, because it is their 
 profession, but willingly from a sincere inclination ; ^ not 
 for filthy gain, but out of a full heart,^ generously, think- 
 ing far less of lording over their flocks than of showing 
 an example to be copied. For this alone as their reward, 
 they shall receive from the Sovereign Pastor " a never- 
 fading crown of glory ; " ^ but as for their flocks,^ one word 
 sums up all their duties, — humble submissiveness. 
 
 " Be you humble, therefore," Peter concludes, " under 
 the mighty hand of God ; leaving it unto Him to exalt 
 you when the time shall come; casting all your care upon 
 Him, for He hath charge over you. Be sober and on your 
 guard. Your adversary the Devil, like a roaring lion, prowl- 
 eth about you, seeking whom he may devour. Withstand 
 him, firm in the Faith, knowing that your brethren scat- 
 tered throughout the world are suffering the same afdictions 
 as you. 
 
 " The God of all grace Who hath called you unto His 
 everlasting Glory in Christ Jesus, after you have suffered 
 for a short season, will Himself accomplish your perfection, 
 will strengthen you, fortify you, and establish you upon an 
 immovable foundation. To Him be glory and empire for 
 ever and ever. Amen." ^ 
 
 Such is the letter of St. Peter to the Churches of Asia, 
 the first of those encyclicals which, once sent forth from 
 Eome, have never since that day ceased to instruct and 
 edify the world. The Chief of the Apostles here reveals 
 an eloquent and lofty train of thought of which we have 
 
 1 Mr? dvayKacTTibs, dXXd eKovcriojs. 
 
 2 Mi^de ahxpoKepddb's dXXa Trpo66/ui.(ji}s. 
 
 3 1 Peter v. 2-4. 
 
 * In common with the Venerable Bede, Cajetan, and Estius, I am of the 
 opinion that veu)T€poi ought not to be translated here by " young people." 
 This word, used in contradistinction to irpeafivTepoi, refers to the disciples, 
 believers, inferior to tlicm in rank rather than in age ; in other words, to 
 the college of Elders who ruled thcui. 
 
 & 1 Peter v. 6-11. 
 
THE FIRST LETTER OF SAINT PETER. 153 
 
 had no inkling, to judge him by his discourses as reported 
 in the Acts : it was his love for Jesus, his ceaseless con- 
 templation of Him during a quarter of a century, which 
 had brought about this transformation. His character, 
 however, still remains just what it was at the begin- 
 ning : always vehement, and far more prone to action 
 than to speculative thought. There are no long and sub- 
 tle processes of reasoning to be noted in his letter, nor 
 any of that outpouring of doctrine, or of those visions 
 of Infinity which the Apostle of the Gentiles marshals 
 before our gaze ; here are but the raptures of a believing 
 soul, streaming forth like flashes of sunshine from the 
 clear sky. 
 
 ISTor should we forget what changeableness, and what 
 weaknesses had been intermingled by nature with the im- 
 petuosity which Peter always had shown. Of this his act, 
 at once presumptuous and defiant, of walking upon the 
 waters of Genesareth,i especially his denial of his Master,^ 
 furnish us with unequivocal testimony taken from the 
 Gospel itself. Though reclaimed thereafter by one glance 
 from the eyes of Jesus ;^ confirmed in grace; invested with 
 a Spirit from on High ; none the less did the Apostle, 
 knowing full well his inborn frailty, feel continual need 
 of his Saviour's aid. This feeling of deep humility is 
 very apparent in his letter, and makes it one of the most 
 helpful sources of meditation to hearts torn by the trials 
 of this life. Peter had all the more compassion for the 
 miseries of mankind, since he had shared them all ; he 
 knows full well where the remedy is to be sought — 
 't is that same Jesus Who had confided unto him, together 
 with the high charge of binding and loosing, that of lead- 
 ing and strengthening men's souls by Faith and love. 
 " And thou, when thou shalt be converted, confirm thy 
 brethren." * 
 
 1 Matt. xiv. 28-31. 3 Luke xxii. 61. 
 
 2 Ibid., xxvi. 69-75. * Ibid., xxii. 32. 
 
CHAPTEE VIII. 
 
 THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 
 
 The persecution which was then raging throughout the 
 Eoman world did not spare the Church in Jerusalem, but 
 there it sprang from other causes. The after effects of 
 any arbitrary measures taken in Eome were not felt so 
 keenly in Judea as in the other provinces. What mat- 
 tered it to the Jewish tribunals what the magistrates of 
 the Empire might think or decide, especially in questions 
 of religion? On this point their fanaticism was so vio- 
 lent and so extremely susceptible that Eome had been 
 obliged to give up the attempt to make them bow their 
 necks beneath the common yoke. The trial of all cases 
 touching their public worship had remained in their 
 hands, the Procurator never appearing except to reverse 
 the sentence when some too crying act of injustice had 
 been brought before him on appeal.^ Notably no sen- 
 tence of capital punishment could be inflicted without 
 his consent ; for this reason they were forced to hand 
 over the Saviour to Pilate. 
 
 To this higher jurisdiction of the Governors the Chris- 
 tians of Jerusalem owed their comparative immunity, and 
 thus rarely were in peril of death or bloodshed. But 
 though the right of passing the death sentence was de- 
 nied to the judges of Israel, nevertheless full license was 
 granted them to inflict lighter punishments ; now, nothing 
 so effectually protected the faithful against such acts of 
 violence as did the esteem and sympathy which they had 
 won from the populace and from the Pharisees. Let but 
 this popular favor, during some period of broils or mutiny, 
 
 1 Matt. XX vi. 65 ; John xix. 7 ; Acts iv. ; v. ; vi. 13, 19 ; xxiii. 
 
THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 155 
 
 fail actively to protect them, forthwith they would find 
 themselves at the mercy of their direst foes, the magis- 
 trates of Jerusalem, who for the most part were Sadducees. 
 
 It was just such a crisis, following the death of Festus, 
 which gave birth to the persecution of which we are now 
 to speak, and whose first victims, James, with many of 
 his disciples, we have spoken of elsewhere. The arrival 
 of Albinus a few months later, put a stop to these san- 
 guinary executions ; but the new Procurator, like his 
 predecessors, confined himself to merely insisting upon 
 his rights over life and death, and thus left them free to 
 continue the usual course of harassments ; thus many of 
 the Christians of Rome were despoiled of their property 
 and thrown into prison. ^ Thereafter there was nothing 
 to hinder the members of the Sanhedrin from wreaking 
 their vengeance on them ; for, after the departure of Fes- 
 tus, there was no government worthy of the name left in 
 Judea. That of Albinus, in particular, was but one long 
 reign of venality, extortion, peculations, and ceaseless 
 uprisings of the people. In the beginning, it is true, the 
 brigands were hunted down, as under the foregoing ad- 
 ministration ; ^ but the hint once taken that it would be 
 well to purchase impunity to continue their career of 
 crime, even at the price of a goodly tribute, they soon 
 found that they were free to ravage the country and levy 
 contributions at their own good pleasure. The prisons 
 furnished the Governor with another means of satisfying 
 his rapacity by similar demands of ransom ; ^ soon only 
 those among the condemned who were too poor to pay 
 for their liberation were left within their walls.* Sucli 
 shameful dealings in no wise hindered Albinus in his 
 schemes to crush the country under the weight of taxes ; 
 as the prey was to be his but for a few short years, he was 
 bound to drain from it every drop he could. 
 
 Of those around him, two men alone were clever enough 
 to make themselves his associates and fellow-plunder- 
 
 1 Hebr. x. 32-34. ^ ibid., Bell. Jud., ii. xiv. 1. 
 
 2 Joseplius, Antiq. Jud., xx. ix. 2. ^ Ibid. 
 
156 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 ers, — Ananias and Agrippa. The first-named, formerly 
 High Priest, owed his influence over Albinus partly to 
 his great wealth, partly to his stern and haughty charac- 
 ter; he diverted to himself the quit-rents, dues which had 
 hitherto gone to the support of the inferior Levites. Many 
 of these unfortunates, robbed of their last penny, were 
 reduced to the direst extremities.^ As for Agrippa, 
 the sole power which Kome had left him in Jerusalem, 
 namely, full authority over the Temple, and the right to 
 nominate the Pontiffs, alone afforded him fruitful oppor- 
 tunities for selling his favors ; and these he took care not 
 to neglect. An ambitious woman of the sacerdotal family 
 of the Boethos, Miriam by name, was desirous of obtain- 
 ing for her husband, Josue, son of Gamaliel, the dignity 
 of the High Priesthood. Agrippa, won over by the gold 
 which she poured into his treasury by the measureful,^ to 
 satisfy her, deposed Jesus, son of Damnaeus,^ the Pontiff 
 created by him during the preceding year (63). A strange 
 abuse of his functions this, on the part of a prince other- 
 wise so pious, but in whose nature selfishness had always 
 the upper hand. Of this trait he gave a striking proof 
 by quitting Jerusalem when the disturbances were at 
 their height and the city was toppling on the verge of 
 ruin ; it was then that he saw fit to transport to Caesarea 
 of Philippi, and to Beyrout the splendors of his court. 
 
 To make matters worse for the Holy City, he left be- 
 hind him a band of his partisans, who, under the com- 
 mand of two of his relatives, Saul and Costebar, set to 
 work pillaging the land in every direction.^ The priestly 
 aristocracy took up arms to resist these acts of violence. 
 The High Priest in charge had his own body-guard, Ana- 
 nias had his; the wealthiest would naturally gather 
 together the strongest force, and we know that both 
 numbered many men, for work upon the Temple had 
 just been finished, leaving some eighteen thousand labor- 
 ers in search of livelihood.^ To cap the climax, Albinus, 
 
 1 Antiq. Jud., xx. ix. 2. ^ Ibid. 
 
 2 loma, 18 a ; lebamot, 61 a. ^ Ibid. 
 ^ Josephus, Antiq. Jud., xx. ix. 4. 
 
THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 157 
 
 hearing a rumor that Eome was looking about for some 
 one to replace him, threw open the prisons, put to death 
 the vilest criminals, and after having made the others 
 buy their liberty with what little they could raise, set 
 them free to dwell in the city. Jerusalem, abandoned to 
 the tender mercies of these several gangs, beheld within 
 her walls naught but brawling deeds of vengeance and 
 pillaging,^ wherein the humbler classes, to which the 
 Christians generally belonged, were, as always, the first 
 to be attacked and cut to pieces. ^ 
 
 In these days of ill-omen there appeared a document 
 destined to revive the courage of the faithful. There is 
 no superscription on it to indicate its author : the most 
 ancient manuscripts have only this simple title : " To The 
 Hebrews'' but there are numerous features in it which 
 give us plainly to understand that the epistle is addressed 
 to the converted Jews of Jerusalem ; the writer reminds 
 them that they were the first to receive the Gospel; 
 wherefore by right and in order of time, they ought to 
 be the masters ^ of all the others. As yet, hardly illumi- 
 nated by the Faith, they had been caught, as it were, in 
 the whirlpool of persecution, " made a gazing-stock to 
 the world by reason of the infamies and the afflictions 
 they suffered,* "notwithstanding serving as models to 
 mankind, for they have given unto their brethren in 
 bondage their goods, taken joyfully the spoiling of their 
 goods, knowing that elsewhere far other goods are re- 
 served for them exceeding them in value, and which shall 
 not perish for evermore." ^ 
 
 They have therefore valiantly faced the first fire of 
 battle, thereby proving themselves worthy followers of 
 leaders like Stephen and the two Jameses, who had died 
 for the Faith.^ But now at last, it would seem, their 
 courage is weakening ; at present not one of their Pas- 
 
 1 Josephus, Antiq. Jud., xx. ix. 5. 
 
 2 This state of things lasted for the whole year 64, for Florus did not 
 replace Albinus till the beginning of 65. 
 
 3 Hebr. v. 12. & Ibid., x. 34. 
 
 4 Ibid., x. 32, 33. « Ibid., xiii. 7. 
 
158 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 tors exercises over them an ascendency like that of their 
 forerunners, watchful though they be to fulfil their 
 duties " with groaning " ^ for they behold about them 
 none but " lax hands " and weak knees,^ while many of 
 the faithful are deserting the Christian gatherings ^ with 
 their too simple ritual, and are returning to the Mosaic 
 worship, whose brilliant splendors are so seductive to the 
 senses. All the older writers believed that these features, 
 taken as a whole, were meant to designate the Church of 
 Jerusalem, and that period of defection which ensued 
 upon the death of the Pastor who had sustained their 
 spirits until then, — James the " brother " of the Lord. 
 Their agreement on this one point is so entirely perfect 
 that we cannot question this opinion. * 
 
 Tradition has not furnished us with such a unanimous 
 decision as to the authorship of the work. In it the en- 
 tire Greek Church from the outset recotrnized the genius 
 and the very soul of Paul ; but the East remained for 
 three centuries very unsettled and uncertain concerning 
 it. Tertullian, and African writers generally, attributed 
 it to Barnabas ; ^ in Eome,^ and in Gaul " no one seems to 
 have had knowledge of it. At least it was not ranked 
 with the other letters of the Apostle. It is only in the 
 
 1 Hebr. xiii. 17. s ibid., x. 25. 
 
 2 Ibid., xii. 12. 
 
 * The theories most in favor nowadays contend that the Christians of 
 Kome and of Alexandria were the recipients of this Epistle, but there is 
 .scarcely an Apostolical Church whose title to this honor some exegetical 
 scholar has not supported : Corinth, Ephesus, Thessaloniea, Cyprus, An- 
 tioch, Spain, Lycaonia, Galatia, Asia Minor, etc. A long and almost com- 
 plete list of them is to be found in Meyer, Kritisch Exegetisches Handbuch, 
 xiii. {3d ed.), pp. 35 et seq. The very diversity of these hy[)otheses would 
 alone suffice to show that no one of them carries conviction with it. 
 
 ^ Tertullian, De pndicit., 20. 
 
 ^ In the Muratorian Fragment, tlie first catalogue of the Koman 
 Church we possess, no mention is made of it. Nor do two other most 
 ancient writers of the Eoinan Church, St. Hippolytus and Caius the 
 Priest, include this letter in their lists of St. Paul's Epistles. Photius, 
 Biblioth., Cod. 121, 232; Eu.sebius, Llistor. eccles.,yi. 26. 
 
 ■^ St. Irena^us, who makes such frequent use of St. Paul's other letters, 
 never quotes the Epistle to the Hebrews ; Eusebius, nevertheless, assures 
 us that he does make mention of it in a book now lost to us. Eusebius, 
 Hist, eccles., v. 26. 
 
THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 159 
 
 time of St. Hilary (354), that the clouds are dispersed 
 and the whole Church proclaims what has been ever since 
 her established teaching, that to St. Paul is due so large 
 a share in the composition of this document that he needs 
 must be regarded as its author. 
 
 To this simple statement I have reduced the question 
 of the authenticity of the Epistle before us ; for it is im- 
 possible not to recognize between it and the other letters 
 of the Apostle very notable differences both in style and 
 in methods of reasoning. With the exception of the few 
 last verses, in which the author informs them of the re- 
 lease of Timothy, and sends his greetings to the brethren 
 he is addressing, the work bears not so much as a trace 
 of his epistolary manner ; it is an exposition of Christian 
 doctrine, pure and simple, or to put it better, a homily 
 intended to enlighten men's souls under trial, and to 
 "console" them.^ The thoughts are indeed Paul's, but 
 the manner of setting forth and developing his arguments 
 are peculiar to the writer ; its allegorical exegesis recalls 
 the mysticism of the Alexandrians ; in style especially it 
 is unlike Paul's ; far richer and more sustained than that 
 of the Apostle, it has on the other hand neither the same 
 enthusiasm, nor like his does it proceed so unhampered 
 by any rules, and therefore often disproportioned, hurried 
 forward, or interrupted by the influence of the moment. 
 
 These diversities have led the most judicious among 
 our own interpreters of the Scripture to admit that, while 
 the general conception, the order and the sequence of 
 ideas in the work belong properly to the Apostle, in in- 
 ternal form it cannot be his.*^ Paul, knowing that the 
 Christians of Jerusalem had a poor opinion of his teach- 
 ings, thought that the most prudent way to make them 
 accept the teachings of his Epistle would be not merely 
 
 1 Hebr. xiii. 22. 
 
 2 " Omuino dicendum arbitramur subjectum, sive materiam totiiis Epis- 
 tolpe, simul et ordinem a Paulo fuisse subministratura, sed compositionem 
 et ornatum esse cujusdam alterius, cujus opera Paulus utendum putaverit." 
 Estius, Prolegomena in Epistolam ad Hebrceos, questio ii. ; Bellannin, A. 
 Maier, Hug, Reithmayr, De Valroger, Comely, Bacuez uphold the same 
 opinion. 
 
160 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 to omit all mention of his name, but to intrust to some 
 one else the task of expressing his thoughts.^ It is a 
 pure matter of conjecture as to whom he may have 
 chosen for this work of composition, — in all likelihood 
 some one of the Apostolic men, whose manner ^ certain 
 critics have from the beginning believed that they could 
 recognize therein : either Clement, Luke, or Barnabas.^ The 
 style of the first two mentioned does, it is true, bear some 
 resemblance to that of the Epistle to the Hebrews ; but, 
 on the other hand, there was nothing to recommend them 
 to Paul as collaborators in a document destined for those 
 children of Israel who were most Jewish in their ten- 
 dencies. Both of them were Gentiles by birth and edu- 
 cation, and both were scarcely known in Jerusalem, with 
 which city they themselves were little acquainted. How, 
 then, could they so mould the Apostle's thoughts as to win 
 the confidence and good-will of the Christians in Judea ? 
 
 1 Clement of Alexandria, quoted by Eusebius. 
 
 2 As early as the second century we find that the Alexandrian doctors 
 were much struck by the difference in style presented by the Epistle to the 
 Hebrews when compared with the other letters of St. Paul. Pantsenus 
 (about 170) and his disciple, Clement of Alexandria, concede that the 
 Apostle composed the Epistle in Hebrew, and that St. Luke translated it 
 into Greek. (Eusebius, Hlstoria ecclesiastica, vol. vi. chaps, xiii., xiv.) 
 Origen would concede a still smaller share in its composition to St. Paul. 
 " The thoughts are his," he says ; " the expressions and the arrangements 
 of the words are those of some one else, who probably reproduced the 
 Apostle's words from memory, and, so to speak, is explaining what his 
 master said, after the manner of a Scholiast. Accordingly, if any Church 
 would hold that this Epistle is Paul's, we should not (quarrel with then) ; 
 for it was not without good reason that the ancients handed it down to us 
 as being Paul's work. As for any final decision concerning the personality 
 of its author, we can only say, God alone knows who he was." (Origen, 
 Homil. in epist. ad Hehr., fragm.) These words of the Alexandrian doctors 
 must be regarded as of great importance if we take into consideration the 
 renowned school whose opinion in the premises they embody. For there 
 from the very outset scholars had interested themselves in Sacred Liter- 
 ature, and more than anywhere else whatever pertained to these studies 
 was eagerly examined and preserved ; these are not, therefore, mere hypoth- 
 eses or individual opinions which they transmit to us, but a faithful re- 
 flection of the ideas current in Apostolical times. 
 
 2 " Epistola qu8e fertur ad Hebrfeos non ejus creditur, propter styli 
 sermonisque dissonantiam, sed vel Barnabse juxta Tertullianum, vel Luese 
 Evangelistfe juxta quosdam, vel dementis Romance postea Ecclesise Epis- 
 copi." St. Jerome, De vir. iilustr., v. 
 
THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 161 
 
 Furthermore, neither in the two books written by Saint 
 Luke nor in the Epistle of Saint Clement is there any 
 trace of the Alexandrian influence so often betrayed in 
 the letter to the Hebrews. 
 
 It is quite another matter when we come to Barnabas. 
 As a Jew born of the tribe of Levi, he was known and 
 loved by the Mother Church, where his mildness of 
 speech had won for him the name of " Son of Consola- 
 tion." ^ He was known also to be deeply attached to Paul, 
 and nevertheless independent of him; for after their last 
 mission-journey together, Barnabas had abandoned him 
 in order to consecrate his missionary labors to the Chris- 
 tian communities of Cyprus and the Orient. As a Levite 
 he would be the first to be chosen from among Paul's im- 
 mediate companions when the latter desired to enlighten 
 his brethren of Israel concerning the Sacrifice and the 
 Priesthood of Jesus, and to prove to them that the Mo- 
 saic rites were meant but to prefigure and foretell Him. 
 Thus, as we see, none could have been better fitted either 
 to act as the Apostle's interpreter or to lend authority to 
 his words.2 That he should have done this by using a 
 manner of speech, exposition, and exegesis which are so re- 
 miniscent of Philo and the Alexandrians, surely this has 
 nothing surprising about it. Cyprus, the head centre of 
 his Apostolate, kept up a busy commerce with the shores of 
 Egypt, and Tradition has it that Mark, his cousin and 
 disciple, was the founder of the Church of Alexandria.^ 
 
 1 Acts iv. 36 ; ix. 27 ; xi. 22-26 ; xv. 12, 22, 25. 
 
 2 Though the weight of argument compels us to regard St. Barnabas as 
 the " editor " of the Hebraic Epistle, it may yet be that antiquity was not 
 altogether wrong in assigning some share in the work to St. Luke, or, even 
 with more reason, to St. Clement. In fact it was necessary, in order to 
 render the letter accessible to the majority of the Churches, that it should 
 be translated into Greek. Now this is precisely the part which tradition 
 attributed to these two Apostolic men, especially to St. Clement ; for St. 
 Luke would seem to have been mentioned only on account of the intimate 
 relations which marked him out to be Paul's Evangelist and the historian 
 of his acts. Eu sebius (i/i's^o?-. eccles., iii. xxxviii,), Euthalius of Alex- 
 andria (In Hebr. Arg.), Theodoret (In Hehr. Arg.), St. Jerome {De vir. 
 iliustr., V.) hold that there is much better authority for the opinion which 
 recognizes the handiwork of St. Clement in the Greek version now in our 
 possession. 
 
 3 See St. Peter, chap. xx. 11 
 
162 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 Paul remarks, toward the close of the Epistle, that he is 
 writing while in the society of the " Christians of Italy." ^ 
 The best opinion is that it is not Eome which is desig- 
 nated by this expression,^ but some one of the seaport 
 towns, such as Puteoli, where eastward-bound ships on 
 their way were wont to touch. The sea routes were by 
 far the most comfortable and safest for the Apostle when, 
 on quitting Spain, he set out to visit for the last time his 
 Christian followers in Greece and Asia. It was therefore 
 at one of these landing-places along the Italian coast, as 
 we may well fancy, that he was informed of the trials of 
 the Mother Church, and was moved to address her with 
 this " word of consolation." ^ There is nothing in this let- 
 ter to indicate that Paul despatched it during the period 
 of his first imprisonment ; * hence it only remains to refer 
 it to the time and place which I have given for its com- 
 position above. Furthermore, his meeting with Barnabas 
 under such circumstances has nothing improbable about 
 it, for a pious tradition still exists that the latter pursued 
 his Apostolic labors in Italy, and the Church of Milan 
 considers him as its founder.^ As Paul's fellow-worker 
 in his earliest efforts, it was natural that he should rejoin 
 him, to finish the work undertaken twenty years before, 
 and thus together proclaim, not only to the Gentile world, 
 
 1 Hebr. xiii. 24. 
 
 2 The Apostle would have mentioned it under veiled terms, at least, as 
 St. Peter did in his first Epistle. 1 Peter v. 13. 
 
 3 Hebr. xiii. 22. 
 
 ^ Two passages in the Epistle to the Hebrews have been appealed to as 
 proving that the Apostle must have written it at that date : x. 34 and xiii. 
 19 ; especially the first, which by translating the Apostle's words by "You 
 have had compassion on my bonds," is made to refer to his captivity. The 
 difficulty with this interpretation is that it rests solely upon the reading, 
 Vinculis meis compassi estis, toIs dea-fiols avveTradrjaare which is with good 
 reason rejected by the Vulgate, most of the Versions, and by all of the best 
 modern editions. The real reading is toTs deafiioLS fiov ffweirad-qaaTe : " You 
 have had compassion on those who were in bonds." As to the second pas- 
 sage, to construe those vague terms, " Pray . . . that I may be restored to 
 you the sooner," as an indication that Paul is expecting a speedy release from 
 his imprisonment, would seem to me at least a very hazardous conclusion. 
 
 5 See Braunsberger, Der. Ap. Barnabas, Mainz (1893), pp. 83 et seq. 
 Cf. Recognitiones, i. 7, where St. Barnabas is represented as preaching in 
 Rome and converting St. Clement. 
 
THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 163 
 
 but to Israel as well, the decisive victory of their Faith 
 over Mosaism. 
 
 The Epistle to the Hebrews is an eloquent memorial 
 of this superiority, drawn from the very heart of Chris- 
 tianity and exemplified in the Sacrifice and Priesthood of 
 Jesus. Paul does not, however, confine himself to the 
 setting forth of this pre-eminence of the Christ. Israel 
 laid claim to three peculiar titles, of glorious import : its 
 Patriarchs and its Prophets, who, by the ministry of An- 
 gels, were honored by the visitation and the messages of 
 God ; its Law, which the Eternal had placed in the hands 
 of Moses ; its Temples and its sacrifices, alone acceptable 
 unto the Lord. The Apostle begins his Epistle by re- 
 minding them that the two first-named prerogatives find 
 their completion in Jesus, and in Him alone. 
 
 How imperfect, indeed, do the revelations of the Old 
 Testament seem to us — revealing as they do but fragments 
 of the truth " at sundry times and in divers manners " ^ — 
 when brought face to face with that full, midday light 
 whereof the Christ is the Sun of Eighteousness ! In that 
 one expression, " the Word," God has summed up the 
 whole matter, — His " Son, Who is the Heir of all things," 
 because, since all things have their being through Him, 
 all must belong to Him.^ This Son in the bosom of God 
 is " the resplendency of His Glory, and the express image 
 of His Substance ; He upholds all things in the created 
 world by the might of his word ; " ^ He purifies the World 
 of Souls from their sins;* by this threefold title of Ee- 
 deemer, Creator, and Son, having the same Substance, the 
 same Glory as God, He is set above all things, " seated at 
 the right hand of the Majesty on High."^ 
 
 Now, God did more than merely speak to the Saints of 
 the Old Testament ; He manifested Himself to the Patri- 
 archs and Prophets by the mediation of Angels. These 
 pure Spirits were indeed clothed in human form, but so 
 
 1 rioXu/ieptDs KoL TToXvTpSirws. 
 
 2 Hebr. i, 2 ; 'Ev vlQ 5v idrjKeu KXr]pop6/xov ttolvtoov, di'od /cat roivs atwvas 
 iTToirjaev. 
 
 8 Hebr. i. 3. * jbid. 6 ibid. 
 
164 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 utterly divested of their own personality that the move- 
 ment and speech of God shone through them as the sun's 
 rays through a crystal. Abraham, Jacob, and all the Seers 
 of old had no difficulty in recognizing their Lord in these 
 Apparitions. And yet what were these preludes to the 
 Incarnation beside the reality, God personally uniting 
 Himself to Humanity, and taking to Himself man's body 
 and soul, in order to dwell and to converse with us ? To 
 which one of the Angels was it given to hear from the 
 Father's lips the words which He addresses unto Him 
 Who became flesh for us, " Thou art my Son, this day 
 have I begotten Thee," — the changeless Day of all Eter- 
 nity ?^ To none of the Angels as unto the Christ are at- 
 tributed those two powers peculiar to the Godhead : 
 Immutability, and the power to create all things.^ Not 
 to the Angels is it given to enjoy sovereignty over the 
 world of the future, the Christian world, but only unto 
 Jesus.^ Wherefore if the Hebrews were willing to obey 
 the Law, as proclaimed to them by Angels, then all the 
 more are they bound to submit themselves to the Christ.^ 
 
 Why, then, should they falter because by reason of His 
 sufferings and His death this Divine Christ may have ap- 
 peared for a little as lower than the Heavenly Spirits ? ^ 
 " We behold Him crowned with glory and honor because 
 of the death which He has suffered," God in His goodness 
 having willed that He should die for all.^ To this end 
 it behooved Him that He should clothe Himself in a na- 
 ture like unto ours, composed of " flesh and blood ; " ^ unto 
 this end " become in all things like unto His brethren. 
 He remaineth steadfast in His ministry before God, a 
 merciful and faithful Pontiff, Who maketh expiation for 
 the sins of the people. For it is from those very suffer- 
 ings, whereby He hath been tried, that He obtaineth the 
 Power to succor such as are themselves tempted." ^ 
 
 Jesus is not merely an Angel, a Divine Messenger Who 
 
 1 Hebr. i. 5 ; Ps. ii. 7. ^ Ibid., ii. 7-9. 
 
 2 Ibid., i. 7-14. 6 Ibid., ii. 9. 
 
 3 Ibid., ii. 5-9. ^ Ibid., ii. 14. 
 
 4 Ibid., ii. 1-4. » jbid., ii. 17-18. 
 
THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 165 
 
 brings us the law of Grace ; He dwells forevermore among 
 us, set between Heaven and Earth to be the Mediator of 
 the New Covenant, as Moses was of the Old ; but vested 
 with a very different perfection. Moses was but as a 
 servant in the house of God. Jesus, as the Son, holds 
 sway over his household.^ Moses had not been able to 
 keep the unbelieving Jews from wandering forty years in 
 the wilderness ; ^ but we, once united unto the Christ, enter 
 into the rest, " the Great Sabbath of the people of God ;" ^ 
 trusting in the new Josue who leads us onward ; believ- 
 ing in His Word which is the very word of God, " living 
 and working, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing 
 even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit. . . ."* 
 Nor can that be said of our Mediator which is true of 
 Moses, who was not permitted to conduct Israel into the 
 Promised Land, nor himself to enter therein. Jesus has 
 penetrated within the region of Everlasting Eest ; He has 
 ascended unto the highest of the heavens, seated Himself 
 upon " a throne of grace," ^ and there remains clothed 
 in the sublimest of His functions, at once Priest and 
 Victim. 
 
 This Priesthood, this Sacrifice of Jesus, is the prof ound- 
 est of His Mysteries ; it is His loftiest and crowning 
 achievement. " It is finished," ^ all things are consum- 
 mated, as said the Saviour when dying on the Cross. 
 Heretofore, to judge from the letters of his which we 
 possess, Paul had never touched upon the transcendent 
 aspect of our beliefs, but now he was under the necessity 
 of explaining them to minds far less adapted to under- 
 stand them, — to those Christians of Jerusalem, always 
 loath to renounce the spirit of Mosaism. " The spirit of 
 slumber," '^ which overwhelmed the rest of Israel, in like 
 fashion weighed heavily upon them ; " bowed down to the 
 Earth," ^ they seemed often " to have eyes that they should 
 
 1 Hebr. iii. 1-6. < Ibid., iv. 12. 
 
 2 Ibid., iii. 7-11 ; 15-19. ^ j^id., iv. 14-16. 
 8 Ibid., iv. 9. 6 John xix. 30. 
 
 ' Rom. xi. 8. 
 
 8 Tov vCoTOP avTup diaTravrbs aijyKafx^f/ov. Rom. xi. 10. 
 
166 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 not see, ears that they should not hear." ^ The Apostle 
 appears to hesitate even at the thought of trying to ex- 
 pound the Eternal Priesthood of Jesus before such hear- 
 ers, and complains in vehement terms of their dulness 
 of soul and of Faith. 
 
 " I shall have many things to say on this subject, but 
 'twill be hard to explain them because you are so dull of 
 understanding, instead of being teachers as you ought to 
 be, seeing what a long time you have been under instruc- 
 tions ; indeed you yourselves are still in need of being 
 taught the first rudiments of the Word of God." ^ 
 
 Ought he, then, out of regard for the lowest element 
 in the Mother Church, to deprive the more earnest minds 
 among them of all lofty instructions ? Paul thought not. 
 Why should he preach to none but unworthy followers ? 
 The first to become Christians, and filled to overflowing 
 with the gifts of Grace, it had been theirs to relish the 
 riches of God's favor more abundantly than any others ; 
 no others like them had been eye-witnesses of the miracles 
 accompanying the Gospel's reign on earth ; ^ so then, if 
 they swerve and fall away now, it cannot be blamed to 
 their ignorance or human weakness, but to pure mali- 
 ciousness and nothing else. They know full well what 
 they are doing by going back to Judaism ; they are ren- 
 dering any return to Christ impossible ; * for, with malice 
 aforethought, they are taking sides with the enemies of 
 Jesus, to crucify Him anew and flaunt their Deicide in 
 the eyes of the whole world.^ For such apostates, in 
 Paul's opinion, there was no escape from the terrors of 
 Judgment and the flame which dieth not.^ 
 
 1 Rom. xi. 8. 2 Hebr. v. 11-12. 3 ibid. vi. 4, 5. 
 
 * An impossibility, not on God's part, ready as He is to pardon us to 
 the very last, but by reason of the obstacles, the deep pit they of their 
 own malice have dug to separate themselves from the Divine Mercy. 
 Their sin is like that of Lucifer's rebelling and blasplieming in His very 
 face. How find words persuasive enough to touch hearts so hardened and 
 set in the hatred of their Saviour ? What sacrifice powerful enough to 
 open a way for grace to enter and soften them ? 
 
 6 Hebr. vi. 6. 6 ibid., xi. 26-31. 
 
THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 167 
 
 But even while launching these invectives against the 
 stiff-necked, and the renegades in Israel, Paul never for- 
 gets to express his tender solicitude for those among his 
 brethren who had not as yet fallen away quite so far, but 
 were still struggling onward amid tears and groanings. 
 These he endeavors to encourage by means of this letter, 
 bidding them have confidence in themselves : — 
 
 "And while speaking thus, dear brethren, know that I 
 cherish a better opinion of you and your Salvation. God is 
 not unjust, nor does He forget your good works and the 
 charity you have displayed in His name, by the services 
 you have rendered and still render to the Saints. I desire 
 earnestly that every one of you might show the same zeal, 
 UDto the end that your Hope may be fulfilled/' ^ 
 
 This " Hope " of the Christian soul tossed about by the 
 tempest of our earthly life " is the anchor which gives 
 him steadiness and assurance," ^ for it is cast by the true 
 believer, not merely close to the sheltering shores of 
 Eternity, but down into the depths of the world Divine, 
 within the Sanctuary, and " beyond the veil, whither 
 Jesus has entered as our forerunner, being become the 
 Sovereign Sacrificer unto all times to come." ^ 
 
 Here Paul reverts to the original thought which ani- 
 mates his Epistle, the Priesthood of the Christ according 
 to the order of Melchisedec. There is nothing more august 
 and mysterious in the Old Testament than the descrip- 
 tion of this personage. Suddenly and without warning, 
 he steps forth into the history of the Father of all true 
 Believers, not affiliated in any way with the chosen people, 
 " without father or mother, having neither genealogy nor 
 beginning nor end of days."* Clothed with a mystical 
 empire, " King of Eighteousness, King of Salem, that is 
 to say, King of Peace," ^ he approaches Abraham as one 
 mightier than that " Conqueror of Kings," since he blesses 
 the Patriarch and receives from him a tithe of all his 
 
 1 Hebr. vi. 9-11. * Ibid., vii. 3. 
 
 3 Ibid., vi. 19. 5 Ibid., vii. 2. 
 
 3 Ibid., vi. 19-20. 
 
168 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 spoils.^ Coming forth from out the mists of Eternity, 
 thither he returns, to remain as he had appeared upon 
 earth, " likened unto the Son of God, a Priest unto all 
 ages." 2 Now, as the very counterpart of Melchisedec, a 
 Sacrificer stands forth in the New Covenant, born not of 
 Levi but of Judah, a tribe to which Moses had never in- 
 trusted priestly powers ; ^ endowed with this ministry, 
 " not by virtue of a carnal succession, but by the might 
 of His own Immortal Life." * He stands forth of Himself 
 and forevermore sufficient unto this ministry : — 
 
 " For though there have been many Priests hitherto, be- 
 cause death hindered their continuance, this one, because 
 He remaineth forever, hath an Eternal Priesthood. Where- 
 fore, also. He is able to save them forevermore who approach 
 unto God by Him, seeing that He ever liveth to make inter- 
 cession for us. For such a Sovereign Sacrificer was fitting 
 for us, Who is holy, innocent, spotless, separate from sin- 
 ners, and higher than the Heavens ; Who needeth not daily, 
 like other High Priests, to offer up Sacrifice, first for their 
 own sins, and then for the peoples' ; this he hath done once 
 for all by offering up Himself." ^ 
 
 Jesus does indeed continue to be both Victim and Priest 
 of His own Sacrifice. This is one of the profoundest 
 Mysteries of our Faith, and yet one which the Hebrews 
 were better fitted to understand than any other nation, 
 for everything in their worship tended to prepare them 
 for it. For above the splendors of the Mosaic rit- 
 ual, and over their Temple, one of the marvels of the 
 world, over and above the Tabernacle, veiled by the 
 wings of the Cherubim,^ over and above all these hov- 
 ered a dark cloud of blood. Always they must needs 
 have recourse to blood if they would cleanse and purify 
 
 1 Hebr., vii. 1, 2. Abraham, Chieftain and Father of the whole chosen 
 race, by paying tithes to Melchisedec and receiving his blessing, recog- 
 nizes thereby that he and all his nation, in which the tribe of Levi is in- 
 cluded, were inferior to this mysterious priest. 
 
 2 Hebr., vii. 3. 6 Ibid., vii. 23-27. 
 8 Ibid., vii. 14. 6 Ibid., ix. 1-5. 
 
 ^ Ibid., vii. 16. 
 
THE EPISTLE TO TEE HEBREWS. 169 
 
 their sin-stained souls ; for " there is no remission with- 
 out shedding of blood." ^ In blood Moses had inaugu- 
 rated the Law,2 and it was with blood-stained hands that 
 the High Priest entered once a year within the Holy of 
 Holies.^ What were all these immolations of rams and 
 bulls intended to figure forth ? Jesus, the Supreme Sacri- 
 ficer, shedding for us His own Blood, " offering Himself 
 to God as a Spotless Victim,* and thereby obtaining for 
 us an Eternal Eedemption. " ^ This Divine Oblation was 
 the first act of the Incarnate Son of God. 
 
 " Coming into the World He hath said, ^ Thou hast de- 
 sired neither sacrifice nor offering, but a naked body hast 
 thou prepared Me ; neither holocausts nor sacrifices for sin 
 were pleasing unto Thee ; then said I, " Behold I come, as 
 it is written of Me in the book, to do Thy Will, God ! " ' 
 . . . and in that will of God we are sanctified, by the Obla- 
 tion of the Body of Jesus Christ, once for all. Every other 
 sanctifier standetb daily sacrificing and offering oftentimes 
 the same host which can never take away sins ; but He, 
 after He had offered one Sacrifice for sins, hath seated Him- 
 self for ever and ever on the right hand of God, henceforth 
 expecting, till His enemies be made His footstool. For by 
 this one Offering He hath perfected forever the purification 
 of those whom He hath sanctified." ^ 
 
 What did the Christians of Jerusalem still lack to help 
 them descry and appreciate from out the mists of ancient 
 worship the true Sacrifice, the Eternal Priesthood ? Be- 
 lief in Christ Who went forth from out her pale that He 
 might concentrate and incarnate in Himself all religions, 
 as well as all righteousness and all truth ; but they must 
 
 1 Hebr. ix. 22. 
 
 2 "The first Covenant was not inaugurated without shedding of blood ; 
 for when Moses had proclaimed before all the people every ordinance of the 
 Law, he took the blood of the calves and goats, with water and scarlet 
 wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled the book itself and all the people, saying, 
 "This is the blood of the Covenant, which God hath made for your sake." 
 And in like manner he sprinkled the Tabernacle with blood also and all 
 the vessels of worship." Hebr. ix. 18-21. 
 
 8 Hebr. ix. 7-8. 5 Ibid,, ix. 12. 
 
 * Ibid., ix. 14. « Ibid. x. 5-7, 10-14. 
 
170 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 needs believe with that " full faith " which presupposes the 
 existence of a " sincere heart, cleansed from all stains of 
 an evil conscience." ^ Paul knew well that the souls of 
 this metal were far from being numerous in Israel ; even 
 among those who "had had knowledge of the truth." ^ 
 How many backsliders there were with eyes fixed not on 
 the future, but on the past! Eenegades too, "trampling 
 under foot the Son of God ; counting the blood of the 
 Covenant, which had sanctified them, as it were something 
 vile and profane ; doing despite unto the Spirit of Grace ! " ^ 
 The Apostle pronounces sentence on these apostates in 
 one short line, but one of direful import : " It is a fearful 
 thing to fall into the hands of the living God." * 
 
 And, nevertheless, far removed from this throng of un- 
 believers, Paul's gaze could single out a chosen few, drawn 
 likewise from the ranks of Judaism, but united unto the 
 Christ henceforth and forever. How could he strengthen 
 them in this union more effectually than by proving to 
 them that all holiness and all greatness, from the very 
 beginning of time, proceeds from faith in the Christ? 
 It was this virtue which, long since, had inspired the 
 Saints of the olden Law to plant deep down in our hearts 
 a " steadfast expectation ^ of that for which we hope ; 
 the full conviction of that which we as yet see not." ^ 
 'T was for this faith that they " tarried here below as in a 
 strange land, dwelling in tents ; . . . they were awaiting 
 that city of everlasting foundations, whereof God Him- 
 self is the Creator and the Architect ; . . . these all died 
 in Faith, not having received the things which were prom- 
 ised unto them, but having seen them afar off and em- 
 braced them, confessing that they were but strangers and 
 pilgrims upon Earth." Thus have lived all those great 
 and holy ones still treasured in the memory of Israel, — 
 
 1 Hebr. X. 22. » Ibid., x. 29. 
 
 2 Ibid., X. 26. _ 4 Ibid., X. 31. 
 
 ^ Beelen, Maier, Bisping, and the majority of modern critics are riglit 
 ill .giving to vTroaTacns the meaning of " firm expectation," for this significa- 
 tion here required by the context is the same which the Greek word has 
 in other passages of Scripture. Hebr. iii. 14 ; Ezek. xix. 5. 
 
 6 Hebr. xi. i. 
 
THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 171 
 
 Abel, Henoch, Noe, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, 
 even Eahab the harlot.^ 
 
 " What shall I more say ? " proceeds the Apostle. " Time 
 would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, of Samson, 
 of Jephtha, of David, of Samuel, and of the Prophets, who 
 through Faith subdued kingdoms, held righteous sway, ob- 
 tained the fulfilment of the promises, stopped the mouths 
 of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of 
 the sword, came forth strong out of sickness, waxed valiant 
 in battle, turned to flight the armies of aliens, restored to 
 women their children raised to life again. Some were 
 broken on the wheel, not deigning to barter for their lives, 
 and thus obtaining a better one in the Resurrection ; others 
 have suffered mockings and the lash, chains also, and im- 
 prisonments ; they were stoned, sawn asunder, tortured ; 
 they were slain with the sword ; they wandered about in 
 sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tor- 
 mented, — they of whom the world was not worthy, — roam- 
 ing through the deserts and on mountain-sides, dwelling in 
 dens and caves of the earth. All these holy ones, whose 
 faith the Scripture celebrates, did not behold the realization 
 of the promises, God having willed it as a particular favor 
 unto us that without us they should not attain unto the 
 accomplishment of their joy. Compassed about with so 
 great a cloud of witnesses, let us run with patience the race 
 that is set before us, looking onward to Jesus, the Author 
 and the Finisher of the Faith." ^ 
 
 Paul felt himself more justified in urging upon them 
 the necessity of courage, because as a rule the Christians 
 of Jerusalem had not been forced as others had been to 
 struggle and " to resist unto blood." ^ What were their 
 present trials compared with the sufferings of their breth- 
 ren ? At most but a fatherly chastisement, a kindly dis- 
 cipline, whose only fruits were righteousness and peace.* 
 And, on the other hand, how many higher motives were 
 theirs not to yield one whit in generosity to the Saints 
 and Martyrs of the olden Covenant ? These had never 
 
 1 Joshua ii. 1-21 ; vi. 17. ^ ibi^., xii. 4. 
 
 2 Hebr. xi. 32-40 ; xii. 1, 2. * Ibid., xii. 6-11. 
 
172 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 beheld God and His Law, save on a burning mountain 
 shrouded in darkness, in the roar of the storm, and in 
 the lightning's flash ; so terrible then was the voice of the 
 Lord that they had entreated Him to speak to them ^ no 
 longer. Instead of this awe-inspiring pomp, the New 
 Faith comes to them in the unclouded light of day, plainly 
 distinguishable, offering unto them every good thing which 
 Israel long had languished for, — the true " Mt. Sion, the 
 City of the living God, the Heavenly Jerusalem ; in whose 
 bosom are the Angels in myriad throngs ; the congrega- 
 tion of the first born, written in the Heavens ; God, Judge 
 of all mankind ; the souls of the righteous made perfect 
 in glory ; Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant ; His 
 Blood shed for us speaking more eloquently than did that 
 of Abel." 2 
 
 Henceforth this immolation of the Saviour, symbolized 
 by His Cross, will remain forever the most abiding Glory 
 of Jerusalem, the very central point of it, and focussing 
 in itself all that is left to them of life and salvation. 
 Thitherward Paul never tires of directing the gaze of the 
 faithful of the Holy City, showing them that every one 
 of the virtues which he urges upon them is in some sense 
 an act of worship ; ^ the " sacrifice of praise " * in prayer ; 
 the sacrifice of charity in almsgiving, hospitality, and 
 brotherly love ; ^ and in the whole sum of the Christian 
 life, a communion through Grace, with the Oblation of 
 the Saviour, — the one veritable Holocaust " whereof God 
 is the consuming fire." ^ One, too, which differs so widely 
 from those of Mosaism, in that it will never be extin- 
 guished ; for the soul of this Sacrifice, " Jesus Christ, is 
 the same yesterday, to-day, and forever." "* Paul's last 
 thought is of this Eternal Pontiff. 
 
 "Now may God," he says in his closing greetings to the 
 Hebrews, " the God of peace, Who raised up from the dead 
 Our Lord Jesus, the Great Shepherd of the sheep, through 
 
 '- Hebr. xii. 18-21. 6 ibid., xiii. 16. 
 
 2 Ibid., xii. 22-24. 6 i^id., xii. 29. 
 
 3 Ibid., xii. 28. ' Ibid., xiii. 8. 
 '^ Ibid., xiii. 15. 
 
THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 173 
 
 the Blood, which maketh this Covenant everlasting ; [may 
 this God] incline you to do every good work, He Himself 
 working in you that which is pleasing unto Him, through 
 Jesus Christ, unto Whom be glory forever and ever. 
 Amen." ^ 
 
 We are inclined to believe that the Epistle when it left 
 the hands of Barnabas ended with this benediction. What 
 followed would seem to have been dictated by Paul him- 
 self, when the letter which was to set forth his ideas was 
 submitted to him for his approval, and had received from 
 him the stamp of authenticity. 
 
 " I beseech of you, brethren, to bear with these words of 
 consolation ; I have written to you in a few words.^ Know 
 that our brother Timothy has been set at liberty ; with him, 
 if he come speedily, I will see you. Salute all them that 
 are your leaders, and all the Saints. Those of Italy salute 
 you. May Grace be with you all. Amen.'' ^ 
 
 1 Hebr. xiii. 20, 21. 
 
 2 The first words in this additional passage which certain interpreters 
 find very difficult to explain become clear and significant when understood 
 in the light of our hypothesis. The Aorists ^ypa^pa, ^irefx^a, eiriaTeiXa 
 often correspond to our " present " in his letters. The same is true of the 
 Latin, scripsi, misi. See Winer, Grammatik des Neutestamentlichen Sprach- 
 idioms, sect. 40, 5, b. 2. 
 
 8 Hebr. xiii. 22-25. 
 
CHAPTEK IX. 
 
 THE EEBELLION OF JUDEA. 
 
 I. The Fiest Uprisings in Jerusalem. 
 
 The persecutions which Paul had been arming the 
 faith of the Mother Church against lost much of their 
 violence in the period which followed the despatch of his 
 Epistle to the Hebrews. As always, their instigators had 
 been certain leaders of the aristocracy, but now, the latter 
 tormented in their turn by the lower elements of the pop- 
 ulace, whose wrath had been excited by their cringing 
 attitude toward Kome, speedily found themselves in- 
 volved in a life and death struggle against a rebellion 
 which for some time past had been smouldering in Jeru- 
 salem and now burst into flames. It was under the gov- 
 ernorship of Gessius Elorus that the Holy City assumed 
 this threatening aspect. 
 
 The new governor found Judea very different from 
 what it had been a -hundred and thirty years previ- 
 ously, when Pompey brought it under the yoke ; for 
 Kome, generally so skilful in absorbing conquered pop- 
 ulation into the body politic, had here made complete 
 failure. One of the most efficacious means toward attain- 
 ing this end was military service. • Thereby the provin- 
 cials, when once enrolled in the auxiliary cohorts, their 
 discipline modelled upon that of the legionaries surround- 
 ing them, became little by little comrades in arms and 
 compatriots of the latter. Nothing of the sort was to 
 be hoped for from the Jews, whose Law, and especially 
 that of the Sabbatical Best, could not be made to har- 
 monize with military discipline. Similar considerations 
 made them absent themselves from the courts of com- 
 
? ><^ " 
 
THE FIRST UPRISINGS IN JERUSALEM. 175 
 
 mon law. Israel had its own code dictated by God, its 
 own national judges, in the persons of the president of 
 each Synagogue ; to them they had recourse, and per- 
 sisted so stubbornly in this line of conduct that Eome 
 was forced, if only for the sake of keeping peace, to 
 tolerate and sometimes even to authorize their independ- 
 ent jurisdiction.^ 
 
 But the deepest gulf between them was that of their 
 belief. Some sort of harmony of attributes and powers 
 was easily brought about between the gods of the Capitol 
 and those of the rest of the Pagan world ; indeed, they 
 succeeded in making them scarcely distinguishable one 
 from another ; furthermore, a new worship, that of Caesar, 
 was made obligatory for all, and thus gathered together 
 about the same altar representatives from every quarter 
 of the empire.^ The God of Israel alone brooked neither 
 rivalry nor partnership. Alone He reigned within His 
 Holy Temple, encompassing with His Infinity, not only 
 the Holy City, but the Synagogues scattered throughout 
 the whole known world ; for in them every adoring Is- 
 raelite set his face Sionwards. Nowhere else might one 
 offer sacrifice ; but each one of them longingly looked 
 forward to the day when he might accomplish the rites 
 of his worship, as a pilgrim offering his sacrifice upon the 
 solitary Altar acceptable unto the Lord. 
 
 The majesty of the Eoman name was dimmed and over- 
 shadowed by the greatness of this Sanctuary. In order 
 to revive its prestige the Procurators withdrew to Cses- 
 area, trusting that from this city, half-Greek, half-Jewish, 
 they might wield their authority more imposingly. The 
 effect of this measure, though in certain respects politic, 
 was to isolate Jerusalem from all external influences and 
 to leave her just what she had become during the past 
 centuries of withdrawal from, and horror of, the heathen 
 world. The large majority of the population, made up of 
 
 1 Here I have not intended to do more than to summarize certain points 
 treated of at length in the Third Chapter of St. Peter : " The Jews of the 
 Dispersion." 
 
 2 St. Paul, chap. i. 
 
176 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 men of business, merchants, and small tradesmen, en- 
 deavored to form a decent and peaceable party from 
 among them, much attached to their Faith, and conse- 
 quently dreading any revolt likely to bring the Temple 
 and the City in peril. This inborn preference for tran- 
 quillity rendered the Jews, as a rule, docile subjects, but 
 without inspiring in them any feeling of esteem toward 
 those who governed them ; for the latter, whether princes 
 of the Priesthood or former officials and courtiers of 
 Herod, were all notable for the same lack of faith and 
 morality. Though hated for their impiety, their osten- 
 tation, and insulting arrogance, they were none the less 
 masters of the Sanhedrin, and still shared among them- 
 selves the highest positions in the Pontificate and the 
 Government. Under such leaders, bent solely on in- 
 creasing their own fortunes, we may easily imagine that 
 the average Jew was minded to keep the peace at any 
 price. 
 
 This very servility, however, became a constant source 
 of trouble for Jerusalem. Besides the middle class, which 
 for motives of self-interest, pretended not to see all this, 
 there was always an uneasy and turbulent element among 
 the lower populace. With no other heritage save the 
 greatness of their race, they lent a willing ear to any one 
 who spoke of restoring it, and of making them sharers in 
 its riches and honors. Amid this throng, aggravated on 
 the one hand by their own destitution, and on the other 
 by deeds of violence on the part of the aristocracy, revo- 
 lutionary preachers were to be heard daily. Some of 
 these fanatics were in good faith, thinking that by foster- 
 ing rebellion they were doing the work of God, and has- 
 tening the coming of His Kingdom ; others were less 
 disinterested, watching their opportunity for private 
 profit out of every public disorder ; crews of adventurers 
 and brigands, always drawing new recruits, forced into 
 their ranks by the wretchedness of the surrounding 
 country, ravaged the land in bands of such redoubtable 
 strength that the Eoman magistrates had been forced more 
 than once to come to some compromise with them. Un- 
 
THE FIRST UPRISINGS IN JERUSALEM. 177 
 
 der their true colors they could not have done more than 
 breed terror and destruction, but in company with sincere 
 Zealots, and wearing the cloak of the latters' piety, they 
 were well fitted to incite Jerusalem to revolt. " Liberty 
 is the highest right of all," they proclaimed ; " we must 
 wrest it, if needful by force, from those who prefer slav- 
 ery." 1 Secretly, and sometimes by public attacks, they 
 supported their theories, making their campaign a con- 
 tinuous source of terror.^ 
 
 Other terrors followed in rapid succession, all conspir- 
 ing to agitate the minds of the people. The one theme 
 of general conversation just then was the appearance of 
 direful portents in the heavens. " Signs of our approach- 
 ing liberty ! " ^ cried the Zealots. The excitement caused 
 by these prodigies was so great that rumors of them reached 
 Eome itself. Tacitus, as well as Josephus,^ records them. 
 For a whole year a sword-shaped comet had remained 
 suspended over the city ; but it was in the year 65 that 
 such phenomena were most in evidence. At the Pass- 
 over festival, about three hours after midnight, a great 
 light suddenly enveloped Mt. Moriah ; so dazzling was it 
 that the people assembled together for the Feast of Un- 
 leavened Bread beheld the Temple and the Altar as 
 plainly as in the glare of noonday. 
 
 Another prodigy occurred to disturb the same solem- 
 nities. The brazen gates of the Temple, so huge and 
 heavy that it required twenty men to work them, opened 
 of themselves, and were closed again only after prodi- 
 gious labors. A few days later, just before dawn, the sky 
 appeared to be filled with visions and mutterings of war ; 
 beholders descried rushing chariots, the shock of contend- 
 ing armies, and cities encircled with trenches. Still more 
 sinister were the presages on the Day of Pentecost ; for 
 the Priests, when entering at night into the Temple to 
 perform their functions, were alarmed by the noise of a 
 great tumult, the sound of myriad footsteps, as it were 
 
 1 Jose])hiis, Bell Jud., ii. xiii. 6. 2 ibid., ii. xiii. 3, 4. ^ ibid 
 4 Tacitus, Eistori<£, v. 13 ; Joseplius, Bell. Jud., vi. v. 3. 
 
 12 
 
178 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 of a multitude in flight, shrieking with one voice, " Let 
 us flee from here ! Let us flee from here !" 
 
 But why was not Florus on hand to check and pacify 
 his province during these days of wild excitement? 
 Simply because he was the worst governor as yet sent 
 to them by Kome. Once raised to this post of honor 
 through the influence of his wife, Poppsea's friend, he 
 seems never to have had any other end in view save to 
 rival and outdo his fellow-magistrates of the Orient in 
 the speedy accumulation of a fortune.^ His prestige at 
 the Imperial court insured him perfect impunity, and he 
 availed himself of it so efficiently as to make even the 
 scoundrelly Albinus regretted. The latter had shown 
 some discretion in his exactions. Florus proceeded 
 unchecked and unashamed. He pillaged cities and citi- 
 zens with both hands, and withal so fiercely as to depopu- 
 late the regions roundabout ; not only villages, but towns 
 as well, were almost deserted. Cestius Gallus was then 
 Administrator of Syria, the province whereof Judea, with 
 its Procurators, was a dependency. He visited Jerusalem 
 during the Passover, and found Jews assembled there for 
 this Solemnity to the number of three millions, or so 
 Josephus tells us.^ At once there arose an outcry against 
 Florus, whom they accused before him of being the bane 
 of their country. Meanwhile, the latter standing at the 
 right hand of the Imperial Legate, simply smiled at their 
 angry tirades, well aware how futile they were. For 
 Cestius proved true to his bond, and on his departure the 
 lot of wretched Judea waxed only the more pitiable.^ 
 
 Thereupon, whether out of revenge or through mere cu- 
 pidity, Florus threw off all self-restraint. He gave orders 
 for the levying of seventeen talents (about $18,360.00 
 in our money) upon the treasury of the Temple, hitherto 
 held inviolate ; for therein was accumulated the tribute 
 paid by the Jews all over the world.* Jerusalem shud- 
 dered at this sacrilege, which thousands of voices clam- 
 
 1 Josephus, Antiq. Jud., xx. xi. 1 ; Bell. Jud., ii. xiv. 3, 
 
 2 Josephus, Bell. Jud., ii. xiv. 3. 
 
 8 Ibid., ii. xiv. 3. * ibid., ii. xiv. 6. 
 
THE FIRST UPRISINGS IN JERUSALEM. 179 
 
 orously denounced ; some of the most infuriated citizens 
 traversed the streets with a beggar's cup in their hands, 
 asking alms " for the poor representative of Caesar 1 " 
 Ever on the watch Florus here scented his opportunity ; 
 he made his entry into Jerusalem in full force and bade 
 the authorities deliver up to him these insulting wretches. 
 The Sanhedrin did its utmost to obtain indulgence for 
 words and deeds which they claimed were the outcome 
 of mere thoughtlessness, furthermore urging the impos- 
 sibility of discovering the real culprits. To this Florus's 
 only reply was to bid his soldiers charge upon the people, 
 adding full permission to rob and slay all who stopped 
 their path. Men, women, and children, to the number 
 of 3,600 perished under the sword or were trampled to 
 death by the fleeing throng. Certain Jews, who availed 
 themselves of their rights of Roman citizenship, were 
 haled before the Pretorium ; Florus had them whipped 
 and crucified.^ Vainly did Agrippa's wife, Berenice, send 
 message after message to the Procurator, conjuring him 
 to stay the massacre ; she even appeared in person, in sup- 
 pliant guise and barefooted, before his tribunal ; but it 
 only resulted in her beholding her unfortunate fellow- 
 countrymen beaten with rods and butchered before her 
 own eyes ; she herself was so threatened that she was 
 fain to escape with all speed from the fury of the soldiers.^ 
 On the morrow, Jerusalem, contrary to all expectations, 
 remained wrapped in peace and quiet. The people were 
 endeavoring to restrain their rage, yielding to the urgent 
 prayers of their leaders ; but this state of mournful resig- 
 nation was not at all to the taste of Florus ; since, accord- 
 ing to Josephus, at least, he was trying to force them into 
 rebellion. Of course the principal object he had in view 
 was the Treasury. In order to keep the people away 
 from that locality he gave orders that they were to go with- 
 out the walls to meet the two cohorts which were about 
 to enter the city, and to greet them on their approach. 
 The populace at once fathomed his ruse, and became more 
 
 1 Josephus, Bell. JucL, ii. xiv. 8, 9. ^ ibj^, [{^ xv. 3. 
 
180 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 threatening than before. To pacify them, the Priests and 
 Levites were forced to appear in their midst, their heads 
 sprinkled with ashes, their garments tattered, bearing be- 
 fore them the sacred vessels ; these they held up aloft 
 before the populace, crying out that they were in danger 
 of falling into sacrilegious hands if any resistance was 
 offered. Once more the Jews saw fit to acquiesce, and 
 went out to welcome with the usual acclamations the 
 Syrian Guards and that idolater Eome had just put over 
 them.^ The latter responded to their shouts with words 
 of the most outrageous contempt. This was too much to 
 be borne by a multitude whose patience and self-restraint 
 were now utterly exhausted ; there was an outburst of 
 mutterings and imprecations against Florus. It would 
 seem that the cohorts were only waiting for this pretext ; 
 they fell upon the Jews, beating them with their staves, 
 stamping out the lives of those who fell beneath the feet 
 of their horses, and driving them back in bloody tumult 
 within the gates. 
 
 These fresh troops then rapidly crossed the suburb of 
 Bezetha and pushed their way toward the Antonia and 
 the Temple. Florus, on his side, marshalling all the 
 legionaries in his command, hastened to the same spot. 
 This concerted movement leaves no doubt that the Treas- 
 ury was his objective point. The Jews hurried madly to 
 its defence ; perched upon the housetops they showered 
 down stones on the soldiers, while others set to work 
 pulling down the viaduct which was used by the Lords 
 of Antonia to make their entrance into the Sanctuary. 
 Florus realizing that the opportunity had slipped througli 
 his fingers, called a halt, and a little later, leaving only 
 one cohort in the city, took his departure for Csesarea. 
 
 He left Jerusalem still bleeding and incensed, readier 
 than ever before to lend a willing ear to the promptings 
 of the Zealots ; for the authority of the aristocracy had 
 waned with that of Eome. What was the use of preach- 
 ing prudence to a mob which had just measured its 
 
 1 Josephus, Bell. Jud., ii. xv. 1. 
 
THE FIRST UPRISINGS IN JERUSALEM, 181 
 
 strength with that of its tyrannical rulers ? Does not 
 the departure of Florus, utterly impolitic as it was, and 
 so well fitted to encourage revolt, prove that the Procura- 
 tor, fearful of being denounced, was actually anxious to 
 foment the rebellion ? To save himself, no more effica- 
 cious means suggested itself than the outbreak of an or- 
 ganized insurrection, thereby enabling him to stifle the 
 complaints which his own acts of rapacity and sanguinary 
 rage justified.^ 
 
 One last resort was still left to the moderate party, in 
 the person of Agrippa, who, acting in concert with them, 
 had hitherto done all in his power to prevent a rupture 
 with Eome. This prince, now on his return from Egypt 
 with his wife Berenice, was making a short stay in the 
 Holy City. Both of them earnestly endeavored to ex- 
 tinguish the sparks which threatened a general confla- 
 gration. Agrippa assembled the people in the great 
 square of Jerusalem called the Xystus ; he represented 
 to them the folly of entering upon a struggle with that 
 one power which had the whole world at its feet. The 
 leaders of the priesthood, quite as anxious as he to pre- 
 serve the peace, seconded him with what vestige of au- 
 thority was still left them. Finally Berenice contributed 
 all the influence of her beauty and supplications. Ap- 
 pearing before them upon one of the terraces of the pal- 
 ace which overlooked the Xystus, she besought them with 
 tears and sobs, — a sight most touching to their hearts ; 
 for the people all loved this princess, whom they regarded 
 with the same affection they had once lavished on the 
 lovely Mariamne, the Asmonsean. At first it seemed that 
 they would come to some general agreement, so far as 
 keeping the peace witli Eome was concerned ; but Agrippa 
 was so imprudent as to push this first advantage to the 
 extreme by insisting that until the arrival of a new proc- 
 urator they should yield obedience to Florus. This was 
 too much. At that detested name, angry reproaches, in- 
 sults, and a shower of stones greeted the speaker. Dis- 
 
 1 Joso^ilms, Bell, JucL, ii. xv. 2, 6. 
 
182 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 couraged by this rude reception, the prince forthwith 
 abandoned the city and witlidrew into Batanroa.^ 
 
 Thereafter the fanatics found the field free for their cam- 
 paign, and they at once took advantage of it to commit a 
 definite act of rebellion. Two days' journey from Jerusa- 
 lem, on the shores of the Dead Sea, stood the impregnable 
 fortress Masada. The fiercest of the Zealots hastened 
 thither, stormed and seized it by surprise, butchered the 
 Koman garrison, and left a detachment of their followers 
 in possession .2 This, however, was but an isolated act of 
 violence, which in no way compromised the entire nation, 
 since Jerusalem remained still in the hands of the mod- 
 erate party. Eeinforced by the Koman cohort which 
 guarded the Antonia, the sacerdotal aristocracy still held 
 the upper hand over the people ; their leader, especially 
 the former High Priest, Ananias,^ was quite capable, 
 if not of subjugating the seditious element, at least of 
 holding it in check. Unfortunately, those who had 
 seemed to be in a position to inspire him with courage 
 were the very ones who made him waver. Foremost 
 among them was his own son, Eleazar, Captain of the 
 Temx^le. This high office insured the latter complete 
 sway over the rank and file of the Levites. Now it is 
 well known how grievously these inferior ministers suf- 
 fered from the exactions of their superiors, as well as 
 from their overbearing pride. Any demagogue who prom- 
 ised to restore to them their former dignities and rights 
 
 1 Josephus, Bell. Jud., ii. xvi. and xvii. 1. 
 
 2 Ibid., ii. xvii. 2. Masada (the nioderu Sebbeh), situated on the east- 
 ern shore of the Dead Sea, just below Engaddi. In the time of the Macca- 
 bees a fortress was erected upon this cliff by the High Priest Jonathan. 
 Herod the Great increased its strategetical importance. (Josephus, Bell. 
 Jud., vii. viii. 3.) Traces of the besiegers' works, when the Roinans in 73 
 tried to reduce the Zealots, are still visible. Robinson, Biblical Researches, 
 iii.pp. 241 et seq.; De Saulcy, Voijage autour de la Mer Morte (1853), vol. i. 
 pp. 199 et seq. ; Atlas plate, xi-xiii. ; The Survey of Weslern Palestine, 
 Memoirs by Conder and Kitchener, iii. pp. 418-421 ; Tuch, Masada, die 
 Herodianische Felsenfeste nach Fl. Josephus und neueren Beobachtangen, 
 Leipzig, 1863. 
 
 ^ The High Priest then in office was Matthias, son of Theophilus. All 
 that we know of him is that, so far as we can discover, he was the last 
 Pontiff regularly appointed. 
 
THE FIRST UPRISINGS IN JERUSALEM. 183 
 
 was sure of gaining a hearing. In this instance the first 
 plank in the platform of restoration was cleverly devised ; 
 namely, to abolish the Sacrifice which they offered daily 
 for the Emperor. For now many years it had become 
 the established custom to receive such gifts as the for- 
 eign princes were pleased to make to the Temple, and to 
 accept their offerings of victims for the Altar.^ Eleazar 
 persuaded the Levites to proscribe this usage and to de- 
 cree that in the future no offerings should be made upon 
 the Altar of Jehovah save such as were donated by the 
 Jews and for the Jews. 
 
 This act of intolerance constituted a mortal insult to 
 Eome, and one all the more keenly felt, since this Mis- 
 tress of the World everywhere attached the greatest 
 importance to such participation in the worship of the 
 subject nations. Pontiffs, members of the Sanhedrin, the 
 Pharisee, — all men in fact who were still able to think 
 calmly, — at once realized what such an act of madness 
 would entail, and set themselves to work to oppose it. 
 On various occasions the chief men of the Priesthood 
 harangued the people, representing to them that to reject 
 the Emperor's offerings was to declare him, and with 
 him the whole Eoman world, unworthy of taking part in 
 prayer with Israel, and that thereby they would lay them- 
 selves open to direful acts of reprisal. Their most famous 
 Doctors employed all the learning at their command to 
 prove by the authority of Scripture that from time im- 
 memorial the sacrifices of foreigners had been received in 
 the Temple ; and that this practice, far from being sacri- 
 legious, constituted the most striking act of homage to 
 the only true God. All this, however, failed to move 
 the Levites one whit. Fascinated by the eloquence of 
 Eleazar, they obstinately persisted in their refusal to 
 offer sacrifice for the Emperor.^ 
 
 1 Jer. xxix. 7; Baruch i. 10, 11 ; 1 Esdr. vi. 10 ; 2 Mace. iii. 2 ; v. 
 16 ; Josephus, Bell. Jud., ii, x. 4, iv. iii. 10, v. xiii. 6 ; Antiq. Jud., xiii. 
 iii. 4 ; Contr. Apion., ii. 5, 6 ; Philo, Legal, ad Caium, sects, xxiii., xxxvii., 
 xl., xlv. ; Aboth., iii. 2. 
 
 2 Josephus, Bell. Jud., ii. xvii. 3, 4. 
 
184 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 Members of the moderate party now realized that Jeru- 
 salem was slipping from their grasp; powerless to stay 
 the tide of insurrection which threatened to engulf them, 
 they appealed for aid to Florus and once more to Agrippa. 
 The Procurator, however, was only too eager to add fuel 
 to the flame; and with unconcealed delight at these 
 tidings, or so Josephus assures us, he dismissed the mes- 
 sengers without granting them any satisfaction.^ Agrippa, 
 on the contrary, hastened to send three thousand of his 
 cavaliers, by whose aid the better class of citizens could 
 hold their own and retain the upper quarter of Jerusalem 
 in their possession,^ while leaving the lower town and the 
 Temple in the hands of the rebels. After a few days of 
 tentative sallies and skirmishes, a veritable battle was 
 fought. On the 14th of August the insurgents attacked 
 the upper city, carried it by storm, set fire to the residence 
 of Ananias, to the lower part of Agrippa's palace, and what 
 was to them the most important of all, to the Chamber of 
 Archives, which contained all the mortgages and claims 
 due the State. The practical effect of this was to liber- 
 ate at one stroke the throng of debtors then so numerous 
 in Jerusalem, and to win them over to their side. Their 
 victory was complete ; the prince's cavalry, the Koman 
 soldiery, and the pontiff's, together with the principal 
 personages of the city, had barely time to take refuge in 
 the upper part of Agrippa's palace. On the morrow their 
 conquerors stormed the Tower of Antonia ; this they car- 
 ried after two days' fighting, set fire to it, and put the gar- 
 rison to the sword. Thence they returned to what was 
 still left of the Palace of the Asmoneeans, this time, how- 
 ever, to be met by a most desperate resistance ; indeed, 
 they had almost resigned themselves to the prospect of 
 carrying it by siege, when an unexpected reinforcement 
 hastened their triumph.^ 
 
 Manahem, son of the famous Judas the Galilean, who 
 sixty years earlier had been the first to attempt to arouse 
 
 1 Josephus, Bell. Jnd., ii. xvii. 4. 
 
 2 The districts occupied nowadays by the Armenians and Jews, 
 ^ Josephus, BeU.JucL, ii. xvii. 5, 7. 
 
THE FIRST UPRISINGS IN JERUSALEM. 185 
 
 Judea against Rome,^ — Manahem had inherited the same 
 fanatic spirit which had brought his father and elder 
 brother to the executioner's block. Seeing Jerusalem in 
 its present state of insurrection, he too believed that his 
 hour had come, and appeared suddenly within the fortress 
 of Masada, but lately fallen into the hands of the Zeal- 
 ots. Putting himself at their head, he made his entrance 
 as a king into Jerusalem, assumed the command over the 
 troops, and pushed the assault upon the Upper Palace so 
 vigorously that the besieged were forced to capitulate. 
 Agrippa's cavalry were allowed to retire from the city ; 
 as for the Romans, however, now too reduced in numbers 
 to fight their own way out of the town, some were mas- 
 sacred on the spot, others took refuge in the three towers 
 named after Hippicus, Phasael, and Mariamne, and made 
 these their last stand. On the following morning An- 
 anias was discovered hiding in an aqueduct leading to 
 the Palace, and was hacked to pieces by their swords.^ 
 This arrogant Pontiff, who for so many a day, had held 
 both Priests and Levites in his implacable grasp, could 
 hope for neither pity nor protection. This, Paul, when 
 buffeted in the face by his orders, had foretold him : he 
 in his turn should be struck, but by the Hand of God.^ 
 
 This violent end of a hated life, well merited though it 
 was, seemed none the less shocking to the populace, and 
 Eleazar was quick to take advantage of the general feel- 
 ing to demand vengeance for his father. Roused to fury 
 by his tirades, the mob seized upon Manahem, slew him 
 with all imaginable cruelty, and constrained his Zealots 
 to make the best of their way back to Masada. All that 
 was left now of their enemies was a little band of Romans 
 shut up in the towers of the palace. Wearied of war- 
 fare, these finally surrendered, under a promise of safe 
 conduct, it is true, but scarcely had they laid down their 
 arms when the perjurer Eleazar gave the signal to his 
 
 1 Acts V. 37. Josephus, Antiq, Jud., xviii. i. 1. Consult The Christ 
 the Son of God, book ii. chap, i., and St. Peter, chap. ii. 
 
 2 Josephus, Bell. Jud.y ii. xvii. 8, 9. 
 
 3 Acts xxiii. 3. 
 
186 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 men to slaughter them. Metilius, commander of the co- 
 hort, was the only one spared, and that only at the cost 
 of an active cowardice on his part, — by allowing himself 
 to be circumcised.^ 
 
 Jerusalem was lost to the Eomans, and with it almost 
 the whole of Judea, for all the garrisons roundabout, in- 
 cluding those of Jericho and the Dead Sea, made haste to 
 capitulate.^ The insurrectionists were thus left masters 
 of the country, free to organize the most formidable sort 
 of resistance known to history, — that of a mob drunken 
 with fanatical rage, without leaders or councillors, ready, 
 if need be, to bury themselves beneath the ruins of the 
 State. 
 
 II. Massacre of the Jews in the East. 
 
 THE campaign OF CESTIUS GALLUS. 
 
 riorus had abandoned Jerusalem to its fate sometime 
 during the month of May, 66, and the last Koman guard 
 succumbed there about the end of September ;2 thus 
 during four months the insurrection had been allowed to 
 develop its forces without anything having been done on 
 the part of Eome to stay its progress. How are we to 
 account for this inactivity ? Josephus, as we have seen, 
 explains it, so far as Florus is concerned, by imputing to 
 him a plot to force matters to the last extremity. But 
 there was Cassius as well, on whom this Procurator was 
 dependent, and who was responsible for this entire quar- 
 ter of the Empire. Why was he so slow to act ? His 
 indolence and well known incapacity when he was pushed 
 to the necessity of taking up arms, furnish in some meas- 
 ure the reason for his conduct ; but furthermore we know 
 that from the very first he had shown himself utterly 
 
 1 Josephus, Bell. Jud., ii. xvii. 9, 10. 
 
 2 Ibid., Bell. Jud., ii. xviii. 6. 
 
 8 " On the 17th ofEloul (September) the Romans withdrew from Juda 
 and Jerusalem." Megillath Taanith, xiv. The outbreak at Jerusalem, re- 
 sulting from the sacrilegious demands of Florus, took place in the course 
 of the preceding month of May. Josephus, Bell, Jud., ii. xv. 2. 
 
MASSACRE OF THE JEWS IN THE EAST. 187 
 
 devoid of discernment. Accustomed as he was to the sec- 
 tarian strifes which were constantly dividing the inhabi- 
 tants of Jerusalem into hostile camps, he could not bring 
 himself to believe that the revolt of the city would ex- 
 tend itself beyond its walls ; consequently, he argued, of 
 what use was it to expose himself to the fury of a few 
 fanatics who were fated to tear each other to pieces, and 
 whose madness inspired only fear and repulsion among 
 the neighboring peoples ? This sudden uprising on the 
 part of all Judea must have upset all his anticipations. 
 
 The signal for the outbreak of this tumult issued from 
 Caesarea. There, more than elsewhere in Palestine, the 
 situation of the Israelites was exceedingly precarious, 
 owing to the fact that they made up scarcely one-half of 
 the population. The rest of the citizens, Syrians and 
 Greeks for the most part, were dependent upon the Eo- 
 mans, who had established the seat of their government 
 there. But here, as everywhere else, Jews and Pagans 
 found it hard to dwell together in harmony. The latter, 
 always assured of enjoying the confidence, or at least the 
 tolerance of the magistrates, lost no opportunity of mo- 
 lesting those of their fellow-citizens who for so many 
 reasons were hateful to them. Hitherto this feeling had 
 vented itself in midnight brawls and secret ambushes, 
 more or less sanguinary in their results, but which the 
 leading men in the city put a stop to as promptly as pos- 
 sible. Upon the news that Jerusalem had succeeded in 
 expelling the Eomans neck and crop from out her walls, 
 however, the Pagans of Csesarea, believing that war had 
 been declared, lost no time in attacking the Jews. In 
 the space of one hour twenty thousand of the latter were 
 slain, nor was a single one left in the city ; for Florus 
 gave orders that all who escaped the massacre should be 
 seized and sent to the galleys.^ 
 
 All Judea was thrilled with horror by the reports of 
 this carnage, and believed itself threatened with actual 
 extermination. Bands of guerillas were hastily formed, 
 
 1 Josephus, Bell. Jud,^ ii. xviii, 1,\ 
 
188 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 and these, sweeping down suddenly upon the towns and 
 villages of the Syrians, committed frightful deeds of 
 reprisal. Philadelphia, Hesebon, Gerasa, and Pella were 
 ravaged ; the Decapolis and Gaulanitis suffered the same 
 fate. Troops of insurgents swept hither and thither, with 
 no concerted plan of action, moved only by the lust for 
 vengeance which filled their souls. After a daring inroad 
 upon the Tyrian cities, and even upon Csesarea itself, 
 they fell back to the southward, put Ascalon to the torch 
 and razed Anthedon and Gaza to the ground. On the 
 other hand, the Syrians displayed a desperation as fierce 
 as their own ; not content with returning murder for mur- 
 der, they believed that there was no safety for them in 
 many of the districts until they had massacred all the 
 Jews in the neighboring parts. Even where they did not 
 proceed to such extremities, the situation became none 
 the less intolerable. In every town there were two hos- 
 tile camps ; the nights were passed in alarms, the days in 
 deeds of violence. One incident related by Josephus, is 
 the best witness to the ferocity exhibited on both sides.^ 
 
 In Scythopolis the Jews had joined forces with the 
 Syrians in the hope of repelling the rebel bands which 
 were threatening the city. The Pagan population, scent- 
 ing some treachery in this proffered aid, accepted it on 
 condition of their withdrawal every evening with their 
 families into a forest close by. On the third night the 
 Syrians fell upon the unfortunate allies unexpectedly, and 
 massacred thirteen thousand of them. One of the noblest 
 among these children of Israel, Simon, son of Saul, who 
 had distinguished himself during the engagements of the 
 preceding days, felt all the old faith grow great within 
 him as his last hour drew near. In a loud voice and with 
 a majestic gesture bidding his assailants halt, he cried out 
 to them that he, indeed, deserved to die for having fought 
 in their ranks against his fellow-countrymen, but that he 
 would not receive the death-stroke from any Pagan hand. 
 Thereupon he seized his aged father and slew him. His 
 
 1 Josephus, Bell. Jud., ii. xviii. 1, 2, 5 ; Vita, 6. 
 
MASSACRE OF THE JEWS IN THE EAST. 189 
 
 mother, his wife, his children, willingly suffered death at 
 his hands ; only then, and standing upon their dead 
 bodies he drove his sword into his own heart. The horri- 
 fied Syrians realized then what they had to expect from 
 men capable of such passions.^ 
 
 The storm covering such a territory in Judea could not 
 fail to affect the neighboring regions. Cassius and Agrippa 
 had succeeded in assuaging it in Syria, but in Egypt it 
 raged with all its violence. Here the Israelites had mul- 
 tiplied to such an extent that their dwellings occupied 
 a whole quarter of Alexandria, or, to be more exact, 
 that half of the city called the Delta. Within this do- 
 main of theirs, although enjoying complete autonomy, 
 having their tribal courts with their own leaders, they 
 went further and laid claim to privileges granted to the 
 Pagan city, and in consequence frequently came in con- 
 flict with the latter. 
 
 The tidings which came from Judea agitated them now 
 more than ordinarily would have been the case. Learn- 
 ing that the citizens of Alexandria were deliberating in 
 the Circus as to the sending of a special ambassador to 
 Nero, the Jews were desirous of entering with them and 
 taking part in their assembly ; they were, however, received 
 with violence and forcibly ejected ; whereupon they re- 
 turned in a body, bearing burning torches to set fire to 
 the amphitheatre ; and this they would have done, had 
 not Alexander, Governor of the city, arrived in time. 
 
 The latter personage was a man of their own blood, 
 and Philo's nephew. He exerted himself to the utmost 
 to calm them, but seeing that his efforts were only met 
 with scoffing and he himself showered with insult and 
 contempt, he was forced to have recourse to arms. His 
 troops actually consisted of a whole army corps ; for, 
 besides the two legions quartered in the city, five thou- 
 sand men, lately arrived from Lybia, were there at this 
 juncture. 
 
 Driven back into their own section of the city by the 
 
 1 Josephus, Bell. Jud., ii. xviii. 3, 4. 
 
190 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 soldiers, the Jews offered a desperate resistance, but over- 
 whelmed by mere numbers, they perished to the last man. 
 When the riot was at last quelled, fifty thousand corpses 
 blocked the streets of the Delta.^ 
 
 These conflicts resolved themselves, in fact, into racial 
 and religious wars. In Palestine their ravages were ex- 
 tended over a period of many months, enveloping the 
 whole population in the same dreadful and lamentable 
 fate. Amid all these troubles, what had become of the 
 disciples of Christ ? Undoubtedly a large number of 
 them perished too, and of these the larger number, per- 
 haps, fell victims to the fury of the Jews rather than to 
 that of the Pagans. In fact, Josephus speaks of certain 
 " Judaizers " whom the Syrians and Greeks did not con- 
 found with the Jews by birth, and whose lives they there- 
 fore spared.^ Under this appellation the Christians were 
 always comprised together with the Pagans affiliated with 
 Mosaism. Although they were less clearly marked out 
 for popular vengeance than were the Jews, they were 
 none the less looked upon with suspicion by their neigh- 
 bors, among whom they lived as strangers in a strange 
 land. We may well believe also that even in places where 
 they escaped slaughter they were not safe from acts of 
 rapine which were always the sequel to a general mas- 
 sacre.^ The disciples of Jesus would naturally be the first 
 to suffer such unjust spoliation, and accordingly once more 
 they accepted their fate with calmness and resignation ; 
 their hopes and thoughts all set upon that Saviour Who, 
 as Paul had but now reminded them, is ever ready and 
 faithful in recompensing the patience of His Martyrs by 
 the bestowal of infinite rewards. " For yet a little while 
 and He that cometh shall be come, and He shall not 
 tarry." * 
 
 When this state of anarchy, in the throes of which 
 Judea was struggling, began to spread its terrors through- 
 out the surrounding countries, Cestius Gallus at last saw 
 lit to attempt some measures for its relief. He marched 
 
 1 Josephus, Bell. Jud., ii. xviii. 7-8. ^ Ibid. 
 
 2 Ibid., ii. xviii. 2. * Hebr. x. 37. 
 
MASSACRE OF THE JEWS IN THE EAST. 191 
 
 up from Antioch toward Jerusalem, at the head of a ver- 
 itable army ; for besides the thirteen thousand men be- 
 longing to the regular troops at his disposal, he had 
 collected an equal number of auxiliaries, furnished by 
 those Syrian towns in which the hereditary hatred of the 
 Jews was most inveterate. Two allied princes rode at 
 their head : Sohemus of Emesus and the Jewish King 
 Agrippa. In Galilee and along the coast they met with 
 feeble resistance, and speedily reduced these districts to 
 subjection. On the 24th of October Cestius pitched his 
 camp at Gabaon, some fifty stadia distant from Jerusalem.^ 
 It was just at the time of the Feast of the Tabernacles, 
 and he expected to encounter a disorganized mob, a mere 
 throng of pilgrims incapable of facing for a moment his 
 disciplined troops. This fresh blunder cost him dearly. 
 There were certain well-seasoned warriors among these 
 strangers on their way Jerusalemwards, — Niger of Peraea ; 
 Simon, the son of Gioras ; one of Agrippa the Second's for- 
 mer lieutenants, Silas of Babylon, with two princes of 
 Adiabene, — Monobazus and Cenedseus. These leaders 
 marshalled those of the people who were under arms in 
 orderly ranks, distributed the several masses in formidable 
 array, then gave the signal to charge upon their foes. 
 The rout of the Koman troops would have been complete 
 and final had not their cavalry succeeded in turning the 
 Jews and attacking their flank. They were forced thereby 
 to call a halt if they would not be cut off from their base. 
 The Legate was none the less baffled and disconcerted by 
 this vigorous feat of arms. For several days afterward 
 he dared not venture an attack upon the city.^ 
 
 Agrippa profited by this respite to attempt a supreme 
 effort to use his influence over his compatriots. In the 
 name of Eome he offered them a free and entire amnesty. 
 Many of them lent a willing ear to his appeals, and per- 
 haps he might have succeeded had not the Zealots, sud- 
 
 1 Nearly six miles. Gabaon, the modern El Dgib, is the city of 
 Gibeon, frequently mentioned in the Old Testament. See Guerin, Judee, 
 i. 385, 391. 
 
 ^ Josepbus, Bell. Jud., ii. xviii. 9-11 ; xix. 1, 2. 
 
192 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 denly falling upon the two envoys of the Prince, killed 
 one, wounded the other, and scattered all those of their 
 own party who showed any signs of yielding, with blows 
 and a shower of stones. Once more they were left mas- 
 ters of Jerusalem, and were able and in a position to 
 demand war to the death.^ 
 
 The only advantage the Romans reaped from this em- 
 bassy, — an important advantage, however, — was the dis- 
 covery that the town was divided in sentiment ; that there 
 were many there who were disposed to submit. Cestius, 
 who set great stock upon the aid of this more temperate 
 element, regained all his former confidence ; drew up his 
 troops closer to the ramparts, about half an hour's journey 
 distant, upon the heights of Scopus, which commands all 
 the region roundabout.^ There for three days he awaited 
 the result of the intrigue set on foot by his agents. Finally, 
 on the 30th of October, finding that his plans were inef- 
 fectual, he gave the command to advance. The rebels 
 fell back before the legions, so imposing when drawn up 
 in battle array, and took refuge within the Temple and in 
 the Upper City. Cestius occupied without resistance the 
 entire northern district of the town, set fire to the quarter 
 of the city known as Bezetha, and did not halt until arrived 
 at the foot of Sion, before the Palace of the Asmonseans. 
 There again he called a halt, always counting on the pos- 
 sibility that the gates would be opened to him ; but the 
 Zealots were there on guard, fully prepared to stifle the 
 first spark of collusion with the enemy. Suspecting cer- 
 tain leaders of the moderate party of carrying on under- 
 hand dealings, they fiung them down from the top of 
 the walls, and thus demonstrated to the Romans the 
 value of their expectations. 
 
 Finally, on the 5th of November, Cestius decided to 
 give the command to assault ; the point of attack was the 
 
 1 Josephus Be^L Jud. , ii. xix. 3. 
 
 2 The Scopus is "a slightly elevated platform which commands the 
 northwest extremity of the Valley of Josapliat." Guerin, Description de la 
 Jud^e, vol. i. pp. 402, 403. " On the west it approaches the ramparts ; a 
 distance of seven stadia separates it from the city." Josephus, Bell. Jud.y 
 V. ii. 3. 
 
MASSACRE OF THE JEWS IN THE EAST. 193 
 
 northern side of the Temple. The legionaries raised their 
 shields above their heads, thereby forming an iron vault, 
 known in military parlance as the " turtle -back," which 
 allowed of their approaching the ramparts without being 
 crushed by missiles hurled from above, and forthwith be- 
 gan the work of undermining. 
 
 The sound of these muffled and ever-redoubled blows 
 struck terror to the souls of the besieged ; even the wild- 
 est enthusiasts began to lose heart, and the peace party 
 was getting the upper hand ; one final effort on the part 
 of the Romans would have carried the day for them, when 
 suddenly Cestius abandoned his prey and bade his buglers 
 sound the retreat.^ How account for this incredible panic ? 
 In his ignorance of the real state of their minds, did he 
 mistake their cries of powerless rage for those of indomi- 
 table fanaticism ? Or was he fearful that the multitude of 
 pilgrims who were then tenting about the walls would block 
 his retreat and smother his forces beneath the ramparts ? 
 This we shall never know. But the man who had shown 
 himself so ill-advised in the council chamber could hardly 
 have been expected to evince any foresight or fearlessness 
 in the field. 
 
 At this stroke of good fortune the rebels for the moment 
 could scarcely believe their eyes, but speedily recovering 
 their former confidence and audacity, they sallied forth in 
 pursuit of the Romans. On the following day Cestius, 
 after being continually harassed by them, was forced to 
 relinquish Scopus, and began a retreat as shameful as it 
 was bloody. His legions, in heavy marching order, ad- 
 vanced but slowly, surrounded by a swarm of foes which 
 hovered about the flanks of his army and attacked them 
 on every side. By the time they reached Gabaon, their 
 first encampment, they had left a trail of dead bodies in 
 their rear, and among these many of their leaders. Even 
 here no rest was given them, and after two days of dread- 
 ful suffering they were forced to resume their retreat in 
 all haste toward Csesarea. 
 
 1 Josephus, Bell. Jud., ii. xix. 4-6. 
 13 
 
194 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 The slopes of Bethoron, which the Eoinans were now to 
 descend, form a pass renowned in the chronicles of Israel, 
 but of direful omen to its foes. It was there that Josue 
 had beheld the flight of the Five Kings of Chanaan, over- 
 whelmed by the power of God. There too, addressing 
 the Eternal, he had cried out, " Sun, stay thy course over 
 Gabaon, and thou, Moon, in the valley of Aialon . . . 
 And the sun stayed in its course for one whole day, and 
 there has not been, either before or since, a day like unto 
 that wherein the Eternal barkened to the voice of a man ; 
 for the Eternal was fighting on the side of Israel." ^ This 
 ancient hymn from the book of Jashar must have been 
 ringing in the ears of the Jews when they beheld the 
 legions swallowed up in that narrow defile. In swarms 
 they thronged up the rocks which overhang it ; crouched 
 in ambush in gorges, some firing from above a fusillade of 
 missiles upon them, while others, from front and rear, cut 
 off their path. Had not night fallen, not one Roman 
 would have escaped. The Legate took advantage of the 
 darkness to make good his escape to the plain below, with 
 the remnant of the troops left to him. He had lost five 
 thousand men and the Eagle of the Twelfth Legion. 
 Since the defeat of Varus in the forests of Germany, 
 Rome had never suffered a like disgrace. It was the 
 death-blow of Cestius.^ 
 
 1 Josue X. 12-14. * Josephus, Bell. Jud., ii. xix. 7-9. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE EPISTLE OF ST. JUDE — ST. PAUL'S LAST 
 MISSION JOURNEY. 
 
 The Christians of Judea had little leisure during the 
 dark days through which their land was passing to amuse 
 themselves with fantastic dreams or dogmatic discussions 
 as of yore. Persecuted by the priestly aristocracy, there- 
 after caught in the meshes of a sanguinary rebellion, they 
 simply clung to their faith without dealing in any subtil- 
 ties, but satisfied if they could but follow the example of 
 James and the Elders. Very different was the conduct 
 of their brethren in Upper Syria and Asia Minor; the 
 intellectual divigations and wanton living against which 
 the Bishop of Jerusalem has spoken so strongly ^ were 
 still too much in evidence among a goodly number of 
 believers. Certain false doctors persisted in propagating 
 this evil by distorting Paul's doctrine concerning the 
 abrogation of the Law. Pretending to understand thereby 
 the whole code of morality, they asserted that the Apostle 
 had released suifering humanity from all its bonds and 
 given it free license to satisfy its appetites, no matter 
 what they might be. This was nothing less than to trans- 
 form his proclamation of a spiritual emancipation, and of 
 a perfectly pure and heavenly grace which should accom- 
 pany it, into a propaganda of licentiousness.^ To give 
 some show of authority to this debasement of the human 
 senses, they must needs begin by corrupting the souls of 
 their hearers and obscure the clear rays which Jesus sheds 
 on all alike. Nor were these children of darkness found 
 wanting in this respect ; they even went so far as to deny 
 that Divine Saviour and to treat both His reign here below,^ 
 
 1 See Chapter II. 2 jude 4. 8 Ibid. 
 
196 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 and His return to judge the world as a dream and a 
 chimera.^ 
 
 One voice was raised in indignant protest against this 
 work of corruption, apparently some time during the 
 period now occupying our attention.^ It was the voice of 
 Jude, one of the Twelve, which made itself heard in tones 
 so vigorous and with a forcefulness of thought well fitted 
 to surprise us, coming from an Apostle whose history and 
 whose person had hitherto been kept completely in the 
 shade. After the mention of his calling, he appears but 
 once during the Public Life of the Saviour, and then only 
 to interrupt the Master's speech and show himself 
 strangely dull of comprehension.^ In the Evangelist's 
 
 1 Jude 14, 15. 
 
 2 The numerous similarities to be noticed in the eleventh chapter of 
 the Second Epistle of St. Peter, and St. Jude's letter, form the only basis 
 we have for determining the date of the latter. Indeed, we have only to 
 compare the two works to convince ourselves that one of these Apostles 
 was an actual eye-witness of the events which the other one had written 
 about, and that he is referring to him. Now for the following reason it 
 would seem that the priority ought to be conceded to St. Jude's Epistle. 
 This short missive is not couched in the style of a commentary, or of a 
 letter carefully composed with the idea of explaining and confirming some 
 earlier work. It is a sudden and spontaneous effort directed against cor- 
 rupters of the faithful. Jude makes no mention of the -Apostles, whose 
 authority would have lent great weight to his words. On the other hand, 
 the heresy anathematized in both Epistles is better known to St. Peter, set 
 forth by him in greater detail, and refuted by arguments far clearer and 
 more convincing. From this it is natural to conclude that the first Avas 
 written by Jude at a time when these errors had not as yet obtained their 
 full development, or were known only imperfectly, and for this reason he 
 could not speak in more explicit terms. Furthermore, if he really had in 
 his possession the work of the Prince of the Apostles, how are we to ex- 
 plain the fact that he omitted to make use of certain of its features ad- 
 mirably fitted for his purposes ? For instance, when citing the same examples 
 of a Divine retribution, how did he come to pass over the most striking one, 
 the Deluge ? (2 Peter ii. 5.) If we take the other hypothesis, these diffi- 
 culties disappear : St. Peter, writing with the idea of completing and 
 confirming Jude's letter, explains certain passages more at length, omits 
 certain others, and elsewhere alludes so briefly to certain points that his 
 meaning would be more than doubtful to us if we had not Jude's letter to 
 cast some some light upon it. (2 Peter ii. 11; Jude 9.) For a compara- 
 tive study of the two texts, De Wette-Briickner, Handhuch, vol. i. p. 3, 
 pp. 163-170 ; Hundhausen, Die beiden Pontificatschr. des Ap. Petrus, ii., 
 pp. 100-112; Rampf, Der Brief Judoe, pp. 156-162. 
 
 3 John xiv, 22. See the interpretation of this passage in The Christ 
 The Son of God, book vi., chap, v., sect. 1 
 
THE EPISTLE OF SAINT JUDE. 197 
 
 eyes it would seem that the only illustrious thing about 
 him was his birth, by virtue of which he was the son of 
 Mary, sister of the Blessed Virgin,^ and the brother of 
 James.^ The latter title in the primitive Church served 
 to distinguish him from Judas Iscariot,^ as well as from 
 the various other Judases. He himself makes use of it,* 
 as if he too delighted to recall the fact that such intimate 
 ties united him to the great Bishop of Jerusalem. 
 
 But something far closer than mere kinship of blood, a 
 brotherhood of the soul, bound these two together. The 
 single page which we possess from the pen of Jude proves 
 that he was as much attached to the Olden Covenant as was 
 James ; like him nourishing his mind upon the great past 
 of Israel, its glorious annals, its Prophets, and its traditions 
 as well. Ever since the era of the Machabees, the latter 
 had been carefully gathered up by the Jews, and consti- 
 tuted a series of so-called Apochrypha, a notable portion 
 of which has come down to us. Whether Jude really had 
 these documents at his disposal, or whether he was draw- 
 ing simply on the original traditions themselves, he 
 unquestionably made use of these sources when writing 
 his Epistle. We can trace in particular the influences 
 upon his mind of the " Visions " attributed to Henoch,^ 
 
 1 Matt. xiii. 55. 3 John xiv. 22. 
 
 2 Luke vi. 16. * Jude 1. 
 
 ^ The Prayer of Manassah, Third Book of Esdras, Third and Fourth 
 Books of the Macchabees, The Book of Henoch, The Psalms of Solomon, 
 The Apocalypse, and The Assumption of Moses, and a part of the Sibylline 
 Books (verses 97-828 of the Third Book). 
 
 ^ Henoch, raised up by God, like Elias (Gen. v. 24), was one of the 
 most venerated personages in the Old Testament ; one of those through 
 whose mediation they expected to both see and hear tlie manifestation of 
 the Eternal. Some few authentic sayings of this Patriarch were in all 
 likelihood preserved by oral tradition, and formed the kernel about which, 
 in the course of time, there grew up a mass of apocryphal visions and reve- 
 lations. In the second century before Christ, these traditions, for the most 
 part legendary, were embodied in the so-called Book of Henoch, an apoc- 
 alyptical document, composed originally in Aramaean, afterwards trans- 
 lated into Greek, revised and altered again and again in the course of 
 of time, — in the final instance probably by some Jewish convert to Chris- 
 tianity. Though this work enjoyed great renown in the first centuries of 
 the Church, it never found a place either in the Canon of the Jews or in 
 that of the Christians. To-day we possess no integral copy of it except in 
 an Ethiopian version, discovered by Bruce in Abyssinia (1773), and very 
 
198 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 as well as of the narrative whose subject matter was the 
 death and assumption of Moses.^ The Divine Spirit 
 revealed to the Apostle the foundation of truth on which 
 these echoing chambers of the past were erected, while 
 from the more or less authentic sayings of Henoch, God 
 gave him power to distinguish certain words actually 
 pronounced by that Patriarch.^ Among all the legends 
 which the mysterious burial of Moses had given rise to, 
 the Holy Ghost here certifies to the fact that Satan had 
 sought to steal his body, intending to exhibit it for the 
 adoration of the Jews, and that to thwart his designs the 
 Archangel Michael needed but to call down the name and 
 the judgment of God upon him. 
 
 This constant reference to traditional incidents, of as 
 little interest to the Gentile world as they were dear to 
 the Israelites, is proof enough that Jude was addressing 
 an audience of converted Jews. But from what locality 
 was he writing to them ? This we are unable to decide with 
 any degree of certitude, since no precise data are left us 
 concerning the ministry of this Apostle. In the fourth and 
 fifth centuries. Upper Syria and Mesopotamia,^ near neigh- 
 carefully edited by Dillmann (1851). George le Syneelle, however, has 
 preserved certain fragments of the Greek text, and M. Bouriant recovered 
 the first thirty-two chapters of this version in 1886. 
 
 1 The death of Moses is recounted in Deuteronomy (xxxiv. 5, 6) as fol- 
 lows : " And Moses, the servant of the Eternal, died there, in the land of 
 Moab, according to the word of the Eternal ; and He buried him in the 
 valley of the land of Moab over against Beth-Peor ; and no one unto this 
 day knoweth of his se[)ulchre." The mystery enshrouding his burial place 
 gave rise to many legends, which were collected in the Apocryphal book 
 entitled: 'Avd\7]\j/LS Mwuo-ews, The Assumption of Moses. All we know of 
 this work is contained in a fragment discovered in the Ambrosian Library 
 of Milan in 1861: (Ceriani, Monnmenta sacra et profana, vol. i., fasc. 1, 
 pp. 55-62), and through certain quotations by the Fathers (Clement of 
 Alexandria, Adumbr. in ep. Jud. [Zahn, Supplementum Ciementinum, 
 p. 84] ; Strom., i. 22, 153; vi. 15, 132; Origen, De principiis, iii. 21; 
 In Josuam, Horn., ii, 1; Didymus of Alexandria, In Epist. Judm, enarratio, 
 etc. ) St. Jude may have been acquainted with this work, for the best 
 critics, Ewall, Wieseler, Drummond, and Dillmann, agree in referring its 
 composition to the time of our Lord. 
 
 2 " Scripsisse cjuidem nonnulla divina Enoch ilium septimum ab Adam 
 negare non possumus, cum hoc in epistola cauonica Judas apostolus dicat." 
 St. Augustine, De Civitate Dei, xv. 23, 4. 
 
 ^ Eusebius, Historia ecclesiastica, i. 13 ; St. Jerome, in Matth., x. 4 ; 
 
THE EPISTLE OF SAINT JUDE. 
 
 bors of the Christian congregation of Asia founded by Saint 
 Paul, were believed to have been the field of his evangeli- 
 cal labors. It was to the last-named Churches, as we have 
 seen, that James wrote his letter; ^ and according to all 
 appearance it was for them also that Jude destined his. 
 He has in view the same corrupters of faith and morals, 
 who, in place of the illumination from on High, were seek- 
 ing to substitute their own animal and diabolical wisdom, 
 the mere instinct of brutes devoid of reason ; these were 
 the same adulterous souls which were polluting the Agape, 
 whose calm they disturbed by mocking words and arrogant 
 discourses, defiling all they came in contact with by their 
 lewd touch.2 
 
 James had foreseen the effect his Epistle would have on 
 these carnal men : the mirror he held up to them reflected 
 their image but too faithfully ; they would slink away 
 abashed even while he was beseeching them to listen to 
 right reason.^ Thus, so far as they were concerned, the 
 Apostle's words were destined to bear no fruit ; they had 
 persisted in this workmanship of death, — with no noise, 
 however, but " creeping stealthily,"^ like venom poured in 
 the veins of the Churches whose bodies they infected. 
 The plague spot had pushed its roots deeper than Jude 
 had any notion of when he first conceived the idea of 
 writing to these Christians. Indeed, it had been a long- 
 cherished project of his to do something toward encourag- 
 ing the Asiatic communities by reminding them of " salva- 
 tion common unto all the elect, the beloved of God the 
 Father."^ Accordingly his letter, prepared "with great 
 care,"^ was simply intended in the first instance as an 
 exhortation couched in such terms as would be best 
 adapted to encourage those Christian congregations which 
 
 Nicephorus Callistus, Historia ecclesiastica, ii. 40 ; Assemani, Bihiloth. 
 Orient, III. 2. 
 
 1 Chapter II., p. 31. 
 
 2 James ii. 2-4, 6, 7; iii. 14, 15; iv. 2, 4, 16 ; v. 1-6 ; Jude 7, 8, 10, 
 11, 12, 16. 
 
 3 James i. 23, 24. 
 
 * Jude 4, Tiapeicrebvcrav. 5 Ibid., 3. 
 
 ^ Ibid., Ilacrav awovdriv iroiov/xevos ypd<p€cu. 
 
200 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 Paul's prolonged absence had left leaderless. But some 
 fortuitous circumstance put him in possession of more 
 definite news concerning the true state of these Churches, 
 and of the corruption breeding in their midst ; Jude real- 
 ized forthwith that at such a crisis heroic remedies were 
 needed ; he must needs use his scalpel vigorously if he 
 would remove all danger of mortification to the body, and 
 save the true souls by cutting off the false. This explains 
 the energetic spirit which animates his Epistle, making it 
 read like a veritable battle-cry cast in the teeth of heresy : 
 
 " Jude, the slave of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to 
 them that are chosen as the well beloved of God the Father 
 and preserved by Jesus Christ ! May Mercy, Peace, and 
 Love increase within you more and more. 
 
 " Dearly beloved : Even whilst I was taking every care to 
 write unto you on the subject of our common salvation, I 
 found myself under the necessity of addressing you these 
 words, to conjure you to defend the Faith which hath been 
 taught unto the Saints once for all. For certain men have 
 stolen in among you (of whom it had been foretold long 
 since that they would incur this judgment) who turn the 
 grace of God into profligacy, and deny our only Master and 
 Lord, Jesus Christ. 
 
 " Now, therefore, I wish to remind you of what you learned 
 erstwhile, namely, that the Lord, having saved the people 
 out of the land of Egypt, did afterward destroy such as 
 showed themselves unbelieving ; ^ that He detained them 
 bound in the land of darkness, and reserveth unto the judg- 
 ment of the Great Da}'' those Angels who did not maintain 
 their pristine dignity, but forsook their own habitation ; and 
 that Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring cities, for 
 having given themselves to fornication and fallen into the 
 abuse of strange flesh, were made an example of, suffering 
 the punishment of eternal fire.^ In like manner these 
 visionaries also defile the flesh, despise all authority, con- 
 temn all dignities. The Archangel Michael himself durst 
 not use words of execration against Satan when he dis- 
 puted with him touching the body of Moses, and was content 
 to say to him, 'May God display His Power over thee!' 
 
 1 Num. xiv. 37. '<* Gen. xix. 24. 
 
THE EPISTLE OF SAINT JUDE. 201 
 
 But these men blaspheme that of which they are utterly 
 ignorant ; and whatsoever things they know naturally, like 
 beasts devoid of reason, these they corrupt. Woe unto 
 them! For they are walking in the path of Cain,^ and for 
 money they are plunging into the devious ways of Balaam.^ 
 Imitators of the rebellious Korah,^ like him they shall 
 perish. These men are a disgrace to your Agape ; there 
 in your company they feast shamelessly, thinking of naught 
 but to fill their bellies. These are but clouds without water, 
 borne hither and thither by the winds ; barren trees which 
 flourish only in the autumn, twice dead, plucked up by the 
 roots, raging waves of the sea, casting up the spume of 
 their infamies ; wandering stars unto whom the shades of 
 darkness are reserved for all eternity. ' T was of them that 
 Henoch, the seventh Patriarch after Adam, prophesied in 
 these terms : * Behold the Lord cometh with His Myriad 
 Saints to execute His judgment on all ; to convict the un- 
 godly of every work of ungodliness which they have com- 
 mitted, and of every blasphemous word which these ungodly 
 sinners have uttered against Him.' ^ Murmurers these, 
 ceaselessly complaining, they walk according to their own 
 lusts ; their mouths are full of pompous words, but they 
 speak only for the admiration of men, to further their own 
 interests. 
 
 ''As for you, my dearly beloved, be mindful of what 
 hath been foretold you by the Apostles of Our Lord Jesus 
 Christ. They told you that in the later days there would 
 appear impostors walking according to their own ungodly 
 lusts. These be they who separate themselves; being sensual 
 men, they have not the Spirit. But you, dearly beloved, 
 building yourselves upon the foundation of Our Most Holy 
 Faith, and praying by the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in 
 the love of God in expectation of the Mercy of Our Lord 
 Jesus Christ unto Life Everlasting. Eeprove them that 
 strive against you, but others there be whom you shall save 
 by snatching them out of the burning ; others, too, on whom 
 you shall have compassion, taking good heed unto your- 
 
 1 Gen. iv. 8-16. 
 
 2 Num. xxii. 7, 18-21 ; xxv. 1-9 ; xxxi. 15, 16. 
 8 Ibid., xvi. 
 
 * In the Book of Henoch (i. 9) we find a passage analogous to this quo- 
 tation in St. Jude. 
 
202 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 selves, however, and hating even the garment which the 
 flesh hath soiled.^ 
 
 ''Now, unto Him Who is able to preserve you without 
 sin, and to present you spotless before the Throne of His 
 Glory, with exceeding joy, unto the only God Our Saviour 
 through Our Lord Jesus Christ, be Glory, Majesty, Power, 
 and Empire before all ages, and now and forever and ever' 
 more. Amen." 
 
 The vigorous tone of this Apostolical missive won for it 
 many readers and great renown everywhere in the East. 
 This we know from the fact that when Peter was ap- 
 proaching his end and wrote his second letter to the 
 Churches of those parts, he could conceive no means 
 better fitted to touch their hearts than by making Jude's 
 words his own. Paul, too, on his part, was never for- 
 getful of these Christian congregations, the first fruits of 
 his Apostolate in Pagan lands, and was now returning 
 from the confines of the East to consecrate his final labors 
 to their welfare. We have already seen him, while tarry- 
 ing in some part of Italy, dictating to one of his disciples 
 his letter to the Hebrews, and addressing it to the Mother 
 Church, then so sorely tried. 
 
 There were other Christians, however, no less exposed 
 to perils, especially those of Crete, which lay directly on 
 his route, travelling by sea from Spain to Asia Minor. 
 Paul did not know them personally, having merely 
 touched the island during a storm which swept his vessel 
 from the docks of Myra on to the rocks of Malta ;2 but 
 he had been informed that these communities were in 
 a state of abandonment, leaderless, and perpetually in 
 danger of falling into error. He resolved to visit them 
 
 1 Here St. Jude would seem to distinguish between three sorts of per- 
 sons infected by the heresy. The first are the obstinate sectaries, dis- 
 putants to whom no consideration is due, nor is of any avail ; let them be 
 condemned unhesitatingly. The second class, over whom the Faith still 
 retained some ascendency, must be vigorously snatched like brands from 
 the burning. As for the last mentioned, who are not completely under 
 their sway, but are yet capable of embracing the truth and finding salva- 
 tion, to all such it behooves them to display a tender compassion. Let 
 them be on their guard, however, in this charitable business, lest they soil 
 themselves and breathe in the pestilential error. 
 
 * See St. Paul and his Missions, chap, xviii. 
 
THE EPISTLE OF SAINT JUDE. 203 
 
 together with Titus, and to supply them with what was 
 most needed for their preservation, namely, a body of 
 Pastors united to the Apostolic College. 
 
 How are we to account for the absence of a regular 
 constitution in the island of Crete ? Evidently because 
 neither the Twelve nor any of their delegates had founded 
 these Christian congregations. The seeds of the true faith 
 had been wafted hither from the coast cities of Asia, where 
 it was blossoming so luxuriantly, perchance from Jeru- 
 salem itself ; and this must have happened at the very 
 outset, for Cretans are mentioned in the Acts among the 
 eye-witnesses of the Pentecost.^ In the period which 
 followed, that intercourse which was never allowed to 
 flag between the various synagogues of the Eoman world 
 kept alive among Christians of Crete the same eager in- 
 terest which the name and deeds of Jesus everywhere 
 awakened. Furthermore, there is every reason to believe 
 that some disciples of the Saviour were to be found among 
 the sons of Israel whose duty it was to visit the numer- 
 ous colonies of Jews throughout the island where they 
 resided.^ By some such means the Glad Tidings had been 
 spread throughout this region. 
 
 From whatever point they may have come, these seeds 
 of Faith had budded forth and borne fruit already : for in 
 many of the island cities Paul encountered Christian fra- 
 ternities. Deprived of leaders as they were, these groups of 
 Christians were of anything but sturdy growth. Another 
 cause, however, and one still more enervating, helped to 
 increase this spiritual languor. The Cretans had an un- 
 fortunate reputation, so far as morality and character were 
 concerned. Ancient writers depict them as the readiest 
 of liars,^ avaricious, greedy, crafty ; * and Saint Paul says 
 nothing to lessen their ill-repute. 
 
 1 Acts ii. 11. 
 
 2 Josephus, Antiq. Jud., xvii. xii. 1 ; Bell. Jud., ii. vii. 1 ; Philo., Leg. 
 ad Cai., sect. 36. 
 
 ^ Polybius, vi. 47, 5 ; viii. 21, 5 ; Ovid, Ars Amatoi-, i. 297. KprjTi^eLu, 
 ' ' to speak Cretan," and " to lie '' are synonymous terms in Greek : kptjtL- 
 ^€iv 7rp6s Kp^ras eireidr] xpedcrrai Kal diraTewves eiai. Suidas. 
 
 * Polybius, iv. 8, 11; vi. 46, 3; Plutarch, Paul. JE mil. y 23; Titus 
 Livy, xliv. 45, etc. 
 
204 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 What could he expect from neophytes bred in this 
 tainted atmosphere ? Jews and Pagans alike had breathed 
 in the seeds of contagion. Their unwholesome natures 
 were ill-adapted to answer the promptings of Grace. In 
 many souls faith had operated so freely as to revive in 
 them the noble instincts of their race, thus rendering 
 them upright and pure : but others there were, not less 
 numerous, who were still only partly redeemed from the 
 corrupting influences about them. Christians in name, 
 at bottom they differed hardly at all from the unbelievers ; 
 " reason, conscience, all that was in them, were still de- 
 filed." ^ " They profess to know God," says Paul, " but 
 they deny Him by their works, being abominable, rebel- 
 lious, and reprobate to every good work." ^ It was espe- 
 cially among the Jews that the Apostle encountered such 
 rebellious hearts and self-opinionated minds, — men wdio 
 seemed to have accepted the Faith with the sole idea of 
 distorting it. " They busied themselves solely in leading 
 astray men's souls by filling their minds with foolish 
 fables,"^ — those pernicious fables which Paul had al- 
 ready combated at Ephesus and Colossse.* From these; 
 Churches, near neighbors of Crete, the weeds and tares had 
 infested this island, taking root as speedily as the good 
 grain, and threatening its extinction ; for these " vain 
 babblers " ^ knew well how to make the greatest impres- 
 sion, and thus gain an audience for their idle fancies. 
 Paul beheld '' whole households subverted by them ;"^ but 
 his indignation was not excited so much by the renown 
 enjoyed by these seducers as it was by the tireless energy 
 which they evinced. He saw at once that preaching was 
 merely a means of coining money in the eyes of these 
 mercenary souls, and that they were but carrying on a 
 traffic at the expense of their dupes.^ It was easy for 
 the Apostle, by simply tearing away the mask which 
 covered their base cupidity, to render them odious ; but in 
 
 1 Tit. i. 15. 4 See Chapters III. and IV. 
 
 2 Ibid., i. 16. 5 MaTaioUyoi. Tit. 1. 10. 
 
 3 Ibid., i. 10. 6 Tit. i. 11. 
 
 ^ AiddcrKOVTes h fxr] 5e? aiaxpov nipdovs X'^P'-^' Tit. i. 11. 
 
THE EPISTLE OF SAINT JUDE. 205 
 
 order to nullify their influence completely, a persevering 
 and prolonged struggle would be required. Nor, indeed, 
 would it be enough for him to meet and overwhelm those 
 corrupters of morals whom he met on his way. It be- 
 hooved him to prevent them from regaining any ascen- 
 dency over men's minds. Now, to attain this end, nothing 
 was of greater importance than the constitution of a body 
 of Pastors, the lack of which they had so grievously felt 
 in the Island of Crete. ^ 
 
 With so many other pressing duties on his hands, Paul 
 could not linger long enough to make the preparations 
 necessary for the laying of such solid foundations in the 
 Churches of this region. But he had with him his dis- 
 ciple Titus, the one man after him the most capable of 
 displaying the requisite persistency and vigor. We have 
 beheld him in Corinth, speaking with such authority in 
 the name of his teacher that the culprits trembled before 
 him and hastened to submit.^ Paul, realizing that in this 
 " son worthy of him " ^ there beat a heart steadfast as it 
 was valiant, relied on his strong arm in many a critical 
 hour. But there was another quality in Titus's character 
 which he esteemed as highly as he did this strength of 
 soul, and that was the unselfishness which he displayed 
 in devoting himself to his Apostolical labors, refusing, as 
 did his master, to be indebted in any way to those he 
 evangelized. In order to silence certain Corinthians who 
 taunted him with self-seeking, Paul needed but to remind 
 them of the generosity of his companion. "Did Titus 
 enrich himself at your expense ? Did we not act in the 
 same spirit ? Did we not walk in the same steps ? " * 
 
 It was precisely such an example of indifference to self 
 that he wished displayed to the Cretans as in most strik- 
 ing contrast to the covetousness of their own misleaders. 
 Nothing could be better calculated to undeceive the minds 
 of well-meaning men than such a comparison. This lofty 
 virtue had been ripened in Titus by the experience and 
 
 1 Tit. i. 5. 
 
 2 St. Paul and his Missions, chap, xii., p. 294. 
 
 3 Tvri(Tl(i) TiKP(p. Tit. i. 4. * 2 Cor. xii. 18. 
 
206 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 the maturity requisite to make it bear full fruit. Paul 
 had no hesitation in confiding to him the task of reviving 
 the Faith in the island, relying on him to complete 
 and to fill in the v^ork along lines which he had barely 
 sketched. As for himself, it behooved him to make haste 
 and cross over to the shores of Asia, there to visit his 
 own Churches, which, as he was well aware, had long 
 since fallen into the snares of the sectarians. The mise- 
 ries created everywhere here in Crete by heresy made him 
 fearful of discovering worse ravages among their Christian 
 neighbors on the mainland. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE EPISCOPATE — PASTORAL EPISTLES. 
 
 The fears of the Apostle were but too well founded ; 
 the predictions made by him to the Elders of Ephesus on 
 the strands of Miletus had been fulfilled only too literally : 
 the wolves had indeed fallen upon the liock and were 
 spreading death and destruction everywhere.^ These 
 destroyers were of the Synagogue party, wherein, if we 
 are to understand Saint Paul's expression literally, they 
 were ranked among the " Doctors of the Law. " ^ The 
 high sounding speeches whereby they seduced the weak 
 minded, women especially, were a mere redundancy of 
 words ; since, as they had but the vaguest idea of their 
 own meaning, they were quite at a loss when seeking to 
 prove the assertions which they shouted so lustily, lest 
 their hearers might discern the emptiness of their phrases. 
 These crude imaginings were compounded of a little of 
 everything, — Jewish fables, cunning myths, and inter- 
 minable genealogies,^ which the Gnostics were soon to 
 transform into their chains of Eons, ever intermingling 
 and begetting other forms.* These artificers of error 
 loudly proclaimed that they had a loftier doctrine than 
 the Gospel, but in fact all that they had to offer the peo- 
 ple was but a lot of outworn beliefs gathered from the 
 rubbish heap of the nations. To bring some show of order 
 out of this chaos of discordant conceptions, they held that 
 everything was to be taken in an allegorical sense, declar- 
 
 1 Acts XX. 29. 
 
 2 Nofjt,odi8daKa\ot. 1 Tim. 1. 7. 
 
 3 'lovdaLKoU fxvdot^, Tit. 1. 14. ^e^r}\ovs Kol ypacideis jxidov^, 1 Tim. 
 iv. 7. TeveaKoyiais direpavTOLS, 1 Tim. 1, 4. 
 
 4 We have examined these vain imaginings of heresy already in the 
 third chapter ; lience I simply refer to them here in a few words. 
 
208 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 ing, for instance, that the one and only Eesurrection had 
 already taken place, since it is simply a transformation 
 of the soul wakened from the death of ignorance unto the 
 life of truth.i 
 
 Such were the mad speculations wherein Paul found 
 his Christian communities had gone astray, quarrelling 
 among themselves to the ruin of all brotherly love,^ and 
 clinging so tenaciously to their errors that it needed all 
 his strength to detach them. The leaders of the heresy 
 were Hymenj^us, Philetus, and a coppersmith named 
 Alexander.^ The latter in particular opposed him most 
 obstinately and showed so much bitterness that the 
 Apostle could never forget this sad incident. However, 
 there was no way left of silencing the sectaries save by 
 casting them out of the Church.* Their excommunication 
 sufficed for the time being to disarm the worst of his foes, 
 but was it not to be feared that the disturbances, now 
 held in check by the presence of the Apostle, would be 
 renewed after his departure ? At Ephesus, as in Crete, 
 Paul realized that the only remedy for this evil consisted 
 in a stronger f]jovernment set over each Church, and his 
 thoughts were all absorbed in its institution. 
 
 Elsewhere^ we have had glimpses of the Hierarchy as 
 it was constituted in those communities wherein super- 
 natural gifts were remarkable for their profusion, in so 
 much that, without distinction of persons, each and every 
 believer, when impelled by the Divine Spirit, rose up 
 among the brethren to reveal the future, to instruct and 
 to guide them. Under these extraordinary conditions, 
 which were not, however, destined to last long, what 
 became of the authority devised to the College of Elders 
 and Priests set over each Church ? They were content, 
 as we have seen, to simply fulfil their sacerdotal functions 
 and to preside over their meetings ; as, however, the latter 
 duty in many cases could not be undertaken collectively, 
 
 1 2 Tim. ii. 18. 2 i Tim. vi. 4, 5. 
 
 8 1 Tim. i. 20 ; 2 Tim. ii. 17 ; iv. 14. 
 
 * 1 Tim. i. 20. 
 
 * St. Paul ami his Missions, chap. viii. 
 
THE EPISCOPATE. 209 
 
 they had been moved to designate one of their Pastors to 
 act in the name of the body and carry out their joint 
 resolutions. Tlie same motives which determined their 
 choice of a candidate, such as the confidence placed in 
 him by the faithful, his social standing and aptitude for 
 the task, impelled them to keep such an one in ofhce and 
 leave the common administration in his hands. The 
 Elder or Priest to whom such powers were delegated 
 became logically the Director of the Church, " the Over- 
 seer " 1 of its intimate life, of its external relations, and its 
 temporal interests. 
 
 Such was in all likelihood the course marked out by 
 the Apostles for the evolution of the Hierarchy ; a slow 
 transformation, whereby they were quietly preparing and 
 inclining their flocks to accept as leader and Pastor a 
 single Bishop, in place of the body of Elders which had 
 governed them at the outset. It is evident, however, 
 that under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, they would 
 make no undue haste in the matter, but wait until the 
 time when the supernatural gifts of prophecy, counsel, 
 and government, which were becoming daily less super- 
 abundant, should give place to a more regular and defini- 
 tive condition of things. However, the Twelve never 
 forgot that while they lived the highest jurisdiction in 
 the Church was to remain in their hands, and that the 
 Bishops were as yet but their appointed successors. The 
 one thing needful was to arrange matters beforehand in 
 such wise that on their decease this succession would be 
 accepted naturally ; that each branch of Christendom, 
 each single Church, should thereby be joined, either 
 directly or through an intermediary, to the Apostolic 
 trunk. True it is that no trace of any instructions given 
 them upon this subject are to be gleaned from the letters 
 of Saint Peter and Saint Paul ; but, from among the many 
 traditions which they bequeathed to the Roman Church, 
 Saint Clement cites " the rules laid down by the Apostles 
 to insure the rights of succession in such a manner that 
 
 1 'ETTtV/coTTOj, the Bishop. 
 14 
 
210 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 after their death other men of well proven ability should 
 be invested with their charge." ^ Everything goes to 
 confirm the existence of such arrangements, which, with- 
 out making any changes for the present, were a guaran- 
 tee for the future ; in proof of which we have the list of 
 Bishops going back as far as the Apostles, given on the 
 authority of such writers as Hegesippus, Saint Irenieus, 
 and Saint Dionysius of Corinth, and this fact especially, 
 that only fifty years later we find the Episcopate estab- 
 lished throughout the Christian world. Such a consensus 
 of fact and feeling throughout Christendom can only be 
 explained on the supposition that the government of a 
 single head over each Church is of Apostolic institution.^ 
 Some perhaps may be astonished that I do not try to 
 prove from the Epistles to Titus and to Timothy ^ that 
 
 1 St. Clement, Epist ad Corinth., xliv. ; St. Irenseus (Adv/Hceres. 
 iii. 2, 3) tells us that this letter is a faithful tradition which the Roman 
 Church held as a sacred heritage from St. Peter and St. Paul. It is their 
 faith and their teaching that we find therein ; just as in the Epistle of St. 
 Polycarp we possess the traditions which St. John left to the Churches of 
 Smyrna and Ephesus. 
 
 2 Concerning the formation of the Episcopate, see De Smedt, Organisa- 
 tion des Eglises chretiennes jusqu'au milieu du III^ siecle ; Duchesne, les 
 Origines chretiennes, chap. vi. ; cf. Lightfoot, Phi/ippians, The Christian 
 Ministry, pp. 179-267 ; Ramsay, The Church in the Roman Empire, 
 pp. 364-374. 
 
 ^ These three are generally known by the name " Pastoral Epistles,'' 
 because they treat of the Pastors' ministry. From the beginning, and all 
 during the first three centuries, we always find them attributed to St. Paul 
 by orthodox writers. The sole objection, and a very specious one it is, 
 brought by the Rationalists of our day against the unanimous tradition, is 
 the difference of the style which they make so nnich of between the Pas- 
 toral and the preceding Epistles of the Apostle. Tliis diversity, which 
 they exaggerate at will, has nothing strange or remarkable about it to any- 
 one who honestly tries to understand under what circumstances St. Paul 
 wrote his last letters ; for the style of every man varies according to his 
 age, the subject in question, and the more or less sustained attention de- 
 v^oted to it by the writer. On the other hand, compare the Pastorals with 
 the bits of practical advice which terminate the greater Epistles, and it 
 will no longer be the difference of style which will strike the student, but 
 rather the similarity in composition, in language, even in the tricks of 
 speech. There are reasons in abundance which go to establish its authen- 
 ticity ; Catholics and Protestants alike have made good use of them. See 
 in particular: Cornely, Introd actio, seats. 182, 183 ; Vigouroux and Bacuez, 
 Manuel Biblique, vol. iv., pp. 775-778 ; Farrar, Life of St. Paul, vol. ii. : 
 Appendix, Excursus ix. ; Alford, Prolegomena on the Pastoral Epistles. 
 
PASTORAL EPISTLES. 211 
 
 even then Paul meant to impress a monarchical form upon 
 certain Churches. But to any one who compares the 
 various passages contained in these letters, it will be clear 
 that the terms Priest and Bishop continue to be used here 
 as synonyms, and that the Apostle does not take the 
 latter title in the special sense which we give it.^ On the 
 other hand, there is nothing to indicate that wdien leaving 
 Titus in Crete and Timothy at Ephesus he intrusted them 
 with any other mission than one of temporary functions, 
 a supervision analogous to that which Epaphras exercised 
 over the congregations of the Lycus.^ There seems, there- 
 fore, no more reason for attributing to Paul with any 
 degree of certainty the creation of Bishops during this 
 latter period than hitherto ; in all probability the Apostle 
 confined himself to indicating, in the principal flocks under 
 his care, which pastor was to succeed him in this superior 
 rank of the Hierarchy.^ 
 
 But these were merely precautionary means taken in 
 view of eventualities which would follow upon the death 
 of the Apostle ; the necessities of the moment were not 
 
 1 In the Epistle to Titus, the Priests " TrpecrjSyrepoi," whom Paul bids 
 him ordain in every Christian community, are called b}^ him in the same 
 passage eirlaKOirou KaraaTrjaris Kara ttoKlv irpecr^vTepovs ... el' tls iariv 
 dveyKXrjTos . . . del yap tov iiricTKoirov aveyKkriTov ehai. Tit. i. 5-7. ; cf. 
 Acts XX. 17, 28 ; 1 Peter v. 1, 2, etc. 
 
 2 The Christian community of Jerusalem was the only Church, so far 
 as we have seen, during the earliest days, which was governed by a single 
 Pastor. See St. Peter, chap. xi. 
 
 ^ "Catholic theologians, even while contending, as they generally do, 
 that the institution of the Episcopate, as an order distinct from that of 
 simple priests, is of Divine Right, may nevertheless concede, without any 
 disadvantage to their contention, that this institution did not attain to its 
 complete development and its definitive form until after tlie time of the 
 Apostles. As long as the latter lived the Church possessed in them a vis- 
 ible and living Authority, distinctly recognized and to which belonged the 
 mission of preserving and transmitting the deposit of Faith, the moral 
 doctrine of Jesus Christ. . . . Nothing forbids our sup])Osing, or at least 
 regarding as possible, that the Apostles always retained the government of 
 the Churches in their own hands ; using as their assistants and substitutes 
 in the ordinary and regular exercises of worship, as well as in certain 
 functions of administration, those whom we call simple priests, who govern 
 in their name. In that case, the IMshops of a later day, would be in the 
 rigorous sense of the word, successors of the Apostles." De Smedt, VOr- 
 ganisatio7i des l^glises chre'liennes jusr/H^au milieu du IIP siecle, pp. 13, 14. 
 
212 LAS2' YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 less urgent. Paul provided for this by his vigilance in 
 fortifying, and to the same end reforming, the body of 
 Elders which he left in charge of the Churches. Hitherto 
 these Pastors had not been chosen by any fixed rules ; in 
 one place by merit or because of their known virtues ; in 
 another, and this was oftenest the case, as having been 
 designated for the position by the Apostle or Evangelist 
 who had founded the congregation. In his letters to 
 Timothy and to Titus Paul lays down the following condi- 
 tions : Every member who aspires to take his place 
 among the Elders, the Freshyteri, must make a solemn 
 profession to detach himself from the world, that he may 
 belong to God alone ; ^ doubtless it is lawful for him to 
 desire this ministry, which in itself is a good and saintly 
 work; 2 but thereby he pledges himself to strive after a 
 higher state of perfection, since the Pastor, once invested 
 with this supervision ^ over the flock, becomes the dis- 
 penser, " the steward of God." * By virtue of this title it 
 behooves him to be " an example to all, a pattern to the 
 faithful in his words and conduct ; in Charity, in Faith, in 
 Chastity;"^ in a word, he must be ever " beyond reproach,"^ 
 not only in the sight of his flock, but in that of the pagans 
 as well.^ He must prove himself, therefore, to be " neither 
 self-willed nor easily provoked nor given to wine-bibbing, 
 nor hasty to strike, nor greedy of filthy gains ; but hospi- 
 table, loving the good, wise, just, pious, continent." ^ He 
 must have married but one wife, ruling his own family 
 well and keeping his children in subjection with all grav- 
 ity ; for if a man knows not how to conduct his own 
 household, how can he take charge of the Church of God ? ^ 
 Any new convert must be regarded as ineligible, lest being 
 puffed up by pride he fall under the same condemnation 
 as the Devil.10 Why should they look to a neophyte to 
 
 1 2 Tim. ii. 4. 2 1 ibi^i.^ iii. 1, 
 ^ The word 'e-rr la kotos has this signification both in classical Greek and 
 in the Septuagint. 
 
 4 Seov olKOPofios. Tit. i. 7. 8 Tit. i. 7, 8 ; 1 Tim. iii. 2. 3. 
 
 5 1 Tim. iv. 12. 9 1 Tim. iii. 2, 4, 5 ; Tit. i. 6. 
 
 6 Ibid., iii. 2. JO 1 Tim. iii. 6. 
 ' Ibid., iii. 7. 
 
PASTORAL EPISTLES. 213 
 
 instruct the Faithful, since this weighty duty demands a 
 Pastor " deeply attached to the truths of the Faith as he 
 has received them, capable of exhorting them in sound 
 doctrines and of rebuking such as gainsay them ? " ^ 
 
 Paul gave them similar counsels in regard to the 
 Deaconship. We have seen that from the outset this 
 office was committed only to men " filled with the Holy 
 Ghost and with wisdom." ^ The Apostle's one hope was 
 to keep the secondary ministers of the Hierarchy true to 
 this high ideal, and he urges them to strive after perfection 
 as earnestly as he does the Priests. Grave, sincere, and 
 temperate, let them choose some honest means of liveli- 
 hood, keeping the mystery of the Faith with a pure con- 
 science. Let their wives also be women of gravity, not 
 scandal-mongers, but sober and faithful in all things. 
 Like the Priests, finally, the Deacons must be married but 
 once, and take good heed to the conduct of their children 
 and their households. The Deacon, although a server by 
 name and by office, is none the less raised to a rank of 
 eminence in the Church ; his is the mission to teach and 
 defend the Faith of the Christ Jesus with great hardihood. 
 This ministry, therefore, should be intrusted to such only 
 of the Faithful as have been put to the proof and been 
 recognized as without reproach.^ 
 
 Taken together these rules actually constituted the 
 Hierarchy.* There remained, however, a point of great 
 importance which Paul was careful not to neglect, namely, 
 the guidance of women in the Church. They, too, had had 
 a large share in the diffusion of supernatural gifts. In 
 Csesarea, as we have seen, the four daughters of Philip were 
 endowed with the gift of Prophecy ; ^ in Corinth, likewise, 
 
 1 Tit. i. 9. 2 ^cts vi. 3. See St. Peter, chap. iv. 
 
 3 1 Tim. iii. 8-13. 
 
 * As to the organization of the Hierarchy see, besides De Smedt and 
 Duchesne quoted above, Lightfoot, Epistle to the Philippians (1888); 
 Di sert. i., The Christian Ministry ; A. Harnack, Lehreder ztvolfApos" 
 tel (1884); R. Sohm, Kirchenrecht, vol. 1 (1892); P. Batiffol, I'Eglise nais- 
 sante; iii., les Institutiones Jderarchiques de VEglise, in the Revue bihlique, 
 October, 1895, i»p. 473-500 ; J. Re'ville, les Ongines de V e'piscopat (1894). 
 
 S Acts xxi. 8, 9. 
 
214 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 we found inspired women praying in a loud voice and 
 foretelling the future in the Christian gatherings.^ The 
 Apostle was compelled to intervene and inculcate a more 
 modest reserve, but at the same time he took care to find 
 some means of employing the ardor of their faith and 
 charity. It was he, apparently, who had instituted 
 throughout the Christian congregations of Asia the order 
 of Deaconesses to which belonged " Phoebe, the servant of 
 the Church at Kenchrese." ^ These corporations of pious 
 women he organized after the pattern of the Deaconship, 
 and intrusted them with analogous functions, — the assist- 
 ance of the poor, visiting the sick, and the duties of 
 hospitality. He even confided to them some share in the 
 higher functions in the ministry ; such as the duty of 
 instructing and consoling persons of their own sex, pre- 
 paring them for Baptism, confirming them in faith and 
 piety, as well as superintending them in the religious 
 meetings.^ 
 
 It would seem that at first the conditions of member- 
 ship in this Diaconate for women were hardly at all 
 restricted; virgins and widows of whatever age were 
 cordially welcomed, once they signified their willingness 
 to offer themselves to the Christ and to His Church. But 
 here, as everywhere else, once the first fervor died out, 
 serious abuses came to light It was discovered that the 
 young women soon returned to a life of ease and idleness ; 
 prattlers and busybodies, they would run from house to 
 house, with no womanly reserve or regard to propriety in 
 their gossipingo The Pagans made this another excuse to 
 decry the Faith, ridiculing these women who after conse- 
 crating themselves to the Christ, made their one aim in 
 life the quest of another husband.* Paul realized the urgent 
 necessity of putting a stop to these disorders ; this he did 
 l)y laying down strict rules concerning the selection of 
 Deaconesses. Only on condition that she had been joined 
 in wedlock but once, and that she had reached sixty years 
 
 1 1 Cor. xi. 5 ; xiv. 34, 35. ^ ^qxh, xvi. 1. 
 
 ^ Kraus, Real-Encijklopddie der christUchen Alterthiimer, DiAKONisSEN. 
 
 * 1 Tim. V. 11-1.5. 
 
PASTORAL EPISTLES. 215 
 
 of age, could any widow become a member of this order ; 
 most of all was it requisite that she possess good and suffi- 
 cient testimony to the virtuousness of her life, having 
 brought up her children well, exercised hospitality, washed 
 the feet of the Saints, given aid to the afflicted, and in a 
 word, devoted herself to every sort of good works.^ Nor 
 are their obligations to be confined to these charitable 
 offices ; in return for the responsibility assumed by their 
 brethren to provide for their wants, Paul bids them keep 
 vigil for all in prayer,^ becoming, to borrow a figure 
 employed by St. Poly carp, " God's Altar," ^ whereon " night 
 and day " ^ is offered unto the Lord the "sacrifice of prayer, 
 the fruit of the lips which give glory unto His Name." ^ 
 Thus the whole list of duties which nowadays are divided 
 among the Active and Contemplative Orders of the Church, 
 were then intrusted to the Deaconesses alone. Paul made 
 them the model for the religious life. Under the divers 
 forms in which this life is clothed in our times, all that is 
 essential to the Apostolical institution still remains, with 
 the exception of a few details which were aimed at pas- 
 sing irregularities. The advanced age, for instance, was 
 not a condition intended to be per ma men t; accordingly 
 we find that it fell into desuetude, — gradually, however, 
 and in the course of centuries ; ^ so sacred did men hold 
 the slightest directions coming from the Apostles ! ^ 
 
 The reform of the Hierarchy in the manner devised by 
 Saint Paul, the details of which we have just been study- 
 ing, was not the work of a day. Great caution and pru- 
 dence were requisite to substitute quietly a definitive order 
 in place of their acquired rights. The Apostle was given 
 
 1 1 Tim. V. 7-10. 2 Ibid., V. 5. 
 
 3 QvfftaaTrjpLov deov. St. Polycarp, Epist. ad Philip., iv. 
 
 4 1 Tim. V. 5. 5 Hebr. xiii. 15. 
 
 6 Tertnllian, De velandis virginibiis, ix. ; S. Basil, Epist., 199, xxiv. ; 
 Concil. Chalcedon., xv. 
 
 7 Here it is taken for granted that both the deaconesses and widows 
 belong to one and the same body of holy women consecrated to the service 
 of the Church. There is nothing in the Apostolical times to authorize us 
 in regarding these two names as referring to two distinct Hierarchical or- 
 ders, and it would seem difficult to prove that it was otherwise in the cen- 
 turies immediately following. 
 
216 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 no leisure for such patient labors ; his anxieties concern- 
 ing the Christians of Macedonia, and their appeals, perhaps, 
 as well, were hastening his departure. He made up his 
 mind, here in Asia Minor as well as in Crete, to intrust 
 the mission of completing his work to some one of those 
 in his company, and his choice fell upon Timothy ; not 
 without some hesitation, seemingly, for Paul tenderly 
 loved this disciple of his. Would not this new burden 
 which he was about to lay upon his shoulders prove too 
 heavy and crushing for his delicate health ? ^ Did not his 
 character, as loving as it was lovable, yet retiring and dif- 
 fident withal, little fit him for the struggle ahead ? ^ Young 
 as he was in age, youthful, too, in soul and ideas,^ would 
 Timothy inspire respect in the eyes of priests older than 
 himself, whom he was charged to command, to guide, to 
 rule in temporal matters, and even to judge, should the 
 necessity arise?* Would he be obeyed by those Deacon- 
 esses whose number he must needs reduce, and substitute 
 strict discipline for their free and easy ways ? 
 
 And who was to sustain him in his warfare against the 
 heretics ? Paul could still reckon upon the co-operation of 
 many friends in Ephesus, among whom Onesiphorus and 
 his family are especially mentioned by him at this date.^ 
 His influence, however, had largely suffered, and from the 
 mournful impressions left on his mind by his struggles 
 with the sectaries, we gather that their audacity, their 
 persistency, and their subtilty in an argument appeared 
 to him the danger to be dreaded most of all. But would 
 Timothy, even when sustained by these brethren who had 
 remained faithful, have the vigor needful when brought 
 face to face with the rebels, and resist them by taking his 
 stand simply and firmly on the " sound doctrine according 
 
 1 1 Tim. V. 23. 2 2 Tim. i. 7, 8 ; ii. 3, 22. 
 
 ^ 1 Tim. iv. 12. As Timothy was quite young at the time of St. Paul's 
 first mission (in 51), he may have been thirty-five or thirt)^-six years old 
 when the Apostle wrote this letter to him. He had not, therefore, arrived 
 at that mature age which seemed requisite for tlie weighty and difficult 
 functions confided to him; hence those words of St. Paul, "Let none 
 contenm thy youth." 1 Tim. iv. 12. " Flee from the passions of young 
 people." 2 Tim. ii. 22. 
 
 * 1 Tim. V. 17-22. ° 2 Tim. i. 16. 
 
PASTORAL EPISTLES. 217 
 
 to the Gospel," ^ without allownig himself to become in- 
 volved in the interminable quibblings which was their 
 forte? In such discussions, foolish and unavailing as 
 they were, Timothy in such an unwonted position would 
 be only too likely to run to extremes, and to reply with 
 too great severity ,2 on occasions when all that the situation 
 required was to confront them with God's truth boldly 
 and unashamed. 
 
 Certainly these were reasons enough to justify the 
 Apostle's apprehension, and yet in the end he yielded to 
 the perfect confidence which he had ever placed in Tim- 
 othy. He knew his "unfeigned faith," ^ enlightened from 
 childhood by study of the Holy Scriptures^ On the other 
 hand, he was not lacking in experience so far as Apos- 
 tolical labors were concerned, since for fourteen years he 
 had worked side by side with his master, and had always 
 succeeded in accomplishing whatever missions the Apostle 
 had confided to him. Accordingly Paul intrusted him 
 with the task of restoring the Church of Ephesus to its 
 former condition, a heavy task, indeed, and one which he 
 undertook with a full understanding both of the difficul- 
 ties involved in it, but most of all what the parting with 
 his master meant to him. Even when bidding him fare- 
 well, Paul noted that the tears stood in his disciple's eyes.^ 
 With comforting words he heartened up this "beloved 
 son,"^ bade him rely upon the grace of God, then, after 
 having bidden adieu to the town, pursued his usual route 
 northward along the coast of the Troad. 
 
 Doubtless before leaving Ephesus Paul had put his disci- 
 ple on his guard against the perils which he most dreaded, 
 and yet none the less was his mind filled with anxiety in 
 regard to the outcome of the struggle. For some fears he 
 must have felt lest Timothy, when brought under the 
 enemy's fire, should forget his commander's warnings. So 
 then, while in Macedonia,^ he resolved to put them in 
 
 1 1 Tim. i. 11 ; iv. 6 ; vi. 3. 5 jbid., i. 4. 
 
 2 Ibid, V. 1. G Ibid., i. 2. 
 8 2 Tim. i. 5. 7 1 Tim. i. 3. 
 4 Ibid., iii. 15. 
 
218 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 writing, and addressed a letter to him which has ever been 
 treasured up by the Church, and has become, as it were, a 
 manual of the Pastoral Ministry. When writing it, Paul 
 assuredly had no idea of lending such importance to this 
 missive ; he is simply conversing with his disciple famil- 
 iarly and with perfect freedom ; in fact, it would be labor 
 lost to try to evolve any course of reasoning or any ani- 
 mating thought from this short letter as from the greater 
 Epistles. We must needs examine his ideas one by one, 
 just as they occurred to the mind of the author. Natu- 
 rally, his first thought was directed to those preachers of 
 falsehoods whose stilted verbiage still echoed in his ears. 
 He urges Timothy to follow his own example and despise 
 the vain babblings of teachers who do not even understand 
 themselves;^ let him beware of so much as an attempt at 
 refuting their fables and the "endless genealogies " ^ pre- 
 sented by these false teachers as the authentic interpre- 
 tation and fruit of the Law. The true accomplishment 
 and perfection of these Divine Commandments is to be 
 found by the disciples of Christ in the " love proceeding 
 from a pure heart, good conscience, and unfeigned faith." ^ 
 The Law serves only to lead the impious and sinful to the 
 gates of these supernatural heights ; thither it had con- 
 ducted Paul, who was a " blasphemer, a persecutor, and 
 injurious," in order that in him "the grace of the Lord 
 should be made exceeding abundant with the Faith and 
 Love which is in Christ Jesus."* The story of his own 
 conversion had always been Paul's favorite argument to 
 silence his opponents. " Behold what Jesus has made of 
 me," he repeated again and again. Nor could Timothy, " in 
 the good fight "^ he was to sustain, find any better plan 
 of action than to confront the insidious tactics of heresy 
 with the plain words of the Gospel, thereby proving its 
 ability, in the past, present, and for all time, to inculcate 
 all wisdom and virtue. 
 
 Kumors of the revolution at Jerusalem were then rife 
 
 1 1 Tim. i. 7. * Ibid., i. 9-14. 
 
 2 Ibid., i. 4. 6 Ibid., vi. 12. 
 « Ibid., i. 5. 
 
PASTORAL EPISTLES. 219 
 
 throughout the Empire. It is more than likely that the 
 false teachers at Ephesus relied upon them to foment new 
 troubles and urge their hearers to shake off their yoke ; 
 for Paul concludes his warnings against the sectaries with 
 a very characteristic exhortation. Timothy should see to 
 it that the usual prayers for the Emperor and the magis- 
 trates be said regularly in all Christian sanctuaries, that 
 thus the Church, at peace with Eome, might continue 
 "to lead a quiet and tranquil life in all godliness and 
 honesty." ^ 
 
 No less insistently did the Apostle recommend the 
 keeping of good order in all other parts of the Divine 
 service. In this respect the Christian women of Asia, 
 like those of Corinth, were only too prone to take great 
 liberties ; they attended God's house for the sake of ex- 
 hibiting their apparel, which was most unseemly in dis- 
 ciples of the Christ, their long braids, heavy with gold 
 and precious stones, — and rivalling each other in the sump- 
 tuousness of their raiment.^ Paul bids him recall them to 
 their sense of duty, and sharply too. " Let them be silent, 
 with all subjection, when they are instructed. But I 
 suffer not a woman to teach or to usurp authority over 
 her husband ; she must keep silence, for Adam was formed 
 first, then Eve; and it was not Adam who was seduced, 
 but the woman, who, by allowing herself to be seduced, 
 committed the transgression. Her salvation shall be in 
 the children which she shall bring into the world, if she 
 bring them up in faith and charity and holiness and a 
 well-ordered life."^ 
 
 The duty of maintaining this orderliness in the Chris- 
 tian communities, both in the family circle and in religious 
 gatherings, belonged to the spiritual heads of the brother- 
 hood. Everything must depend upon them, on their 
 unity of spirit, their zeal, and their success in governing. 
 Hence Paul's unremittent anxiety to make this body of 
 Pastors still more fruitful and vigorous in their ministry. 
 Although, before his departure, he had taken the initial 
 steps toward a reform in the Hierarchy, he would not miss 
 
 1 1 Tim. ii. 1, 2. ^ jj^ij,^ ii. 9, 3 ibid., ii. 11-15. 
 
220 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 the opportunity offered him by this letter to Timothy to 
 map out its broader lines/ and to insist upon certain 
 points rendered more urgent by the crisis tliey were pass- 
 ing through : — not to lay hands suddenly on any one,^ 
 and to assure to the ministers of the Word a fitting live 
 lihood;^ not to entertain an accusation against them, 
 save on the oath of two or three witnesses, nor yet to fail 
 in rebuking them publicly if they were really guilty.* By 
 thus seasoning liis firmness with circumspection Timothy 
 would be constituting and maintaining everywhere the 
 authority of a Church which is the " Assembly of the 
 living God, the pillar and groundwork of the Truth ; " ^ 
 the mystic abode wherein is accomplished " the great 
 mystery of godliness " of the Christian life, — 
 
 " Manifested in the flesh. 
 Justified by the Spirit, 
 Contemplated by the Angels, 
 Preached unto the Nations, 
 Believed on in the World, 
 Received up into Glory." « 
 
 As we have seen in the Epistles to the Colossians ^ and 
 to the Ephesians,^ the constitution of the Christian 
 family engrossed the attention of the Apostle quite as 
 much as did that of the Hierarchy. He returns to this 
 subject in his letter to Timothy, and explains to him at 
 length his duties in the matter. The aged and the youth- 
 ful, young women and old, widows, slaves, no class is 
 omitted in his study of the social fabric. Paul is care- 
 ful to see that the Christian life circulates through all 
 the smallest arteries.^ 
 
 1 1 Tim. iii. 1-13. * Ibid., v. 19, 20. 
 
 2 Ibid., V. 22. 5 Ibid., iii. 15. 
 
 3 Ibid., V. 17, 18. 
 
 6 The syrainetrical arrangement and rbythmical cadence of these phrases 
 justify ns in supposing that this was one of those spiritual canticles which 
 the early Christians had composed and were accustomed to ciiant unto the 
 Lord, whether in their private reunions or at the liturgical gatherings. 
 Ephes, V. 19; Coloss. iii. 16. As to these h3'mns, see St. Paul and his 
 Missions, chap. viii. 
 
 7 Coloss. iii. 18-22; iv. 1. 8 Ephes. v. 22-28 ; vi. 1-9. 
 
 ^" Rebuke not an aged man sternly, but warn him as thou wouldst a 
 
PASTORAL EPISTLES. 221 
 
 Nevertheless, the ruling thought of this Epistle is 
 is ever his dread of heresy. He returns to it at every 
 opportunity, to put his disciple on his guard against these 
 apostates and the absurd or immoral consequences of their 
 teaching. They are indeed, he tells him, " impertinent 
 follies, old wives' tales . . . diabolical doctrines taught 
 by hypocritical impostors, whose consciences are blackened 
 with crime.^ They go so far in their madness as to put 
 under the ban marriage and the use of flesh meats, which 
 God created to be accepted with thanksgiving by the 
 faithful and by those who have received a knowledge of 
 the truth. Now, every creature of God is good, and 
 nothing which is eaten with thankfulness should be dis- 
 dained, for it is sanctified by the Word of God and 
 prayer." 2 
 
 Was not Timothy himself, perhaps, a little prone to this 
 ostentation of austerity ? Or was it simply to be put down 
 to his frugal manner of life, that he never drank anything 
 but water ? With affectionate condescension Paul gives 
 utterance to his fears, and descends to this bit of warn- 
 ing : " Drink a little wine for thy stomach's sake and 
 thine often infirmities." ^ But, in the main, corporal 
 practices have little value in the Apostle's eyes. Godli- 
 
 father ; treat young men as brothers, the aged women as mothers, the 
 younger as sisters, in all purity. Honor the widows that are widows indeed. 
 But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them learn first to 
 show their godliness towards their own household, and to requite those 
 from whom they are descended for the care they have received from them, 
 for this is acceptable unto God. Let the widow who is really widowed 
 and friendless set her hopes in God and persevere day and night in prayer 
 and supplication. As for her who lives in pleasure, she is dead thougli 
 she seem to live. ... I much prefer that the younger marry, bear chil- 
 dren, rule their household, and give no occasion to the enemies of our re- 
 ligion to reproach us ; for some there are who have already gone asti'ay 
 after Satan. If there be any believer who has widows that are akin to 
 him, let him relieve them and let not the Church be burdened with them, 
 that it may support those that are widows indeed. . . . Let as many slaves 
 as are under the yoke esteem their own masters worthy of all honor, lest 
 the name of God and His Doctrine be blasphemed ; let those whose mas- 
 ters are believers not despise them because tliey are bretliren, but serve 
 them with the more subjection, because those who benefit by their good 
 services are believing and beloved." 1 Tim. v. 1-16, 14-16 ; vi. 1, 2. 
 1 1 Tim. iv. 7, 1, 2. 2 ibi,i,^ i^. 3_5, 3 jbij,^ y, 23. 
 
222 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 ness is the one thing needful. It is useful for all,^ and 
 even in this life of ours is equivalent to great wealth, 
 since it teaches us to be content with what sufhces for 
 our needs.^ " We brought nothing into this world ; cer- 
 tain it is that we can carry nothing out. Having, 
 therefore, food and wherewithal to cover us, let us be 
 satisfied therewith." ^ Paul insists strongly on this entire 
 detachment, as necessary to the true Christian. " They 
 that would be rich," he assures us, " fall . . . into use- 
 less and hurtful lusts, which drown men in ruin and 
 perdition. For the love of money is a root of all evil." ^ 
 
 The final words of the Epistle sum up these various 
 counsels in one general line of conduct : " O Timothy, 
 keep the deposit which is committed to thy trust ! ** ^ 
 An attachment to Tradition, to the words of truth apd 
 life which the Apostles had received from Jesus and 
 had transmitted to the Church, constitute the main duty 
 of Pastors. For, once bound by the unity of Faith, they 
 are " putting their trust in God, Who quicken eth unto 
 life all things that live,' ^ indissolubly attached to Him 
 through the Christ, " the only Potentate, King of kings. 
 Lord of lords, Who only hath immortality, dwelling in 
 the light which no man can approach unto, ... to 
 Whom be honor and power everlasting."^ 
 
 Twice in this Epistle the Apostle expresses so firm 
 an intention of returning to Ephesus as soon as pos- 
 
 1 1 Tim. iv. 8. "It is the whole man," says Bossuet, Oraison funehre 
 de Louis de Bourbon. 
 
 2 Tim. vi. 6. 3 i^id., yi. 7, 8. 
 
 ^ 1 Tim. vi. 9, 10. This disentanglement from the pursuit of wealth 
 seemed to him of such imi)ortance, in an opulent and luxurious town like 
 Ki)hesus, that after the Doxology with whicli his Epistle would naturally 
 terminate, he again takes up his pen to insist anew upon the spirit of 
 poverty and generosity of heart as needful ahove all for the true Christiai' : 
 "Charge those who are rich in this present world not to he haughty, ni)r 
 to put their trust in uncertain riches, hut in the God Who pi'ovides abun- 
 dantly all things needful for our life ; charge them to |)ractise benevolenc*^, 
 to be rich in good works ; let them be i-eady in giving, bountiful, storing 
 up for themselves as their treasure a good foundation for the future, that 
 they may lay hold on what is truly life." 1 Tim. vi. 17-19. 
 
 6 1 Tim. vi. 20. 6 lbid.,vi. 13. 
 
 ' Ibid., vi. 15, 16. 
 
PASTORAL EPISTLES. 223 
 
 sible,^ that there is every reason to believe that he 
 fulfilled his plan. So, then, for the last time, he set 
 sail by the same route he had taken fifteen years ear- 
 lier to conquer Macedonia and Greece to the cause of 
 Christ, and passed over from Neapolis into Troas. In 
 the latter city he tarried in the house of a Christian 
 named Carpus ; some fortuitous circumstance, however, 
 perhaps a renewed persecution on the part of the Jews or 
 Pagans, must have constrained him to depart in all haste, 
 for he left with this disciple certain of his belongings of 
 which he stood in need, and which he reclaimed when the 
 opportunity presented itself, — his cloak, his books, and 
 certain manuscripts whicli he valued highly .^ Nothing 
 is known to us of this second trip to Ephesus, but we 
 may well imagine that he met Aquila and Priscilla, driven 
 thither from Eome by the Persecutions.^ Paul had good 
 reason to value these two helpers of his and drew renewed 
 courage from the thought that they were to be with 
 Timothy. 
 
 Miletus would seem to have been the farthest point on 
 the coast of Asia which the Apostle visited. He had just 
 embarked with the disciples who were to accompany him, 
 when one of them, named Trophimus, took dangerously 
 sick, and the Apostle was forced to leave him behind.* 
 Again, upon the Greek shore at Achaia, he was compelled 
 to make another such sacrifice : a distinguished Christian 
 of that country, Erastus by name, had joined his band 
 and accompanied him thus far. But, once arrived in 
 Corinth, he decided to remain there,^ probably by the 
 advice of the Apostle. No one, indeed, could have been 
 better fitted than was this disciple to defend and mahitain 
 the Faith in Achaia. The high social position which he 
 held before his conversion,^ his knowledge of the Gospel, 
 
 1 1 Tim. iii. 14; iv. 13. The incidents mentioned in the second letter 
 to Timothy (iv. 13, 20) seem to me to fit in naturally with this last 
 journey around the archipelago. 
 
 2 2 Tim. iv. 13. ^ Ibid. 
 
 3 Ibid., iv. 19. ^ Rom. xvi. 23. 
 * Ibid., iv. 20. 
 
224 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL, 
 
 the experience he had acquired in Paul's company, the 
 missions which he had undertaken in his name/ all these 
 promised a bountiful harvest for the ministry of Erastus. 
 Such considerations had always great weight with the 
 Apostle, and accordingly he left his disciple at Corinth ; 
 but regretfully, we may feel sure, for he had more than 
 ever need of helpers in the mission work before him in 
 Epirus. Consequently he decided to recall Titus, consid- 
 ering that his presence in Crete was no longer indispen- 
 sable, and that another disciple, either Artemas or 
 Tychicus, might fully as well complete his work. He 
 was still hesitating between the two when he took up his 
 pen to acquaint Titus with his intentions, and to prepare 
 him for a speedy departure.^ 
 
 We have this letter, which differs but slightly in its 
 fundamental ideas from that which Paul had just written 
 to Timothy ; the same rules are recalled as to the choice 
 of Pastors,^ the same submissiveness recommended in 
 regard to princes and magistrates,* the same counsels as 
 to the right ordering of Christian households. Let them 
 conduct themselves irreproachably in the sight of the 
 heathen. " Let the aged men be sober, grave, prudent, in 
 faith, in charity, in patience." The aged women, likewise, 
 " inspiring wisdom in their younger sisters ; teaching them 
 to love their husbands and their children ; to be discreet, 
 chaste, keepers at home ; good and obedient to their own 
 husbands, that the Word of God be not blasphemed."^ 
 Let slaves, too, prove by their conduct what the " grace of 
 God Our Saviour, visible to all men,"^ can make of even a 
 servile soul. In all obedience to their masters, " let them 
 endeavor to please them well in all things ; neither con- 
 tradicting them nor purloining from them their goods, 
 but in everything displaying perfect fidelity." '' 
 
 While dwelling upon these duties of a Christian life, 
 Paul exhorts Titus to recommend them the more earnestly 
 
 1 Acts xix. 22. 5 Ibid., ii. 1-6. 
 
 2 Tit. ill. 12. 6 Ibid., ii. 11. 
 
 8 Tit. i. 5, 9. ^ Ibid., ii. 9, 10. 
 
 * Ibid., iii. 1. 
 
PASTORAL EPISTLES. 225 
 
 during the latter period of his sojourn in Crete. But so 
 far as heresy was concerned, here, just as at Ephesus, 
 he deemed any discussion with them superfluous, seeing 
 that they were but a farrago " of foolish questions, geneal- 
 ogies, quarrelling, and disputes concerning the Law, 
 all vain and fruitless." ^ In regard to the sectaries, it 
 behooved him to make full use of his authority, to ad- 
 monish them once or twice,^ and if they were obstinate, 
 put them without the pale of the Church. In this the 
 Apostle was in no wise departing from the Evangelical 
 Law of Charity, but was laying down a law for Pastors 
 to follow with souls that sympathized secretly with error 
 and allowed themselves to be misled by it.^ Their only 
 hope of salvation was to snatch them bodily from the 
 danger, and by main force rescue them from the yawning 
 abyss which threatened to engulf them. Now, Titus 
 must needs display this vigor ; for the Cretans that had 
 fallen away from the cause reverted instinctively to the 
 vices of their race, thereby giving fresh proof that the 
 picture painted of them by their fellow-countryman, Epi- 
 menides, was not exaggerated, for they are "obstinate 
 liars, evil beasts, slow bellies." * This is the testimony of 
 one of themselves, of their own prophet,^ Paul tells his 
 disciple, and it is unfortunately but too true. " Wherefore 
 rebuke them sharply, that they may remain sound in the 
 Faith, not giving heed to Jewish fables and the com- 
 mandments of men which turn from the truth." ^ 
 There is every reason to believe that this letter was 
 
 1 Tit. i. 10, 14 ; iii. 9. 2 ibid., iii. 10. 
 
 3 "Reject the sectarian . . . knowing that such a man is perverted ; 
 that he sins and thereby condemns himself." Tit. iii. 10, 11. 
 
 ^ Tit. i. 12. Epimenides belonged to the heroic age of Greece, when all 
 men agreed in recognizing in him something divine. 'Avrjp 6elo$, Plato, 
 De Leg. 116(pos irepl to. deia, Plutarch, Sol., xii. Aeti/os to. dda, Maximus 
 of Tyre, Dissert., 22. At once a poet and a prophet, he has left one work 
 upon the Sacrifices, another upon the Oracles. The words quoted by St. 
 Paul are taken from the latter. (Calliniaehus, Hymn ad Jov., viii.) Epi- 
 menides, born at Phcestus in Crete, lived to a ripe old age (157 years, 
 according to Pliny, Histor. Natur. vii. 49), and died in that island, or, it 
 may be in Sparta, where his tomb was pointed out. 
 
 6 Tit. i. 12. ^ Ibid., i. 13, 14. 
 
 15 
 
226 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 written during 66, in autumn, or perhaps in the summer. 
 For, though the Apostle bids Titus meet him at Nicopo- 
 lis, where he expects to pass the winter,^ he nevertheless 
 recommends him, not merely to await the arrival of his 
 successor,^ but to send two other disciples in advance. 
 These were Zenas, the lawyer, and Apollos, who were 
 in the island.^ The stormy season, therefore, could not 
 have been close at hand. 
 
 Paul's eagerness in gathering about him numerous and 
 able fellow-workers is the best proof of the importance 
 he attached to the mission he was to undertake, or, rather 
 let us say, accomplish, in Epirus, since he had already 
 preached the Gospel in those parts. We have seen how, 
 during his third Apostolical journey, he had followed the 
 Egnatian Eoad, and thus reached the Adriatic coast.* 
 This highway, which branches off at some distance from 
 the sea (at Clodiana), ends at the two seaports of Apol- 
 lonia and Dyrrhachium. The latter was the favorite point 
 of embarkment for Brundisium and Italy. In all likeli- 
 hood it was there that Paul located the centre of his 
 Apostolate, thereby enabling him to spread the Glad Tid- 
 ings throughout Illyria and perhaps even in Dalmatia.^ 
 
 Mcopolis, which he selected as his residence, during his 
 second mission, was entirely different from these maritime 
 cities, but not less propitious for the propagation of the 
 Gospel. It lay further to the south, and, as the capital 
 of Epirus, preserved the importance given to it by its 
 founder, Augustus.^ Its name, the " City of Victory," '^ re- 
 called that naval combat which terminated the struggle 
 between Antony and Octavius, and left the latter Master 
 of the World. The site of the conqueror's encampment 
 before entering into action was on the narrow isthmus 
 which divides the bay of Actium from the Adriatic.^ 
 
 1 Tit. iii. 12. 3 Ibid., iii. 13. 
 
 2 Ibid., iiL 12. 
 
 * See St. Paul and his ^fissions, chap, xiii., p. 311 et seq, 
 6 Rom. XV. 19 ; 2 Tim. iv. 10. 
 
 6 Dion Cassius, li. 1 ; Strabo, vii. 7; Suetonius, Octav., 18. 
 ^ NtK6-7roXts. 8 Dion Cassius, 1. 12. 
 
PASTORAL EPISTLES. 227 
 
 Mcopolis stood as a memorial of this great event, but 
 with other titles to glory besides that one triumph. As a 
 free town, a Eoman colony, and one represented in the 
 Amphictyonic Council,^ it rose at once to the dignity of 
 a city of the first rank,^ endowed with splendid monu- 
 ments ; for the foreign princes, hoping thereby to flatter 
 the vanity of their Emperors, vied with each other in 
 adorning it ; while, more than all the rest, Herod the 
 Great distinguished himself by his munificent gifts. ^ Such 
 large outlay of moneys naturally drew thither numerous 
 settlers, and the town speedily grew in population as well 
 as renown. The games celebrated on the Isthmus in 
 honor of Apollo, hitherto of a modest character, now 
 waxed in splendor, until they rivalled those of Olympia.* 
 
 What events marked the winter which Paul and his 
 companions spent hereabouts ? Of this we have no idea ; 
 we only know that about the beginning of the following 
 year the Apostle was again a prisoner in Eome. It has 
 been surmised that, upon being arrested in Nicopolis by 
 the magistrates of the city, he appealed, as once before in 
 Judea, to Caesar, and succeeded in having his case referred 
 to the Imperial tribunal. Others hold that Paul made 
 Nicopolis the starting-point of his journey, of which the 
 stopping-places are mentioned in his second letter to Tim- 
 othy as having been Troas, Ephesus, and Miletus ; ^ and 
 that it was at Ephesus that some new outbreak of perse- 
 cution claimed him as its victim. There is a tower still 
 pointed out amid the ruins of that city and called the 
 Prison of St. Paul ; this, they hold, was the place where 
 the Apostle was detained while awaiting his transportation 
 to Eome. 
 
 These various suppositions, however, deserve scanty 
 notice at the hands of the historian, while the testimony 
 gathered by Eusebius is far more credible. Therein Dio- 
 
 1 Pliny, Histor. natur., iv. 2 ; Tacitus, Annal., v. 10; Pausanias, x. 8. 
 
 2 Strabo, vii. 7. 
 
 3 Joseplms, Antiq. Jud., xvi. v. 3. 
 
 * Strabo, vii. 7; Suetonius, Octav., xviii. 
 6 2 Tim. iv. 13, 20. 
 
228 LAS 2' YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 nysius, one of the first Bishops of Corinth, speaks of Peter 
 and Paul as having met in that city to publish the Glad 
 Tidings for the last time there, and thence "together 
 departing for Italy, there terminating their Apostolate to- 
 gether by martyrdom." ^ Vague as these words are, they 
 faithfully report the tradition of the Church at Corinth in 
 the second century. Now, there is nothing to indicate 
 that Paul was arrested in Greece and carried a prisoner to 
 Corinth. On the contrary, it would appear that he went 
 there of his own free will, on leaving Nicopolis, in order 
 to meet the Prince of the Apostles, and resume his journey 
 Romewards in his company. This was, in all likelihood, 
 in the spring of the year 67. Peter and Paul had but a 
 few more months to live. 
 
 } St. Dionysius of Corinth, quoted by Eusebius, Histor. Eccles., ii. 25. 
 
CHAPTEK XIL 
 
 THE DEATH OF SAINT PETER AND SAINT PAUL. 
 
 The Eome which Paul beheld on his return bore but 
 little resemblance to the city he had left three years before 
 on his departure for Spain. Two-thirds of the town, that 
 portion regarded as the very soul of its ancient glory, had 
 disappeared in the flames,^ and a new city had been 
 erected upon its ashes. The buildings of regular propor- 
 tions, built of stone taken from Alban or from Gabii, the 
 broad and regular streets bordered with arcades, these in no 
 way recalled the old town with its crooked lanes, and time- 
 stained dwellings of ungainly height.^ People came from 
 all parts of the Empire to admire the " Golden House," 
 renowned far and wide.^ It had needed all the prodigality 
 of a despot and a madman to accomplish such marvels in 
 so short a time. 
 
 Indeed, Nero had spared nothing, making the removal 
 of the ruins and the construction of the porches his own 
 affair, while at the same time richly rewarding any citizen 
 according to the speed with which the owner set about re- 
 building, after plans laid down by him.* To meet these 
 extraordinary expenses, the provinces had been plundered 
 and even the treasures of their temples ransacked.^ But it 
 was Piso's conspiracy which enabled him to replenish his 
 empty pockets from that of Rome itself. As capital 
 punishment carried with it confiscation of property,^ all 
 that was necessary to enable him to lay hands upon great 
 fortunes was to pass sentence of death upon their owners. 
 
 1 Tacitus, Annul, xv. 40, 41. 
 
 2 See Friedlander, Mceurs romaines, vol. i., La ville. 
 
 3 Tacitus, Annal, xv. 42, 43. & Ibid., xv. 45. 
 
 * Ibid., Annal., xv. 43. 
 
 * Daremberg, Dictionnaire des Antiquit€s, Confiscatio. 
 
230 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 Now, there was no lack of pretext for such accusations in 
 a period when Thrasea's austereness of morals alone was 
 adjudged to be an act of conspiracy by the Senate, and 
 brought about his death.^ Supported by this obsequious 
 body, Nero needed only to stimulate the activity of his 
 informers by giving them a handsome share in the spoils 
 of their victims. The two accusers of Thrasea, for in- 
 stance, received from him five million sesterces (about 
 $225,000) apiece ; that of Soranus, twelve hundred thou- 
 sand (about $54,000) together with the qusestorship.^ 
 All men w^ere taken stock of and Eome was filled with 
 spies, a terror to the nobility and wealthy. Fear spread 
 abroad in the land as in the worst days of Tiberius.^ 
 Nor was it wealth alone they attacked. No singularity 
 in religious practices, no superiority in moral conduct, 
 could escape their eyes, but everything they did was 
 travestied into senseless rebellion, into an attack upon 
 the worship of Kome and its Emperor, in a word, into 
 the crime of lese-majestc. This last count against the 
 accused was of all the most needful to his indictment, 
 since every case successful in this regard was worth 
 some pecuniary remuneration to the informer.* 
 
 We may easily imagine what dangers were incurred 
 by the Apostles in a city burdened by such tyranny. 
 
 1 Tacitus, Annal., xvL, 23-35. " Trucidatis tot insignibus viris, ad 
 postremum Nero virtutem ipsam exscindere concupivit, interfecto Thrasea 
 Pyeto et Barea Sorano." 
 
 2 Tacitus, Annal., xvi. 33. 
 
 3 The Delation, in the criminal procedure, bore with it no stigma of 
 disgrace. It was the act of any citizen who brought to the knowledge of 
 justice some crime or misdemeanor, indicating at the same time its nature 
 and its author, — the so-called " nominis delatio." But this practice, 
 though quite explicable and even justiiiable in the beginning, on account 
 of the lack of any public bureaus of information among the Romans, led to 
 intolerable abuses. It is well known what extremities they went to under 
 Tiberius : " Never has there reigned in Rome such a state of consternation 
 and terror. Men tremble in the presence of their nearest kinsfolk ; they 
 dare neither accost one another nor hold converse ; known or unknown, 
 every hearer is suspected. Even dumb and inanimate things inspire mis- 
 givings. Uneasy glances search the very walls and ceilings." Tacitus, 
 Annal. iv. 69. 
 
 * Tacitus, Annal., iv. 30. 
 
DEATH OF SAINT PETER AND SAINT PAUL. 231 
 
 Paul, especially, could not linger long unknown there. 
 For two whole years his name had been in every one's 
 mouth, not only in the Praetorian Camp, but in Nero's 
 court as well,^ and he was not the man either to deny his 
 identity or to keep silence. Far from keeping the Word 
 of God in bonds,^ he preached boldly as ever had been his 
 wont, thus making himself an easy prey for informers, 
 and was speedily arrested by the municipal magistracy. 
 
 This second imprisonment was not accompanied by any 
 of those kindly manifestations which had lightened his 
 previous experience. It will be remembered that then 
 the captive was allowed to lodge with his jailer wherever 
 he saw fit, and had permission to receive his disciples 
 and strangers in the house which he had rented, as well 
 as to preach to all comers. This time he was incarce- 
 rated from the very first. Onesiphorus, who had arrived 
 from Ephesus in the meanwhile, found great difficulty 
 in discovering in what prison he was confined.^ None 
 of his disciples nor any of the Christians of Eome aided 
 him in his search. Had they, then, forsaken the Apostle 
 so entirely as not to know even the locality where he was 
 kept confined ? As regards his converts of Asiatic origin, 
 there is not the slightest doubt that they did desert him 
 thus. " All they that are from Asia have turned away 
 from me," says the Apostle ; " Phygellus and Hermogenes 
 are of this number." ^ Evidently Paul counted especially 
 upon these two Christians ; their defection was therefore 
 the bitterer to him. 
 
 Far more illustrious disciples were with their master on 
 his arrival in Eome : Titus, Luke, Tychicus, Crescens, and 
 Demas.^ The latter alone is branded by him in his aban- 
 donment : " Demas has forsaken me, having loved this pres- 
 ent world, and is departed unto Thessalonica." ^ The 
 Apostle simply mentions the departure of the others 
 without a word of blame added, and we should hesitate to 
 
 1 Philip, i. 13 ; iv. 22. 2 2 Tim. ii. 9. 
 
 ^ Vevofxevos iu'^w/Jiri, airovdaiios i^-qrecFe fxe Kai evpe. 2 Tim. i. 17. 
 
 * 2 Tim. i. 15. ' 6 ibid., iv. 9. 
 
 » 2 Tim. iv. 9-12. 
 
232 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 believe them capable of such cowardice. Then what are 
 we to infer ? Only this, that Paul before his imprison- 
 ment had deputed them to visit various Churches : Cres- 
 ceus was sent to Galatia,^ Titus into Dalmatia, Tychicus 
 to Ephesus/^ while Luke, whom we shall soon find once 
 more with him,^ had received some less distant mission. 
 To all appearances Onesiphorus alone remained to succor 
 and visit the captive ; this he did with so much devotion 
 that Paul was greatly moved by his willingness to risk all 
 for his sake, and took the first opportunity of expressing 
 his gratitude. ** Often has he consoled me," he writes to 
 Timothy, " nor was he ashamed of my chains." * To this 
 token of his gratitude the Apostle adds the following in- 
 vocation : " May the Lord grant unto him mercy in that 
 Day ! " ^ What did he mean by " that Day " ? The Day 
 of Eternity, in all likelihood, which dawned on Onesi- 
 phorus during Paul's captivity, and even ere he had 
 appeared before his judges ; since this Apostle declares 
 that he faced their tribunal absolutely alone and forsaken 
 by all. 6 
 
 And, nevertheless, he had never stood more in need of 
 the good offices of some tried friend ; for up to that time 
 he had never been confronted with judges more prejudiced 
 against him, and for that reason more to be dreaded by 
 him. This was no longer a period when the magistrates 
 of the Empire rivalled each other in dispensing justice 
 
 1 Els TaXariav (2 Tim. iv. 10) is the reading authorized by the Vul- 
 gate and the greater number of MSS. Some ot" the latter, however, the 
 Sinaitic Codex and that of Ephrem, and the MSS. in cursive letters 73, 
 80, 123, give the variant ils TaWiav, "in Gaul," which is probably merely 
 the interpretation given by the Greek Church to Paul's text (Eusebiiis, 
 Hist, ecctes., in., iv. ; St. Epiphanius, Hceres, li. ii, 11 ; Theodoret, in 
 loc, etc.). "It is hard to dispute the fact," says Tillemont, "that tliere 
 was a tradition commonly received throughout the East that Crescens 
 had preached in Gaul." M€moires pour servir a Vhistoire ecclesiastique, 
 vol. i., note Ixxxi., on St. Paul. Both statements may be reconciled by 
 dating the preaching of Crescens in Gaul aiter the fulfilment of the mis- 
 sion which Paul had intrusted him with in Galatia. 
 
 2 2 Tim. iv. 10-12. * Ibid., i. 16. 
 8 Ibid., iv. 11. 6 iHd., i. 18. 
 
 6 " The first time that I defended my case, no one stood by me, but all 
 forsook me." 2 Tim. iv. 16. 
 
DEATH OF SAINT PETER AND SAINT PAUL. 233 
 
 with impartiality, as in the days when Gallio, Fehx, and 
 Festus laid hands upon him solely with the idea of saving 
 him from the fury of the mob. Nor was it even like that 
 time, still recent, when, as he appeared before the Prefect 
 of the Prsetorium, he could feel that he was protected by 
 the favorable reports of the Governor of Judea and of the 
 centurion who had brought him to Eome. The burning 
 of the city had dried up the very springs of equity, so far 
 as the Christians were concerned ; even their sufferings, 
 more calculated to inspire dread than pity, had not entirely 
 destroyed the evil effect of the calumnies against them ; 
 the populace, the police, and the courts still looked upon 
 them as suspicious personages. Paul, being well known 
 as one of the principal leaders of their sect, was doomed 
 to experience the full effects of this change in popular 
 feeling. We have seen that his captivity was rendered 
 thereby the stricter, and his condemnation in no wise 
 belied the rest in harshness. 
 
 Who were the magistrates called upon to pass sentence 
 on the Apostle ? The question is difficult to determine 
 because we have no knowledge of the nature of the accu- 
 sation against him. If the crime charged came under 
 the jurisdiction of the common law, it would fall under 
 the Permanent Commission (Qucestiones Perpetuce). On the 
 contrary, if it was listed under such cases as were reserved 
 for the Senate, it had to be submitted to a court of law, 
 selected from that great body.^ Whichever tribunal it 
 may have been, we know that neither the Emperor, who 
 was absent at this juncture,^ nor any of his more influen- 
 tial ministers conducted the proceedings. Indeed, Saint 
 Clement of Eome would lead us to infer that the Apostle 
 had to do with a mere assembly of magistrates.^ This 
 would have been some security against despotism, but by 
 no means an assurance of justice; for the prejudices 
 
 1 Mommsen, Romisches Staatsrecht, vol. ii., p. Ill et seq. ; Willems, Le 
 Droit public romain, p. 472, 473. 
 
 2 He had left for Greece toward the end of the year 66. Dion Cassius, 
 Ixiii. 8 ; Tillemont, Histoire des empereurs ; NiiiRON, art. xxv. 
 
 3 Mapru/j'^cras iirl tCjv ijyovfieuuv, St. Clement, Ad. Corinth., v. 
 
234 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 against the Christians were as rife among the lawyers as 
 they were among the immediate companions of Nero 
 himself. The New Faith, almost unknown to them a few 
 years previously, had revealed itself during the persecu- 
 tion of 64 as an occult force, gifted with surprising energy ; 
 a seditious element which it behooved them to watch 
 closely and suppress at the slightest sign of an uprising. 
 'T was therefore before judges prejudiced and ill-disposed 
 that Paul must stand once more on his defence. 
 
 He found no one in that court ready to risk a word in 
 his behalf, not an advocate, nor a single witness for the 
 prisoner. Assuredly in Eonie there was no lack of people 
 who might have deposed in his favor and attested his 
 innocence ; but terror had frozen their courage. Eemem- 
 bering this, the Apostle, while realizing keenly the bitter- 
 ness of their silence, besought God not to impute it against 
 them.^ Furthermore we know that they had not awaited 
 the day of trial to forsake him. With the exception of 
 Onesiphorus, they all, as we have just seen, had kept aloof 
 from his prison cell, fearing lest they should be implicated 
 in his troubles, which were rendered specially ominous on 
 account of the unfortunate reputation of Christians in 
 general, and the great fame of the accused. 
 
 But Paul, in his abandonment by men, was not left 
 alone. He felt the assistance of that Spirit promised by 
 the Master to all such as are haled before human tribu- 
 nals.2 Calm and collected as usual, he went forth from his 
 prison cell and allowed himself to be conducted to one of 
 those Basilicas where justice was administered ; he trav- 
 ersed its long nave, at the extremity of which were ranged 
 the magistrates, seated on a long tribune. On his way 
 thither he had to pass through a dense throng of curiosity 
 seekers. The Apostle, noting that here was such a mix- 
 ture of races as Eome alone could afford, seized the occa- 
 sion to proclaim once more the Gospel delivered unto all 
 peoples, and thus, as it were by a few final words, crowned 
 his life of preacher.^ By God's aid " Who strengthened 
 
 1 2 Tim. iv. 16. 2 L^ke xii. 11, 12. 
 
 * " When I was first heard in my defence ... the Lord assisted and 
 
DEATH OF SAINT PETER AND SAINT PAUL. 235 
 
 him," he gave utterance to the faith that was in him, 
 enveloping the name of Christ with such glory that his 
 accusers were left speechless. Nevertheless, they still 
 growled about the heels of their prey, though for that one 
 day, as Paul tells us, he " was saved from the jaws of the 
 lion." 1 
 
 Some have thought that under this figure he referred to 
 Nero; but they are wrong, since, as we have seen, the 
 Emperor spent this year in Greece. The ministers to his 
 ferocity, however, he had left behind him in Eome, — 
 Tigellinus, doubly powerful as Prefect of the Praetorium,^ 
 and the Emperor's prime favorite, but especially the freed- 
 man Helius, whom the tyrant had invested with full 
 powers over Rome and the Senate.^ One of these creatures 
 of the tyrant is, apparently, the " lion " spoken of by the 
 Apostle, from whose claws he escaped at such great pains. 
 Though not actually presiding over the judicial proceed- 
 ings, these representatives of Nero were always at hand, 
 ready, if need were, to intervene ; that they did not go 
 so far as to demand his immediate condemnation was due, 
 we may believe, to the commotion excited by Paul's 
 harangue, and to the clamorous approval shown him by 
 the crowd. The case was adjourned, but the Apostle could 
 not conceal from himself the fact that its renewal would 
 follow at no late date, and would inevitably prove fatal to 
 him. Thereafter he was far too renowned and too closely 
 watched by his powerful foes to cherish any hope of escap- 
 ing their clutches.^ 
 
 The triumph of the accused did not go so far as to admit 
 of his release under bail. Once more he entered his little 
 cell, his gaze fixed heavenward, expecting nothing from 
 this earth but the one last struggle for the Christ ; yet well 
 assured of bearing his share in the combat valiantly. This 
 
 strengthened me that I might complete the preaching of the Gospel, and 
 that all the nations might hear it." 2 Tim. iv. 16, 17. 
 
 1 Ibid. 
 
 2 Hirschfeld, Untersuchungen auf dem Gebiete der Romischen Verwalt- 
 unggeschichte, vol. i., p. 221. 
 
 3 Dion Cassiiis, Ixiii. 18. * 2 Tim. iv. 6. 
 
236 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 aid which he received from God in his first meeting with 
 the enemy, had swept away every apprehension, all un- 
 certainty. " He shall deliver me from every evil deed," he 
 said, "and by saving me shall conduct me unto His 
 Heavenly Kingdom, to Whom be glory, forever and ever." ^ 
 Once more the days of weary w^aiting in his imprison- 
 ment loomed large before the Apostle, lightened this time, 
 however, by the presence of Luke, who on his return to 
 Eome had hastened to resume his place beside his master. 
 Paul remarked sadly that of all the foreign Christians, this 
 disciple alone remained faithful to him. From the bitter- 
 ness of this complaint does it not seem evident that there 
 were many such in the Capital of the Empire, — those 
 whom he had known well and eA^angelized, either in Greece 
 or in Asia, but whom personal fear kept aloof from him ? ^ 
 The Church of Eome, at least, is not to be accused of such 
 cowardice ; some of its most distinguished members assisted 
 Luke in his ministrations to him. These were Eubulus, 
 Pudens, of a senatorial family, according to ancient tradi- 
 tions,^ Claudia * and Linus, who was to be Peter's successor 
 on the Pontifical throne.^ Nor were they the only ones to 
 evidence their eager affection. In the letter which he 
 wrote Timothy during this imprisonment he greets him in 
 the name of "all the brethren"^ who were with him. So 
 far, then, it appears, he was much less strictly guarded after 
 his first appearance in court, and was permitted to receive 
 many Eoman Christians who boldly visited him in his 
 prison. 
 
 1 2 Tim. iv. 18. 3 See Chapter I., p. 15. 
 
 2 Ibid., iv. 21. 
 
 •* Some would make Claudia the wife of Pudens, and regard them as the 
 happy pair whose union Martial celebrates in one of his Epigrams : 
 "Claudia, Rufe, meo nubit peregrina Pudenti." (?]pigr., iv. 13.) Un- 
 fortunately, there are certain decisive objections which destroy this pretty 
 conjecture ; difficulties of chronology are insurmountable, while it is im- 
 possible to conceive how Martial, if he had a Christian friend, should 
 address to him some of his coarsest epigrams. See Lightfoot, St. Clement 
 of Rome, vol. i., pp. 76-79. 
 
 ^ De Smedt, Dissertationes selectee, pp. 305-312 ; Duchesne, Liber Pon- 
 tificalis, vol. i., pp. Ixxi-lxxiii, and p. 121. 
 
 6 2 Tim. iv. 21. 
 
DEATH OF SAINT PETER AND SAINT PAUL. 237 
 
 This band of faithful disciples comforted the prisoner's 
 last days, though without diverting his thoughts from the 
 end, which now all realized was inevitable. In this solemn 
 period of preparation, the longing in Paul's heart to see his 
 best-beloved disciple again grew daily stronger. It was 
 toward the middle of summer ; there was still time for a 
 letter to reach Ephesus and give Timothy opportunity to 
 arrange everything in view of his absence, and reach Kome 
 before winter set in.^ Furthermore, he did not anticipate 
 that his case would be reopened at an earlier date ; the 
 remembrance of the judicial delays during his former 
 imprisonment warranted him in this belief. Accordingly, 
 he resolved to write to Timothy and urge him to come to 
 him. 
 
 This letter, one of the most touching of all the Apostle's 
 writings, reveals him to us as he was in his prison on the 
 eve of death. The fatigues of his laborious ministry had 
 exhausted his body, never naturally robust; now about 
 seventy years old, Paul was more than usually susceptible 
 to the infirmities of age. This is betrayed even in his 
 language, which no longer has the hardihood and impetu- 
 osity which animate the great Epistles ; in the trend of his 
 thoughts, now grown more moral and dogmatic ; and in his 
 fondness for recalling the past, — those first adventures of 
 his outside of Judea, the pious mothers, Lois and Eunice, 
 whom he had first met in Lycaonia nourishing their son 
 Timothy with the heavenly food of Scripture, inspiring 
 him with so lively a faith that his soul opened, as it were, 
 of itself to receive the Christ.^ The Apostle yearns to 
 revive in his " dearly beloved son " ^ the fervor of those 
 early days, that fire of Divine Grace which burned within 
 him when he first laid his hands upon him.* Even the 
 
 * This period would seem to be determined by the death of Paul, 
 which tradition has fixed as occurring on the 29th of June, and by 
 the Apostle's recommendations as well : *' Do thy utmost to come to me 
 speedily. . . . Hasten to come before winter." (2 Tim. iv, 8, 21.) The 
 last sentence especially goes to show that Timothy had but just time to 
 put everything in order at Ephesus before the advent of the stormy season 
 would close the sea routes. 
 
 2 2 Tim. i. 5. ^ ibid., i. 2. * Ibid., i. 6. 
 
238 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 Apostolate which he sets before him as his model is his 
 own first mission in Pagan lands : " Thou hast fully 
 known my teaching, my manner of life, my purpose, my 
 faith, forbearance, love, patience, persecution, my suffer- 
 ings at Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, what persecutions 
 I endured then ; out of all of them the Lord delivered 
 me."i 
 
 Yet, though Paul, weighed down with the burden of 
 years and labors, has eyes but for the course now nearly 
 run, and though now no new thoughts absorb his mind 
 and suggest new teachings, nevertheless his heart is still 
 the same, his energy still unconquerable. This he him- 
 self declares boldly in his last letter : " G-od has not given 
 us the spirit of cowardice, but a power of love and of 
 counsel." ^ Tidings lately received from Asia had doubt- 
 less made him fear lest Timothy, naturally gentle and 
 timid, should not govern with a firm enough hand, lest 
 he should lean too much toward caution and compromise, 
 to eluding and disarming persecution rather than con- 
 fronting it manfully. Paul reminds his disciple that the 
 Christian's first duty is to fight and suffer for the Christ. 
 " Be not now, therefore, ashamed to confess Our Lord ; 
 neither be ashamed of me. His prisoner, but be thou par- 
 takers of the affliction of the Gospel, strong in the Almighty 
 power of God, which worketh in us." ^ 'T is this Gospel 
 " whereunto I have been appointed preacher and Apostle 
 and a teacher of the nations ; for the which cause I also 
 suffer all these things. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed 
 thereof, for I know Whom I have believed, and I am per- 
 suaded that He is able to keep for me that which I have 
 
 1 2 Tim. iii. 11. 
 
 ^ Ibid., i. 7. ^wcppoviafjLov, which I have here rendered b}- the vague 
 word " counsel," signifies the gift of mouhling and tempering souls. 
 
 <* Paul in developing this sentence sums up his whole teaching concern- 
 ing the absolute gratuitousness of Salvation. " Suffer with me," he says 
 to Timothy, "according to the power of God who has saved us and called 
 us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to the 
 decree of His will, and according to His own Grace, which was bestowed 
 on us in the Christ Jesus before all ages, but is now made manifest by 
 the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, Who has destroyed death, and 
 by His Gospel has made life and immortality to shiue." 2 Tim. i. 8, 10. 
 
DEATH OF SAINT PETER AND SAINT PAUL. 239 
 
 committed unto Him against that day of His Eternal 
 Kingdom." ^ 
 
 o 
 
 " Thou, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is 
 in the Christ Jesus . . . take thy share in afflictions as a good 
 soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that embraceth the career 
 of arms entangleth himself with worldly affairs ; he thinketh 
 rather only on how he may satisfy him who hath enrolled 
 him; in like manner he who runneth in the arena is not 
 crowned except he strive lawfully; the husbandman first 
 toileth and thereafter partaketh of the fruits. . . . Eemem- 
 ber that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. ... I suffer 
 much for the Gospel, even unto bonds as an evil-doer. Nev- 
 ertheless, the word of God is not bound. Therefore I endure 
 all things for love of the elect, that they also may obtain the 
 salvation which is in the Christ Jesus with glory everlast- 
 ing ; for faithful is this saying : — 
 
 *If we die with Him, with Him we shall live ; 
 K we suffer with Him, with Him shall we reign ; 
 If we deny Him, He also will deny us ; 
 If we be faithless, yet He abideth faithful ; 
 For He cannot deny Himself.' " ^ 
 
 The foes whom the Apostle adjures his disciple so ur- 
 gently to be on his guard against, are the same heretics he 
 had singled out in his preceding letters. Like a pestilen- 
 tial spot their preaching continued to spread,^ and still 
 threatened more and more to poison the whole body. Paul 
 denounces by name the most dangerous babblers, Hyme- 
 nicus and Philetus.* He reminds him of the dangerous 
 tendency of their interminable discourses, as being nothing 
 less than to deprive the dogmas of Christian Faith of all 
 consistency by turning them into allegorical fables, pure 
 
 1 The following greeting addressed to the Thessalonians would seem to 
 indicate what that deposit was which Paul has here in mind, and whicli 
 he confides to the hand of the Lord : * ' Let all that is within you, spirit, 
 soul, and body, be preserved spotless unto the coming of Our Lord Jesus 
 Christ. Faithful is He Who has called you, and He will fulfil this in you." 
 1 Thess. V. 23, 24. 
 
 2 Concerning these rhythmical phrases, see what has been said in the 
 preceding chapter, p. 220. 
 
 8 2 Tim. ii., 17. * Ibid. 
 
240 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 myths.^ Why talk of a Eesurrection to come ? they said. 
 The Eesurrection is already accomplished;'^ it takes place 
 daily in every man who awakens from the slumber of 
 ignorance and is raised up unto the truth. This one error 
 is singled out among the false doctrines of these sectaries, 
 doubtless because, having taken wider hold upon the pop- 
 ular mind, it must needs be combated in a special manner. 
 Paul, however, persisted in his belief that in most in- 
 stances it was time thrown away to dispute with the her- 
 etics at any great length. Nay, it was to make one's self 
 their dupe if a man allowed himself to be entangled in the 
 maze of their perfidious circumlocution by beginning to 
 debate with them " in words which in no wise profit but 
 rather pervert the hearers."^ The one thing needful was 
 to confront them with the truth in its simplicity ; then, if 
 they still obstinately shut their eyes, let them be avoided 
 like a pestilence. For thereafter it was to be feared that 
 their blindness was not one of the mind, but of the heart ; 
 and the mists which obscured their intelligence and robbed 
 them of the light of faith arose from this sink of iniquity. 
 Such would be the causes of the universal corruption 
 which would herald the end of the world. God's Holy 
 Spirit unveiled to Paul's gaze the horrors of those last 
 days, without, however, revealing to him whether they 
 were near or far off. The Apostle sketches the larger 
 outline of this picture for the benefit of his disciple. Were 
 they themselves really to behold these awful events? 
 This he knew not ; but what that Antichrist was to be 
 like when appearing in his full panoply of evil, this Paul 
 could glimpse from the enemies of Jesus, among whom 
 Timothy now was. Making no distinction of persons, 
 he depicts them all as bearing the same features : " selfish, 
 covetous, boasters, haughty, blasphemous, disobedient to 
 their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without natural affec- 
 tion, ruthless, calumniators, incontinent, cruel, haters of 
 
 1 Bej8?7Xous K€vo(f}U}viai . . . fxojpas Kal dTraideijTOVs ^rjT'^creis . . . roi)j 
 fx6dovs. *' Idle and profane speec^hes . . . foolish and impertinent dispu- 
 tations . . . mere fables." 2 Tim, ii. 16-23 ; iv. 4. 
 
 2 2 Tim. ii. 18. - Ibid., ii. 14. 
 
DEATH OF SAINT PETER AND SAINT PAUL. 241 
 
 the good, treacherous, insolent, puffed up with pride, lov- 
 ing pleasure more than God, having an outward form of 
 godliness, but destroying its truth and power." ^ "Avoid 
 them," Paul adds ; they are of that number whom thou 
 seest "creeping into houses, taking captive sin-laden 
 women, led away by lusts of all kinds, which they are 
 perpetually learning, yet never coming to a knowledge of 
 the truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres^ resisted Moses, 
 so do these men resist the truth ; they are corrupt in 
 mind, perverted in faith; but they shall not advance 
 farther, for their folly shall be made openly manifest to 
 all, as was that of these magicians of old."^ 
 
 Evidently Paul has here in view only those heresiarchs 
 who persisted stubbornly in their errors. For should but 
 a spark of life still exist in those souls who " resist the 
 Truth," ^ the Apostle bids Timothy, far from avoiding them, 
 " teach them with all kindness, in hope that God may 
 grant them repentance and release them from the snares 
 of the Devil who holds them captive."^ 
 
 These various counsels go to make up the Second Epistle 
 to Timothy, — a letter most intimate in its character, 
 wherein the aforetime teacher like a father now unbosoms 
 himself to his " dearly beloved son."^ A feeling of appre- 
 hension constantly pervades it, a dread of having laid too 
 heavy a burden on the shoulders of the disciple whom he 
 loved best of all. In his tenderness Paul can never ac- 
 
 1 2 Tim. iii. 2-5. 
 
 2 The Latin versions and the Codex Augiensis (F) adopt the reading 
 'la/x/SpTjs instead of Ma/x/3p^j. These are the names wliich the Jews gave 
 those magicians who in Pharoah's presence rivalled Moses in the perform- 
 ance of miracles, but finally acknowledged themselves vanquished. (Exod. 
 vii. 9-12, 22 ; viii. 7, 18, 19 ; ix. 11. The Targum of Jonathan, on 
 Exodus, vi. 11, on Numbers, xxii. 22.) According to these traditions 
 Jannes and Jambres, sons of Balaam, drew down upon Israel one misfortune 
 after another by their teachings and evil counsels. They perished in the 
 passage of the Red Sea, according to some, — according to others, during 
 the turmoil which ensued upon the setting up of the Golden Calf, built by 
 their orders. See Schottgen, Horce Hebraicce, in loco. Needless to add it 
 is not from the Holy Books, but from the Jewish traditions, that the 
 Apostle borrows these two names. 
 
 3 2 Tim. iii. 5-9. 5 ibi^^^ n 25, 26. 
 
 4 Ibid., ii. 25. c Ibid. i. 2. 
 
 IG 
 
242 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 custom himself to look upon or treat Timothy otherwise 
 than as he had known and loved him in the early days ; 
 youthful of soul and of heart, ^ and for this reason less 
 fitted for the combat than he could have wished. By day 
 and by night he prays for him, ^ recalls his tears,^ longs 
 only to see him once more at his side, and keeps up a 
 good heart that " this hope " ^ will be granted him, since his 
 death, though ever foremost in his mind, did not however, 
 appear to him so near as it was destined to be. As he 
 expects to pass the winter in prison, he begs Timothy to 
 bring with him the travelling cloak which he had left at 
 Troas with Carpus.^ This heavy garment had stood him 
 in good stead during his apostolical journeys, and he de- 
 sires it as a protection from the cold and dampness of his 
 cell, which was destined to be his last lodging-place here 
 below. 
 
 He asked also for the books, the parchments especially, 
 he had left in care of that disciple ; ^ for, despite the anxie- 
 ties of the Apostolate, Paul remained the same man we 
 saw long since at the feet of Gamaliel, ever eager for 
 study. Even among the Pagans he was renowned for his 
 scholarship. We have but to recall the words of Festus 
 when the Apostle was haled before him : " Thy great 
 learning hath made thee mad." " What were the parch- 
 ments that he set such store by ? In all likelihood the 
 long rolls whereon the Jews were wont to copy the Law, 
 the Psalms, and the Prophets. To the Apostle's thinking 
 no literature could be compared to this " for teaching, for 
 convincing, for correcting, for righteous discipline, render- 
 ing the man of God perfect, ready and prepared for every 
 good work."^ In the quiet of his prison he longed to 
 meditate anew upon the inspired words, drawing from 
 them new strength to suffer and die for his God. 
 
 The close of the letter shows us how Paul prepared him- 
 
 1 Tas vewreptKttS eiTLOvfiias (pevye. 2 Tim. ii. 22. 
 
 2 2 Tim. i. 3. * Ibid., 
 
 3 Ibid.,i. 4. 5 ibid.,iv. 13. 
 ^ Td /3i/3\ia /xaXiara rds jxeix^pavas. 2 Tim. iv. 13. 
 
 ' Acts xxvi. 24. 8 9 Tim. iii. 16, 17. 
 
DEATH OF SAINT PETER AND SAINT PAUL. 243 
 
 self for this supreme duty, with the same serene faith he 
 had displayed ever since his conversion. The Christ had 
 indeed overwhelmed him on the highway going up to 
 Damascus, but only to possess him more entirely, more 
 intimately, making him his " chosen instrument." ^ And 
 when restoring him, had shown him his mission afar off,^ 
 the Pagan world he was to conquer, to turn them from 
 darkness into light, from the power of Satan into the 
 hands of God."3 
 
 With no thought of how immense was the work before 
 him, a superhuman task, " a divine folly, in the world's 
 eyes,"* but undismayed, Paul had gone forth with full con- 
 fidence in the Heavenly Vision and in the Christ Who had 
 called him. For thirty years he had lived but for this 
 Jesus to whom he had given himself without reserve. 
 His Apostolate was not to be likened unto the race run by 
 an athlete, but to a warfare valiantly carried on, or,^ rather, 
 a slow sacrifice wherein ceaseless dangers, toil, anxiety, 
 suffering, tears by day and by night, had drained his life's 
 blood to the last drop. 
 
 But the hour was drawing ever nearer when this self- 
 immolation was to be consummated. His first hearing 
 before the court was but the libation poured over the 
 victim destined to the slaughter.^ Upon the very altar of 
 sacrifice he lifts up his heart in a supreme outburst of 
 gratitude toward Him Who, while recompensing his gifts 
 according to our merits, none the less remains ever the 
 " Just Judge ; " ^ for the crown which Paul beheld prepared 
 for him very rarely encircles the brow of a mere man ; it 
 was neither that of pity nor favor, it was the " Crown of 
 Justice." ^ 
 
 And, of a truth, the unwavering fidelity of the Apostle 
 
 1 Acts ix. 15. 2 Els ^6uT] fiaKpav i^aTToa-TeXQ (xe. Acts xxii. 21. 
 
 3 Acts xxvi. 17-18. * 1 Cor. i. 23, 25. ^ 2 Tim. iv. 7. 
 
 ^ 'Eyw ij8T] a-rrevdofxat.. 2 Tim. iv. 6. "As for me, I already serve as a 
 libation, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good 
 fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. I look for naught 
 save the crown of righteousness whieli the Lord, the Just Judge, shall 
 give me in that CJreat Day." 
 
 ' 2 Tim. iv. 8. ^ 'q ^^^ StKaioa-vuTjs aT^4>avos. 2 Tim. iv. 8. 
 
244 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 had merited it ; for at that very moment, in perfect self- 
 forgetfuhiess, he thought of Jesus only, urging Timothy, 
 hefore his departure, to engage in a final and more vigor- 
 ous onslaught upon the foes of their common Master : — 
 
 " I adjure thee, before God and Christ Jesus, Who will 
 judge the living and the dead at His glorious Advent and 
 at the setting up of His Kingdom, be urgent in season and 
 out of season ; convince, rebuke, exhort, in all forbearance 
 and doctrine. There will come a time when men will no 
 longer endure sound teaching. Moreover, in their itch to 
 hear what tickles their fancy, they will heap up for them- 
 selves teachers fitted to their lust; turning away their ears 
 from the truth, they will turn aside to fables. But do thou 
 be sober in all things ; endure affliction ; do the work of an 
 Evangelist ; accomplish thy ministry in full measure." ^ 
 
 About the time when this letter was despatched to 
 Ephesus, another Epistle, not destined to an individual, 
 but to all the Churches of Asia, was sent from Eome by 
 the Chief of the Apostles.^ Eor a longer season than 
 was given to Paul, Peter had enjoyed his liberty in the 
 Capital, for doubtless the loving solicitude of his faithful 
 subjects had kept his presence there concealed. From the 
 same Churches to which he had addressed his first letter, 
 he had received tidings of such grave import that he felt 
 urgently impelled to write to them once more. It was the 
 same heresy whose venomous character we have just been 
 noting in the Epistle to Timothy that now alarmed the 
 Head of the Church. Though deep rooted at Ephesus, 
 
 1 2 Tim. iv. 1-5. 
 
 2 According to the report of tradition, St. Peter left to some one of his 
 disciples the task of expressing his thoughts in writing, confining himself, 
 as St. Paul did in his Epistle to the Hebrews, to furnishing them with main 
 ideas, tlie arrangement and general trend of the work. "Hence it comes," 
 says St. Jerome (arf Hed. Epist. 120, 11 ), "that the two Epistles which bear 
 his name differ widely in style and chai'acter, as well as in the arrangement 
 of the words. These diversities show us that he changed his interpreters 
 as circumstances required." Was Sylvanus, chosen to carry the first letter, 
 Atd HiXovauou vjjlIv . . . ^ypacpa (1 Peter v. 12), its editor as well ? There is 
 nothing to indicate this in the document itself, for the words just quoted 
 may signify simply, Sylvanus bears you this message. See Cornely, Intro- 
 duciio Specialis in Nov. Test. Libros, sect. 222. 
 
DEATH OF SAINT PETER AND SAINT PAUL. 245 
 
 the plague was no less obstinately spreading among the 
 other Christian communities of that region. In Pontus, 
 Galatia, Cappadocia, and Bithynia, as well as in the prov- 
 ince of Asia, the sectaries were displaying daily greater 
 audacity in propagating their false doctrines, and that 
 irruption of lewdness as well which was their sequel or 
 their bait. Before his death Peter was desirous of sending 
 a last word of encouragement to the believers who must 
 needs defend themselves against this seduction. 
 
 He begins by reminding them of how they had ob- 
 tained a knowledge of Jesus, " the precious gift of Faith." ^ 
 Through this Faith the power of God rescues our souls 
 from the corruption of the world, maintains within us a 
 never-failing fountain of "life and godliness ;"2 or, to put 
 it more plainly, thereby God Himself works within us, 
 and we commune with Him ; " we partake of the Divine 
 Nature." ^ It is the root of our supernatural life, is this 
 Divine Faith ; and from it are born, begotten one of an- 
 other, all those virtues which sow and make to germinate 
 within us a true knowledge of Jesus, — strength and 
 vigor and well-doing,* a keen insight to discern evil,^ com- 
 plete mastery of one's self,^ forbearance, loving godliness, 
 brotherly kindness, all together blossoming forth in that 
 charity which completes and crowns the development of 
 a Christian soul. Such are the fruits which ripen of 
 themselves from its union with the Christ. 
 
 We bear witness to it, Peter concludes, not on the 
 strength of "cunningly devised fables,"" as do the heretics; 
 we speak "as eye-witnesses of His Majesty;"^ for we were 
 present when He received from God the Father honor and 
 glory ; when, from the cloud whence streamed the Efful- 
 gence of God, this Voice was heard : " Behold My beloved 
 Son in Whom I have placed all my love ! And we 
 
 1 2 Peter i. 1. 
 
 - JldvTa . . . TCL irpbs fwV kuI eiae^etav. 2 Peter i. 3. 
 
 ^ Tev^crde deias KOivibvoi ^iJcrews. 2 Peter i. 4. 
 
 * Tr}v aper-qv. Ibid., 5. ^ Tr/v yvmiv. Ibid, 
 
 6 ^riv iyKpdTeiav. Ibid., 6. 
 
 7 Se(ro0i(T/A^vois fiijdois. 2 Peter i. 16. 
 
 8 2 Peter i. 16. 
 
246 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 [Peter, James, and John], we heard this Voice come from 
 Heaven, being with Him on the Holy Mount." ^ This 
 apparition, and the other manifestations of the Godhead 
 in Jesus, verify the "great and precious promises"^ of 
 the Prophets foretelling the coming of a Divine Messiah, 
 and they give a still more steadfast authority to those 
 oracles of God. ^ 'Tis "by this torch shining in the 
 midst of our darkness"* that it behooves them to 
 enlighten themselves, for throughout the Scriptures 
 " the saints of God speak to us under the impulse of the 
 Holy Ghost." 5 
 
 Among the inspired books which the Apostle recom- 
 mends to his believing hearers, the Epistles of Saint Paul 
 are singled out in an especial manner. Peter realizes that 
 they contain some things "hard to understand ; " he is 
 well aware that " certain unlearned and unstable minds 
 wrest them, as they do the other Scriptures, and thereby 
 work their own ruin." None the less is his admiration 
 for that depth of wisdom^ which can come from God 
 alone ; he desires that all should meditate upon the word 
 " of a brother whom he cherishes " so exceedingly,'^ but 
 that in their meditations they be likewise on their guard 
 against those sectaries who profane his words by their 
 base interpretations. 
 
 No more efficacious plan suggested itself if he would 
 arouse them to this salutary state of distrust, and even 
 transform it into serious aversion, than to at once unmask 
 their fine talkers and expose to all eyes their moral per- 
 versity, the wickedness of their ulterior designs. This 
 Jude had done, and with a great measure of success ; for 
 his short note was known far and wide throughout the 
 Orient, had even reached Kome and fallen into Peter's 
 hands. The latter believed he could not do better than 
 make use of the same picture, accentuate the stronger 
 
 1 2 Peter i. 17-18. 
 
 2 Ta fi^yLara KalTlixLaeirayyi\iJ.aTa. 2 Peter i. 4. 
 
 3 2 Peter i. 19. & Ibid., i. 21. 
 
 * Ibid. 6 Ibid., iii. 16. 
 
 ' 'O dyaTTTjTbs 7]/j.Qu dSeX^os UavXos. 2 Peter iii. 15. 
 
DEATH OF SAINT PETER AND SAINT PAUL. 247 
 
 lines, and add certain details which the ever increasing 
 corruption of heresy had since then brought to light. The 
 authority lent to it by the Prince of the Apostles made 
 still more striking a picture already popular, adding to it 
 a vivid tone well fitted to open all men's eyes. 
 
 Like Jude, he proves that these false doctors preach 
 from motives of cupidity. " They make merchandise of 
 your souls," he tells them, "to satisfy their covetous- 
 ness " ^ True sons of Balaam, they are ready to do any- 
 thing for "the wages of unrighteousness." ^ Haughty, 
 presumptuous, and fond only of themselves, they hold 
 all authority in contempt.^ But it is not so much 
 by their insolent discourses that they lead souls astray, 
 rather is it by the passions of the flesh and sensual 
 delights. " Like beasts devoid of reason, who follow the 
 instincts of their brute nature and are born to be captured 
 and destroyed, so these men blaspheme the things they 
 understand not and shall perish of their own corruption ;^ 
 and this shall be the just reward of their iniquity. For, 
 by staking all their happiness on the pleasures of a day, 
 they are become our opprobrium ; abandoning themselves 
 to the extravagances of the tongue, in the Agapae they 
 hold with you, their eyes full of adultery, they cease not 
 to sin.^ . . . Wells without water, clouds driven by the 
 storm, to whom the mist of darkness is reserved forever,"^ 
 the darkness which enchains the Angels that were cast 
 into the abyss ; '^ for if God spared not these rebel spirits,^ 
 if, when drowning the ancient world in the Deluge, " He 
 saved none but Noe, the preacher of righteousness," and 
 the seven just ones of his household,^ if He reduced to 
 ashes Sodom and Gomorrah,^^ " doubtless He is reserving 
 these sinners to punish them in the Day of Judgment." ^^ 
 
 1 2 Peter ii. 3 ; Jude 11. 5 2 Peter ii. 13, 14 ; Jude 12. 
 
 2 2 Peter ii. 15. « 2 Peter ii. 17; Jude 12, 13. 
 
 3 Ibid., ii. 10 ; Jude 8, 16. "^ 2 Peter ii. 4 ; Jude 6. 
 
 4 2 Peter ii. 2, 10, 12 ; Jude 8, 10. ^ 2 Peter ii. 4. 
 
 9 " And that same day Noe and Sem and Cham, and Japhet, sons of 
 Noe, and the wife of Noe and the three wives of his sons with him, entered 
 into the Ark." 2 Gen. vii. 13. 
 
 10 2 Peter ii. 6 ; Jude 7. " 2 Peter ii. 9. 
 
248 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 Their condemnation, long since a foregone conclusion, 
 approacheth already ; the hand of Him Who shall utterly 
 destroy them is not benumbed." ^ 
 
 Woe, then, to these corrupters of souls I But woe like- 
 wise to those who, but lately redeemed from error, allow 
 themselves to be led astray by these men, slaves of corrup- 
 tion, who promise them liberty, but all in vain, since 
 " a man is a slave of him by whom he is vanquished." ^ 
 
 " If, having escaped the pollution of the world through the 
 knowledge of the Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ, they plunge 
 therein anew and are overcome by it, their last state is 
 worse than the first ; it had been better for them not to 
 have known the way of righteousness than to turn aside, 
 after they have known it, from the Holy Law which was 
 delivered to them. The true saying of the proverb is ful- 
 filled in them: ^The dog is returned to his vomit, and the 
 sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.' " ^ 
 
 The sectaries were no longer content, as the day when 
 Jude was scourging them, "with denying the Lord Who 
 had purchased them." * Noting the terror caused in men's 
 souls by their expectation of a Christ Who was to return, 
 at an hour unlooked-for and perhaps close at hand, to 
 judge apostates, they strove hard to prove this return a 
 trumped-up fiction, and never tired jesting at those who 
 dreaded it.^ The Apostle rebukes their mockeries by 
 reminding them of what Time really is in the eyes of Him 
 unto Whom " a day is as a thousand years, and a thousand 
 years as one day." ^ And if the Saviour delays His coming, 
 't is because He is " long-suffering to us-ward, not willing 
 that any should perish, but that all should come to repent- 
 ance."'' Nevertheless, let none cherish any doubt of His 
 return, for the word of the Lord has been pledged thereto : 
 for 't is according to " His promise that we await new 
 heavens and a new earth wherein righteousness shall 
 dwell." 8 
 
 1 2 Peter ii. 3. « Ibid., iii. 3-4. 
 
 2 Ibid., ii. 18-19. e ibid., iii. 8. 
 
 3 Ibid., ii. 20-22. 7 n.id.^ iii. 9. 
 
 * 2 Peter ii. 1 ; Jude 4. » Ibid., iii. 13. 
 
DEATH OF SAINT PETER AND SAINT PAUL. 249 
 
 Peter, like Paul, like all the Apostles, indeed, knows 
 naught concerning the date of this last Advent, nor can 
 he discern in the revelation made to him whether the 
 hour is close at hand or afar off; but this he does know, 
 that " the day of the Lord shall come like a thief, and in 
 that day the heavens shall pass away in the roar of the 
 tempest, the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the 
 earth shall be burnt up with all it contains."^ 
 
 *' Seeing, then," concludes the Apostle, 'Hhat all these 
 things are doomed to perish, what ought yoM to do, and 
 what ought to be the holiness of your life and piety ? . . . 
 Living in this expectation, labor in peace, that God may find 
 you pure and blameless. . . . Let all those of you, clearly 
 beloved, who know these things beforehand, take heed lest, 
 being led away by the error of the perverse, you fall from your 
 own steadfastness, but grow in grace and the knowledge of 
 Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To Him be glory, both 
 now and to the day of Eternity ! Amen." ^ 
 
 These weighty instructions were the last which Peter 
 was to leave to the Church. " The hour of his death was 
 approaching rapidly ; this the Lord himself had revealed 
 to him ; " ^ but he had taken every precaution lest after 
 him Christ's flock should be left shepherdless, and he had 
 seen to it that the apostolical authority and tradition 
 should continue in the See of Peter ever living and fruit- 
 ful.'* Thereafter, like the patriarchs of old, the Fathers 
 and patterns of his race, he had but to await beneath his 
 tent the day so close at hand when he was to fold it ^ foi 
 the last time, to enter " into the everlasting realm of his 
 Lord and Saviour Jesus." ^ 
 
 Of these last days of the Apostle in Eome there has 
 
 1 2 Peter iii. 10. » Ibid., i. 14. 
 
 2 Ibid., iii. 11, 14, 17, 18. 
 
 * " Moreover, I will endeavor that even after ray death you may be able 
 to have these things always in remembrance." 2 Peter i. 15. 
 
 ^ " I esteem it just, so long as I am [in this body as] in a tent, to arouse 
 you by recalling these things to your nK-mory, knowing that the hour for 
 striking my tent approaches rapidly." 2 Peter i. 13, 14. 
 
 6 2 Peter i. 11. 
 
250 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 come down to us no word save certain legendary narra- 
 tives which would be out of place in this history ; one 
 alone I would make an exception of. Near the Appian 
 way stands a little edifice which bears the name of 
 " Domine, Quo Vadis," " Lord, whither goest Thou ? " The 
 Apparition whereof this sanctuary is a pious memorial is 
 related in the following terms by Saint Ambrose.^ Yielding 
 to the entreaties of his disciples, Peter had decided to 
 escape the storm of persecution by quitting Eome. On 
 emerging from the gates he beheld Jesus approaching as 
 if about to enter the city. 
 
 " Lord, whither goest Thou ? " he asked Him. 
 
 " I am come to be crucified anew," replied the Saviour. 
 
 The Apostle grasped the import of this miraculous vision 
 which traced out for him his duty, and turned back to face 
 death. 
 
 This tale was, as we know, of venerable antiquity even 
 in Saint Ambrose's day, since two centuries earlier Origen 
 had read it, as it would appear, in the Apocryphal Acts of 
 Saint Paul.^ Beneath certain details more or less legendary 
 it is easy to descry a basis of truth, the fact which the 
 Roman Church had ever kept in memory, how Peter, 
 during these last few days had hesitated whether he should 
 flee from persecution, and how an inspiration born of God 
 himself had made him resolve to meet it. That resolution 
 once taken, he displayed the same whole-souled ardor which 
 with him was always the sequel to his first waverings, and 
 boldly braved the coming danger. 
 
 But this he was not long to do with impunity. Paul's 
 arrest attracted public attention to the Christians and 
 induced the magistrates to investigate their organization 
 and their leaders. A single imprudent reply would suffice 
 to betray the fact that the principal personage in the 
 Church was then in Eome, and thus put him in the power 
 of judges who were wont to show scant ceremony in their 
 treatment of the faithful. Nor could the Apostle, as Paul 
 
 1 St. Ambrose, Cont. Auxenimm, 13. 
 
 2 Origen, In Joan., xx. 12. 
 
• DEATH OF SAINT PETER AND SAINT PAUL. 251 
 
 by right of his Eoman citizenship had done, lay claim to 
 a legal inquiry into his case. He was a mere stranger 
 within their gates, one of those " humiliores," those luck- 
 less wights of no account, whom a relentless law delivered 
 over to the wild beasts, to the stake, and to the cross. 
 As the fancy of his judges had fallen upon the latter 
 form of execution, Peter was left to languish in the 
 Mamertine prison until the time for its fulfilment. 
 
 Roman traditions are unanimous concerning this two- 
 fold fact,^ and they add that Paul, now also condemned to 
 death, met his brother in the Apostolate within its walls.^ 
 There is nothing impossible about these pious beliefs, for 
 under the Empire as under the Republic, the Mamertine 
 was still used as a place of detention for those condemned 
 to death.3 It is not likely, however, that Peter and Paul 
 were made acquainted with the horrors of the Ttcllianum, 
 that murky and foul dungeon deep below the prison 
 properly so-called ; only those condemned persons w^ho 
 were to be strangled forthwith were immured there. So, 
 then, in all likelihood it was in the upper prison * that 
 the two Apostles met again together, prepared for death. 
 
 Though the testimony of tradition is so unanimous as 
 to the place where they were detained, they do not agree 
 
 1 Paul, Sent., v. 22; cf. ibid., 21-23; Dig. xlviii. 19, 28, sect. 1. 
 
 2 This tradition appears for the first time in the fifth century in the 
 Acts of Sts. Procesus and Martinianus ; tliese Acts are not authentic, in- 
 deed, but the Bollandist Fathers consider that they are not to be rejected 
 in toto. Acta SS. Julii, vol. i., p. 269. 
 
 8 The Mamertine Prison, as it appears to-day, consists of two cells, one 
 above the other ; the upper story is the Mamertinum, twenty feet in length 
 and sixteen in width, which communicates by a narrow opening with the 
 lower cell, or Tullianum. This gloomy dungeon, circular in form, dates 
 back, it is said, to the time of Servius Tullius ; hence its name. Here 
 Jugurtha died of starvation after six days' torture ; but ordinarily the con- 
 demned persons cast therein were strangled immediately ; thus perished 
 the accomplices of Cataline, Vercingetorix, etc. The corpses were taken 
 out of the dungeon to be exposed on the Gemonii, and thence cast into the 
 Tiber. The picture drawn by Sallust of this horrid dungeon remains in- 
 delibly fixed on the memory : "incultu, tenebris, odore, foeda atque terri- 
 bilis ejus facies est." {Caii/ina, Iv.) 
 
 * The Career Mamertinus was very large ; there is therefore no reason 
 to be surprised that th(; Apostles, although they were but obscure prison- 
 ers, should have spent their days there. 
 
252 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 SO closely concerning the spot where Peter met martyr- 
 dom. Some locate it on the heights of Janiculum, where 
 in our time stands the Church of San Pietro in Montorio ; 
 but others, more ancient and consequently worthier of 
 credence, insist that he was crucified " in the Vatican near 
 Nero's palace." ^ This region we know well, for it was 
 there that in 64 that great immolation of Eoman Christians 
 was accomplished. God so willed it that there too in his 
 turn their Pastor should be crucified, that thus the blood 
 of the Apostle shed on that holy ground should complete 
 its consecration and make it forevermore the domain of 
 Peter. 
 
 There Nero had sumptuously completed the Circus 
 commenced by Caligula and upon the broad and lengthy 
 mole {La Spina) which divided the arena in two, he had 
 erected the obelisk of Heliopolis.^ It was near this 
 monument and between the two goals which marked 
 the extremities of La Spina that the tools of execution ^ 
 were prepared. 
 
 The Apostle, when he advanced to the cross, beheld 
 not so much the tortures whereof it was the instrument, 
 but only the splendor of its future. For from the Vatican 
 that cross was to shed its rays athwart the wide, wide 
 world, spreading everywhere its sovereign action. There 
 on that very spot was destined to be fulfilled for ever- 
 more the Saviour's prophecy : " When I shall have been 
 
 1 " Sepultus est . . . juxta locum ubi crucifixus est, juxta palatium 
 Neronianum, in Vaticannm, juxta territorium Triumphalem." Liber Port- 
 tijicalis, vol. i. p. 118, Duchesne's ed. The two traditions are narrated and 
 learnedly discussed in Marucchi's work, Le Memorie dei SS. Apostoli Pietro- 
 e Paolo nella Citta di Roma (Rome, 1894), pp. 74-78. His conclusions 
 are those which I have adopted above, and they seem to me to be well 
 founded. 
 
 2 This obelisk had been brought from Heliopolis to Rome by the order 
 of Caligula. Pliny, xvi. 76, 5 ; xxxvi. 14, 15. It was transported to the 
 middle of the square of St. Peter in 1586 by the order of Sixtus V. 
 
 3 "Apud palatium Ncronianura juxta obeliscum inter duas metas." 
 Acta Aposfolorum apocr)/pJta, ed, Tischendorf, sect. 8 ; (;f. Bosio, Roma 
 softer., p. 74 et seq. ; Bihlioth. max-patr., ii. These details, though taken 
 from apocryphal writings, seem to me too precise to be considered as pure 
 fancies. 
 
DEATH OF SAINT PETER AND SAINT PAUL. 253 
 
 raised up from the earth I will draw all men unto me." ^ 
 To ascend this throne of glory and die there as Jesus 
 died, with brow uplifted and arms outspread to embrace 
 all humanity, seemed too high an honor to the penitent 
 soul, who even in these last moments never forgot his 
 boastful pledge to follow his Master whithersoever He 
 went, and his threefold denial of Him thereafter. He 
 asked, then, to be crucified head downward, and obtained 
 his request.^ By this final act of humilit}^ this self- 
 annihilation in the hour of death, Peter took good care to 
 bequeath unto his successors but the one sole Cross, the 
 Cross which saves the world, the Cross of Jesus. 
 
 On the same day,^ the twenty-ninth of June, Paul died, 
 like his brother in the Apostolate, a Martyr to the Christ. 
 His case, suddenly reopened, had resulted for him also in 
 the sentence of death ; but by right of his Eoman citizen- 
 ship ^ he was accorded the honor of decapitation.^ The 
 centurion appointed to execute the sentence conducted 
 the Apostle quite a distance from Eome, an hour's journey 
 from the Ostian gate.^ To the left of the highroad 
 
 1 John xii. 32. 
 
 ■■2 Acta Petri et Pauli, c. 81 ; Origen, quoted by Eusebius, Historia 
 ecdesiastica, iii. 1 ; Eusebius, De7n. ev., iii. 5; St. Jerome, De riV. ill., 1 ; 
 cf. Seneca, Consol. ad Marciam, 20. 
 
 3 The tradition that Peter and Paul died on the same day can be traced 
 back to the second century (Dionysius of Corinth, quoted by Eusebius, 
 Hist. eccL, ii. 25), and is accepted by St. Jerome {De vir. illust., v.), in 
 the decree falsely attributed to St. Gelasius (Migne, Patr. Lat., vol. lix., 
 p. 167), and the Liber Pontificalis (Duchesne's ed., vol. i., pp. 118, 119, 
 note 12), etc. As to the date of this double martyrdom, common opinion 
 nowadays places it in the year 67. This is the date given by St. Jerome 
 [Liber Pontificalis, etc.), and is adopted by Baronius, Petau, Patvizi, Bar- 
 tolini ; the last-named may be consulted with especial profit : Sopra I'anno 
 67 dell' era volgare, se fosse quel de' martirio de gloriosi Apostoli, Roma, 1868. 
 
 4 Paul, Sent., v. xxix, 1. 
 
 5 Tertullian, De prescript., 36 ; Scorp., 15 ; Eusebius, Hist. eccL, ii. 
 25 ; Lactantius, De morte persec. 2 ; St. Jerome, De vir. ill. v. 
 
 6 Paul was well known in Rome ; the fear lest his execution might 
 cause some outbreak among the people was probably what determined 
 them to have him beheaded so far outside the city. Similar motives caused 
 Calpurnius Galerianus to be put to death without the walls of Rome. 
 " Custodia militari cinctus, ne in ipsa urbe conspectior mors foret, ad 
 quadragesimum ab urbe Lapidem, via Appia, fuso per venas sanguine ex- 
 tinguitur." Tacitus, Histor., iv. 11. 
 
254 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 known by this name, the Via ArcUea, which joins it, 
 leads to a little hollow surrounded by a low line of 
 hills and known by the name of the Wholesome AVaters. 
 The soldiers halted the Martyr beneath the shade of a 
 pine tree, renowned in olden times,^ and stripped his back 
 for the scourGfin".^ For the last time Paul must needs 
 bend his back to the whip, and then, baring his neck to 
 the headsman's sword, he breathed forth his spirit and 
 was at long last united with his Lord. 
 
 Neither the words nor the thoughts of the Apostle at 
 this supreme moment have come down to us, yet it is not 
 hard to conceive what they must have been, for the death 
 of God's holy ones is but the consummation of their life. 
 Saint Theresa is lifted up in a final ecstasy. Saint Francis 
 of Assizi smiles and sings in the face of death, and accosts 
 it by the tender little " Sister." Paul's career had been 
 one long warfare for Jesus against sin ; he beheld that old 
 foe of his, now checked and overcome by Grace, that 
 Grace whose efficacy he had preached everywhere, bearing 
 the Good News unto the ends of the known world.^ He, 
 then, died as a "soldier of the Christ,"^ rejoicing for that 
 he was deemed worthy to shed his blood for his Master, 
 and repeating that glad cry which long since we heard 
 from his holy lips, " Death, where is thy sting ? 
 Grave, where is thy victory ? . . . Thanks be to God, 
 Who giveth us the victory through Jesus Christ Our 
 Lord." ^ 
 
 This has been always, indeed, the feeling of the Eoman 
 Church in regard of their two leaders, thus slain for the 
 Cause. Piously reposing their relics in the neighborhood 
 of their martyrdom, their disciples erected, not sepulchres, 
 but Tro'phies ; for by this title, as we shall see in the suc- 
 
 1 Acta Apostolorum apocrypha, Tischendorf, p. 35 ; St. Gregory the 
 Great, Epist., xiv. xiv. ; the Itineraries of the pilgrims, quoted by Signor 
 de Rossi in Roma sotferranea, vol. i., p. 182. 
 
 2 " Nudatos virgis cfedunt secnvique feriunt." Titus Livy, ii. 6, 
 Very many ])assages in Tacitus go to show that, under Nero, prisoners 
 were customnrily beheaded, not with the axe, but by the sword. 
 
 3 Acts xiii. 47. ^ KaXbs arpaTLur-rjs XpiaroO. 2 Tim. ii. 3. 
 ^ 1 Cor. XV. 55-57. 
 
DEATH OF SAINT PETER AND SAINT PAUL. 255 
 
 ceeding ages, the tombs of Peter and Paul were known. 
 " As for me," says Caius, one of his own priests in the 
 beginning of the third century, " I can show you the 
 Trophies of the Apostles ; whether you go to the Vatican, 
 or whether you take the Ostian highway, you will find 
 these Trophies of the men who founded our Church." ^ 
 
 As the disciples possessed no place of sepulture near the 
 Tre Fontane, they were forced to carry the body of Paul 
 half-way to Eome on the Ostian Road, where now stands 
 the magnificent Basilica of the Apostle. But for Peter, 
 they had a shorter distance to traverse. There was a burial- 
 ground close by the gardens of Nero, between the new Via 
 Aureliana and the A^ia Triumphalis.^ In all likelihood, 
 ever since the year 64 the Christians of Rome had prepared 
 a place of burial thereabouts for their brethren who had 
 fallen victims to the ferocity of Nero ; at all events, there 
 is no doubt about the fact that they possessed a cemetery 
 there shortly after the death of the Apostle, since we know 
 that the Popes, until the end of the second century, were 
 buried there.^ Accordingly, the relics of Peter rested 
 hereabouts for almost two hundred years, where they are 
 now overshadowed by the dome of the Vatican. In 258 
 an edict of Valerian put all the Christian cemeteries under 
 the law of sequestration, and forbade the Christians to 
 forgather there. Owing to this and to the dread of see- 
 ing the two tombs of the Apostles profaned, they thought 
 best to transfer their relics to a safer resting-place. The 
 
 1 These words of Caius, recorded by Eusebius (Histor. eccL, ii. 25), ac- 
 quaint us, not only with the tradition of his time, but witli that of the age 
 which preceded it. The authenticity of these niouuments up to the sec- 
 ond century is therefore incontestible. It is established in the fourth cen- 
 tury by the basilicas which Constantine erected over the two tombs, by 
 the testimony of Eusebius (Histor. eccL, ii. 25), and of Optatus of Mileto 
 {De Schismat. Donastit., i. ii. 2 ; and in the fifth century by that of St. 
 Jerome {Devir. illustr. i.), and of Prudentius (Peristeph., Hymn xii. ). 
 
 2 The numerous Pagan inscriptions unearthed round about the "Con- 
 fession " of St. Peter, when the basilica was rebuilt, leave no doubt as to 
 this fact. Armellini, Le Chiese cli Roma, p. 697 etseq. 
 
 3 The Liber Pontijicalis gives the following direction: ** Sepultus est 
 juxta corpus beati Petri in Vaticauo," to indicate the tombs of the first 
 Popes : Linus, Cletus, Anacletus, Evaristus, Xystus, Telesphorus, Hyginus, 
 Pius, Eleutherus, and Victor. 
 
256 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 locality called "Ad Cataciimhas,'' a little over two miles 
 on the Appian highway, seemed to them to offer perfect 
 security. Accordingly those precious relics were trans- 
 ported thither, and there remained for a year and seven 
 months, according to the Apocryphal Acts of Peter and 
 Paul,i but forty years longer if we are to take the testimony 
 of the itineraries written by the pilgrims of the seventh 
 century.^ 
 
 Whatever question there may be concerning these va- 
 rious witnesses, at least there is no doubt that the bodies 
 of these Saints were brought back to their first place of 
 burial, and that whole and intact; for it is impossible to 
 put any credence in the legend which tells us that Saint 
 Sylvester mingled the sacred ashes at the time of the sec- 
 ond translation, that thus Peter and Paul should be ever 
 venerated, both on the Ostian Way and at the Vatican. 
 Such an idea is not merely devoid of historical foundation,^ 
 but would seem repugnant to the true Christian feeling 
 concerning the foundation of the Church. For it is not 
 true that Jesus had set two heads over the Apostolical Col- 
 lege ; only one had He chosen, Peter alone. That Paul 
 was commissioned to lend him aid, and that he accom- 
 plished the task with perfect freedom, but respectfully 
 and with such heartfelt devotion withal that Peter never 
 ceased to admire and cherish him, — this fact our narra- 
 tive has ever insisted upon. It is that, in fact, which is 
 ever proclaimed by the Eoman Church, which, in its liturgy 
 always intertwines the memory and the veneration of both 
 its holy founders. However, with this pious remembrance 
 of brotherly unity there ends any likeness between the 
 two Apostles. Paul, great and glorious as he appears to 
 us, was but a Voice, "a Word,"* the most powerful and 
 
 1 Fiorentini, Vetust. MartyroL, p. iii. 
 
 2 De Rossi, Roma Softer., vol. i,, p. 180. Concerning this translation, 
 see Duchesne, Liher Pontificalis, vol. i., pp. civ-cvii ; Marucchi, Le 
 Memorie, pp. 39-68 ; De Waal, Die Apostelgruft ad Catacumhas an der 
 Via Appia, Roma, 1894. 
 
 2 Marucchi, Le Memorie, p. 72. 
 
 * " Dux verbi." Acts xiv. 11 ; cf. Ephes. iii. 8 ; Hebr. iv. 12; Ephes. 
 vi. 17. 
 
DEATH OF SAINT PETER AND SAINT PAUL. 257 
 
 the most fruitful after that of Jesus Himself; but the 
 mission of the Apostle unto the Gentiles ended with him. 
 That of Peter was to last forever : to him alone and for 
 evermore, since he lives always in his successors, and only 
 unto him, God has confided all that which constitutes the 
 very life of the Church, her holy faith, her teaching, her 
 government, her power of binding and loosing.^ It was 
 therefore fitting that he alone should rest beneath the Vati- 
 can, under that vast cupola whereon the words which 
 made him the sole sovereign even to-day enlighten and 
 rule the world : " Thou art Peter, and on this rock I will 
 build my Church." ^ 
 
 <*TU ES PETEUS ET SUPER HANG PETRAM 
 ^DIEICABO ECCLESIAM MEAM." 
 
 Thus, then, even in death, Paul played a subordinate part. 
 His body, it is true, reposes in Rome, but " without the 
 walls," ^ mingled with and well-nigh eclipsed by the glory 
 of Saint Peter. The three words graven upon his tomb 
 sum up his whole life and all its greatness, — 
 
 PAUL. APOSTLE. MARTYR. 
 
 PAULO 
 APOSTOLO MART.-* 
 
 1 Luke xxii. 32 ; Jolin xxi. 15-17 ; Matt. xvi. 18, 19. 
 
 2 Matt. xvi. 18. This inscription fills out the whole circumference of 
 the frieze in golden letters six and a half (6^) feet high on a blue ground. 
 
 3 As is well known, the basilica erected over the Apostle's tomb is thus 
 designated : S. Paolo fiiori le Mura. 
 
 * This inscription, discovered entire in 1838, during the work on the 
 new basilica, dates back to the time of Constantine. Such at least is the 
 opinion of Signor de Rossi {Bull, di Archceol. Christ., 1883, p. 153), an 
 opinion adopted and confirmed by Father Grisar in his learned work en- 
 titled Le Tombe apostoliche di Roma ; (Studi e documenti di storia e diritto, 
 1892). 
 
 17 
 
CHAPTEK XIII. 
 
 ROME AFTER THE DEATH OF SAINT PETER AND 
 SAINT PAUL. 
 
 We have seen that from the time of the burning of 
 Eome Nero had declined in popular favor, ^ After this 
 disaster and the inevitable massacre which was its sequel, 
 his popularity waned the more. To avert a final and de- 
 cisive misfortune, he deemed the best course for him to 
 pursue was to revive those spectacles which had never 
 failed to delight the lower classes. After the year 65 the 
 list of chariot races was largely augmented.^ In the same 
 year the celebration of the Quinquennial Sports was re- 
 newed.2 In fact, this Imperial actor had never before gone 
 to such lengths, and Eome beheld the strange sight of an 
 emperor, lord over the whole world, walking the boards 
 and contending with low-born players for a singer's prize. 
 Once his act was concluded, he bowed his knee, and with 
 a humble gesture besought the suffrages of his audience, 
 pretending that he awaited them in great anxiety.* Of 
 course there was no question as to the response his appeal 
 
 1 Tacitus, Annates, xv. 44, 45. 
 
 2 Ibid., XV. 74. 
 
 ^ Ibid., xvi. 4. Friedlander (Moeurs romaines au temps d'Auguste, vol. 
 ii. p. 255) holds that these contests took place in the year 64, iDasing his 
 theory on the Greek custom, which was to renew these festivals every four 
 years : now, the first celebration occurred in the year 60. (Tacitus, Annales, 
 xiv. 20-21; Eckhel, Doctrina nuvimornm reterum, vi., p. 264.) This is 
 a mistake which Schiller ((rescA^'cA^e des romischen Kaiserreichs unter der 
 Regierung des Nero, p. 198) rectifies with good reason. Now Tacitus' 
 expression ought to be taken literally : " Quinfjuennale ludicrum Ronice 
 institutura est ad morem Grseci certaminis." Annales, xiv. 20 ; cf. Sueto- 
 nius, Nero, 12 : " Instituit et quinquennale certamen primus omnium 
 Romae, more Grseco." 
 
 * Tacitus, Annales, xvi. 4 : "Postremo flexus genu et coetum ilium 
 manu veneratus, sententias judicum opperiebatur ficto pavore." 
 
ROME. 259 
 
 would meet with ; his own guards, scattered among the 
 spectators, were the leaders of the applause ; at the least 
 sign of weakness or hesitancy they rained down blows 
 upon the onlookers. Vespasian was forced to pay dearly 
 for his heinous crime, because in a moment of fatigue he 
 yielded to his overpowering need of sleep.^ 
 
 But of what use were such amusements to stay the 
 wrath of the multitude so embittered, and furthermore 
 afflicted by a plague whereof Tacitus has left a terrific 
 description? " There was to be noted," he says, " no token 
 of corruption in the air, and yet the dwellings were cum- 
 bered with corpses and the streets with funeral trains ; 
 neither sex nor age escaped the scourge ; all men, whether 
 slave or free, were mowed down alike speedily. They 
 breathed their last amid the lamentations of their wives 
 and children, who themselves were attacked even while 
 kneeling at their deathbed, and oftentimes were burnt on 
 the same funeral pyre."^ When the plague had run its 
 course, there were over thirty thousand deaths to be reck- 
 oned in the city.^ 
 
 Would the people show more appreciation for glorious 
 deeds of war ? This, Nero in the following year was fain 
 to discover. The world, then at peace, or at least held in 
 awe of established authority, knew of no rebels except the 
 Parthians. In the year 63, Corbulo had succeeded in put- 
 ting a stop to their inroads, and had succeeded in arrang- 
 ing to have Tiridates, brother of their king, receive from 
 Eome the kingship over Armenia:* an act of great diplom- 
 acy this, which, by interposing a tributary state between 
 the two Empires, would use it as a buffer between the 
 contending armies, and thereby render them less formi- 
 dable to the provinces of Asia. Hitherto, Tiridates had 
 deferred his entrance into Rome there to be crowned. 
 Nero resolved to recall him and to exhibit this man, whom 
 the whole East saluted as " King of kings," kneeling be- 
 fore him as his vassal. To draw some prestige to himself 
 
 1 Tacitus, Annales, xvi. 5. 3 Suetonius, Nero, 39. 
 
 2 Ibid., xvi. 13. * Tacitus, Annales, xv. 29, 31. 
 
260 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 from this triumphal progress, he bade that it be surrounded 
 with uuheard-of magnificence. Tiridates traversed Asia, 
 Thrace, Illyria, and Italy with a whole army as his escort, 
 pillaging and destroying the towns which were forced to 
 entertain him. All Kome, bidden to his coronation, beheld 
 this prince prostrate before the Emperor and accepting from 
 him the royal diadem. They heard, too, his exaggerated 
 words of thanks couched in the Oriental fashion, — 
 
 " My Lord, as thy slave am I come unto thee who art 
 my God, to worship thee as the Sun itself. I will be 
 what thou makest of me, for thou art my lot and my 
 fortune." ^ 
 
 All in vain were those lying words of flattery ! Un- 
 availing, too, his splendid progress ! Eome had had her 
 fill of such scenes of servility ; she was sated with exhi- 
 bitions of bloodshed and disgrace ; nor would she applaud 
 them any more unless constrained by force. 
 
 Nero, now despairing of any return of his pristine popu- 
 larity, sought elsewhere those acclamations without which 
 his vanity could not exist. Greece, that mother of all 
 the fine arts, still worshipped at their shrine, and could 
 still reckon upon a goodly number of connoisseurs. Ac- 
 cordingly he decided to appeal to these judges in matters 
 of taste from the contemptuous reception he had met 
 with at the hands of a low-born and common populace. 
 
 It was in the year 66 that he set out upon his journey 
 toward Greece. His departure, however, in no wise light- 
 ened the burden of terror which weighed upon Eome, for 
 he left behind him two most active ministers of his cru- 
 elty, Tigellinus and Helius, the freedmen. Peter and 
 Paul, as we have just seen, are to be numbered among 
 their victims. Nevertheless, it would seem that during 
 his absence there was not so much bloodshed as previ- 
 ously ; for the Tyrant's attention was altogether absorbed 
 in his passion for the stage ; those visions of warlike con- 
 quest had at length turned, in his poor brain, into a mad 
 desire to be greeted as a great actor. Tor soldiers he 
 
 1 Dion Cassius, Ixiii. 2, 7. 
 
ROME. 261 
 
 brought with him into Achaia whole legions of ballet- 
 dancers, fully equipped with masks and lyres and instru- 
 ments of music.^ But no crown of military or artistic 
 glory was destined to fall to the lot of the persecutor of 
 the Christians. God was paving the way for him toward 
 that final goal when he shoald be overwhelmed by the 
 scorn of all mankind ; nor were any trophies henceforth 
 to be accorded him save the showman's awards, and these 
 wrung from the obsequiousness, or of fcenest from the fear, 
 of his judges. 
 
 Greece dared not, indeed, refuse anything to the Master 
 of the World come thither to demand applause. The 
 Olympian Games were deferred that he might win his 
 triumph there : ^ a wretched victory, indeed, since he was 
 upset in the chariot race and nearly lost his life ; an acci- 
 dent which in no way hindered them from awarding him 
 the prize.^ He knew well, however, the best way to dis- 
 courage his rivals. On the occasion of the Isthmian 
 Sports, one actor was so imprudent as to win the audi- 
 ence's appreciation by his fine voice. The tyrant ordered 
 him to be strangled on the very scene of his success.* 
 Thereafter these contests degenerated into an attempt on 
 the part of his rivals to let themselves be beaten grace- 
 fully. Nero received over eighteen hundred crowns in the 
 various arenas where he appeared/^ For fear lest he should 
 take umbrage even at past glories, they hastened every- 
 where to pull down the statues of former winners.^ Nero 
 ordained days of thanksgiving to the gods, in Eome and 
 throughout the Empire,"^ in return for these miserable 
 triumphs. Greece, too, was bountifully rewarded for 
 its complacency, and was declared a free land,^ and 
 thereby escaped all taxation and all subjection to Eoman 
 governors. 
 
 1 Dion Cassius, Ixiii. 8. 
 
 2 Suetonius, Nero, 23 ; Eusebius, Chronicorum, book ii. Ann. X*^ 67, 
 ^ Dion Cassius, Ixiii. 14 ; Suetonius, Nero, 24. 
 
 * Lucian, Nero seu de isthmo, 9. 
 
 s Dion Cassius, Ixiii. 21. ^ Suetonius, Nero, 24. 
 
 ■^ Dion Cassius, Ixiii. 18. 
 
 * Suetonius, Nero, 24 ; Dion Cassius, Ixiii. 11. 
 
262 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 Certain localities, however, did not lend themselves so 
 easily to help out this farce. At Eleusis, the tyrant, 
 stained with his scores of murders, durst not be initiated 
 into its mysteries. For there the herald had cried out, 
 " Stand back, all impious and wicked men ! " The Furies, 
 who once had fallen upon the parricide Orestes, were still 
 watching over Athens. Nero took good care not to en- 
 counter them. Nor did he even enter their city, the 
 Queen of Greece and the sanctuary of her genius.^ 
 
 Other anxieties, too, still further aggravated his troubles. 
 The Empire, throughout its length and breadth, shuddered 
 with fear of the despot, who was bankrupting them. His 
 exactions from the provinces began after the burning of 
 Rome ; ^ thereafter they only increased, for he required 
 fabulous sums to pay for the royal pomp whereon he 
 based his whole political policy.^ Even Greece, which had 
 so pandered to his passions, paid dearly for the tyrant's 
 love of the fine arts. From Delphi he took away with 
 him five hundred statues ; from the Thespians the glori- 
 ous Eros of Praxiteles ; elsewhere other marvels of art.* 
 
 But far more than these acts of vandalism did Nero's 
 treatment of his army precipitate his fall. He angered 
 both the veterans and legionaries by his remissness in 
 paying their wage, and alienated their leaders by putting 
 them under control of his freedmen, and leaving them to 
 the mercy of his informers.^ All those whom personal 
 worth or success in arms had rendered popular became 
 forthwith objects of suspicion ; disgrace and the oblivion 
 of some minor post was the lot of the more fortunate ; 
 the most illustrious of their number were put to death. 
 Two brothers of the noble house of Scribonia, Rufus and 
 Procullus, were then renowned commanders. Recalled 
 by the Emperor on their way home, they were met with 
 further orders to do away with themselves. Nor did the 
 
 1 Suetonius, Nero, 34. ^ Tacitus, Annales, xv. 45. 
 
 2 The journey of Tiridates alone cost him about twelve million dollars 
 of our money. Suetonius, Nero, 80. 
 
 * Pausanias, v. xxv. 9 ; xxvi. 3 ; ix. xxvii. 8 ; x. vii. 1 ; Dion Cassius. 
 Ixiii. 11. 
 
 ^ Tacitus, Annales, xiv. 39. 
 
ROME. 263 
 
 services rendered by Corbulo in the war with the Par- 
 thians, nor the esteem in which he was held throughout 
 the whole Empire, suffice to save him. He, too, sum- 
 moned to meet Nero, met his condemnation when about 
 to take ship from the harbor of Kenchraea. Forthwith 
 he slew himself with his own sword. " I have deserved 
 this " he said, regretting only that he had not anticipated 
 the monster and delivered the world from his tyranny.^ 
 
 Nor was he alone in cherishing such feelings. The 
 freedman Helius, to whom Nero had left absolute power 
 in Eome, noted daily, with more and more distinctness, 
 the stifled mutterings of revolt. He wrote to Greece 
 urging the Emperor to return, and when no reply came, 
 went thither in person to rouse him from his dreams.^ 
 Nero, now thoroughly alarmed, decided to go back to 
 Italy. This step, notwithstanding, he would not consent 
 to, save in his assumed character of conqueror ; for the 
 laurels of the stage had more value in his eyes than the 
 Imperial crown. It was an olden custom that victors in 
 the Olympian Sports should re-enter their native town, 
 not through the gates, but through a breach made in the 
 walls ; and this homage he exacted from all the cities he 
 passed through, — from Naples, Antium, and Albanum. 
 
 But it was for his entry into Eome that he reserved all 
 the sumptuousness and display his diseased imagination 
 could elaborate. He appeared before his people mounted 
 in the same chariot in which Augustus had made his tri- 
 umphal progress, with the Olympian crown encircling his 
 brow, and in his hand that of the Pythians ; roundabout 
 him were his other awards, bearing inscriptions which 
 told where he had won them, over what rivals, in what 
 place, and in what role. Sacrifices were offered all along 
 his line of march ; clouds of incense arose ; while ap- 
 plauding throngs proclaimed themselves his companions 
 in strife, the soldiers who shared his glory. 
 
 " Long live the victor of Olympia ! " shouted the crowd. 
 
 " Long live the winner at the Pythian Games ! " 
 
 1 Dion Cassius, Ixiii. 17. ^ ibid. Ixiii. 19, 
 
264 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 " Long life to Nero, tlie Hercules ! " 
 
 " To Nero, the Apollo ! " 
 
 "Augustus ! Augustus ! Godlike voice ! happy is he 
 who harkeneth unto thee ! " 
 
 Among such acclamations the eighteen hundred crowns 
 were carried before him into one of the circuses of Eome.^ 
 Which one it was, we do not know, — perhaps the Great 
 Circus at the foot of the Palatine ; more probably that of 
 the Vatican, the latter being Nero's own amphitheatre 
 and individual domain. There is good reason to believe 
 that these histrionic trophies of his were hung about that 
 same obelisk which had looked down upon the horrible 
 martyrdom of the Christians and the crucifixion of Peter. 
 
 Nevertheless, there were portentous signs of the fast 
 approaching calamity. Judea was now in the throes of a 
 general rebellion, and, even while in Greece, he had been 
 forced to despatch thither one of the greatest generals of 
 the Empire, Vespasian.^ Spain, too, was on the point of 
 an uprising, but it was Gaul which was the first to shake 
 off the yoke with some prospect of success. A descend- 
 ant of the old kings of Aquitania, Julius Vindex, was 
 then governor of this province, and his ancestry made the 
 base lord in whose name he ruled doubly detestable to 
 him. Every day news came from Eome telling of infa- 
 mous acts, so much so that it rose in his gorge and made 
 him ready for rebellion. At his call the brave and ancient 
 races which had withstood Caesar — the ^dui, the Sequani, 
 and the Averni — rose in revolt. A hundred thousand men 
 were put on a war footing at once, and the remainder 
 held in reserve.^ Strong in the confidence inspired by 
 this outburst, Vindex opened negotiations with the 
 Governor of Spain. From Lusitania, Otho, former hus- 
 band of Poppsea, despatched generous subsidies. Galba 
 did more : he levied two legions from Tarasconian Spain, 
 and set out toward the Pyrenees.* 
 
 1 Suetonius, Nero, 25 ; Dion Cassius, Ixiii. 20. 
 
 2 Josephus, Bell. Jud., iii. iv. 2. 
 
 3 Dion Cassius, Ixiii. 22. 
 
 * Ibid., Ixiii. 23 ; Suetonius, Galba^ 9. 
 
ROME. 265 
 
 Nero had returned to Naples when news of the revolt 
 reached his ears. At first he learned only of the upris- 
 ing of the Gauls, and these tidings he greeted after such 
 a manner as to give rise to the suspicion that he re- 
 garded it merely as a stroke of good luck, — another 
 occasion for pillaging one of the richest provinces of 
 the Empire with his mailed fist. Showing no sign of 
 trouble or disquiet, he betook himself to the gymnasium, 
 and there displayed the greatest interest in his duties as 
 umpire over the athletic sports. This indifference lasted 
 one whole week, during which he neither gave any orders 
 nor even spoke of the rebellion, appearing to have forgot- 
 ten all about it. All in vain did despatch after despatch 
 arrive, growing daily more urgent. One alone of these 
 missives had power to move him ; it contained a procla- 
 mation wherein Vindex alluded to him as a " poor singer." 
 Cut to the quick in his tenderest point, he wrote a note 
 to the Senate, bidding that body avenge him. Whereupon 
 he went hither and thither, demanding of every one 
 " whether really any greater artist than he had been 
 known to mankind." The despatches, however, became 
 of so alarming a tone that he finally took fright and 
 returned to Eome, though at first this was only to busy 
 himself in the same futile pursuits which had now 
 become his only thought in life. Calling together an 
 assemblage of the foremost citizens, he spent the whole 
 day in making trial of certain novel instruments of 
 music in their presence.^ 
 
 Nor were his eyes opened until the moment when he 
 was informed that the cohorts of Gaul were making 
 common cause with the rebel nations, and that Galba 
 had joined their forces, together with the soldiers of 
 Spain. He was dining when this news was brought 
 him ; beside himself, he tore up the letter, overturned 
 the table, and shattered upon the ground two wrought 
 goblets of great price, whence he was wont to drink. 
 The fit of madness having spent itself, he fell to the floor 
 
 1 Suetonius, Nero, 40, 41; Dion Cassius, Ixiii. 26. 
 
266 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 and there remained for a long time senseless and half 
 dead.^ The most fantastical schemes seethed within his 
 brain, now outworn by his excesses. He talked of hav- 
 ing the governors of provinces slaughtered, and of butcher- 
 ing all the natives of Gaul then in Eome, of poisoning 
 the Senate, of setting fire to the city, and at the same 
 time of letting loose the wild beasts of the amphitheatre 
 upon the populace. To these transports of rage succeeded 
 other very different feelings. Trembling before the im- 
 pending catastrophe, he thought only of beseeching mercy 
 from his foes. 
 
 " I will go," he said, " and show myself unarmed before 
 the rebellious legions, and I shall need but to exhibit my 
 tear-stained countenance. So speedy a repentance will 
 win them back to me, and on the morrow we shall all 
 rejoice together and chant a paean of victory. I will go 
 and compose it at once." ^ 
 
 Any defence organized by such a madman could not be 
 other than absurd and farcical. In default of the urban 
 districts, which refused to furnish their quota, he formed 
 his legions from the servile class. More than this, he even 
 enrolled his own women-folk, in the garb of Amazons, their 
 locks shorn, and armed with battle-axes and shields. His 
 principal care, however, at this moment of imminent 
 danger, was to look out for his theatrical baggage and his 
 musical instruments ; he spared no pains to collect the 
 chariots necessary to transport them in his train .^ 
 
 At the first onslaught of an armed foe this sinister 
 clown must have met with overpowering defeat. An 
 unforeseen happening, however, prolonged the period of 
 his tyranny for a few days. The city of Lyons, which 
 had recently suffered from a conflagration and been suc- 
 cored by him, retained a grateful recollection* of his 
 bounty. During the defection of the other parts of Gaul 
 this town remained faithful to him and summoned to its 
 aid the legions of Germany. At the head of the latter 
 
 1 Suetonius, Nero, 42. 
 
 2 Ibid., 43 ; Dion Cassius, Ixiii. 27. 
 
 ^ Suetonius, Nero, 44. * Tacitus, Annates, xvi. 13. 
 
ROME. 267 
 
 was Verginius Rufus, a man of action, as loyal as he was 
 brave, and permeated with respect for the laws, the Senate, 
 and the Roman majesty. Seeing in Vindex but a dis- 
 turber of public order, he marched against him, and 
 although at a conference held between them the two 
 generals reached an agreement, their armies of their own 
 accord came to blows. Twenty thousand Gauls suc- 
 cumbed, and in despair Vindex slew himself. Verginius 
 was left master of the field, his legions proclaiming him 
 Emperor. Devoid as he was of personal ambition, he 
 bade them cease, and himself awaited further orders from 
 Rome.^ 
 
 The decision arrived speedily, not from the Senate, 
 which, long accustomed to obey, had now grown timid 
 and nerveless, but from the Pretorian Guard. Tigellinus, 
 one of their Prefects, was negotiating secretly with Galba ; 
 the other, Nymphidius by name, hastened the final issue 
 of events. Having persuaded his soldiers that Nero had 
 sought safety in flight, he promised them in Galba's name, 
 thirty thousand sestertii a man,^ and this induced them 
 to proclaim him Emperor.^ 
 
 On the eighth day of June this military revolution 
 was accomplished and the soldiers quitted the palace. 
 Awakened in the middle of the night, Nero beheld him- 
 self without a single guardsman. He sprang from bed 
 and sent messengers throughout the city in quest of his 
 friends. As not one of them put in an appearance, he 
 rushed through the streets of Rome, knocking at one door 
 after another. Not one was opened to him. On his return 
 he found that his sleeping apartments had been rifled and 
 a vial of poison which Locusta had prepared for such an 
 emergency, had disappeared. In vain did he beseech that 
 a gladiator from the amphitheatre be sent to give him the 
 death thrust. 
 
 " So, then," he cried, " I have neither friends nor enemies 
 any more ! " and in his desperation dashed forth again to 
 
 1 Dion Cassius, Ixiii. 24, 25; Plutarch, Galba, vi. 
 
 2 About four hundred dollars. 
 
 3 Tacitus, Historice, i. 72 ; Plutarch, Galba, ii. 
 
268 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 throw himself into the Tiber. But his cowardice halted 
 him on the river-brink and he returned to the Palace, 
 now left silent and desolate.-^ 
 
 Certain freedmen of his, however, had not fled as yet ; 
 one of them, Phaon by name, owned a villa about four 
 miles from Kome, between the Salarian and the Nomen- 
 tana roads. Touched with pity, he offered to conduct the 
 unhappy wretch thither, and mounted him in all haste 
 upon a sorry beast. The darkness of the night covered 
 their escape. Nero fled barefooted, half-dressed, and covered 
 with an old cloak which he wrapped about his head to 
 escape recognition. Phaon, Sporus, his secretary Epaphro- 
 ditus, and one other of his freedmen were the only ones 
 who accompanied him. They had hardly started on their 
 road when bodeful signs and portents greeted them; a 
 thunderbolt fell so close that it seemed to strike him full 
 in the face ; the ground rocked wildly beneath their feet. 
 " It seemed," says the historian Dion, "■ as if it were about 
 to open, and that the spirits of all those whom he had 
 slain were going to cast themselves upon him." ^ At the 
 Collina Gate he heard the shouts of his Pretorian guards- 
 men in their camp. They were cursing him and acclaim- 
 ing Galba.^ 
 
 Though partially recognized by a few wayfarers, he was 
 successful, nevertheless, in making good his escape and 
 reaching the country-house of Phaon. It behooved him 
 to enter unnoticed. The little group therefore dismounted, 
 and took a footpath strewn with brambles and thorns. 
 Along this Nero slunk with great difficulty, trying to 
 make his mantle serve as some protection for his bare 
 feet. Thus by degrees they reached the rear of the villa, 
 where a ditch, lined with pozzolana, led up to the enclos- 
 ure ; from this approacli the freedmen set to work boring 
 a hole beneath the wall in order to effect a secret entrance. 
 During this labor, Phaon urged Nero to hide within the 
 ditch, but this he refused to do, declaring that it was not 
 
 1 Saetonius, Nero, 47. ^ Suetonius, Nero, 48. 
 
 2 Dion Cassius, Ixiii. 28. 
 
ROME. 269 
 
 to his taste to bury himself alive, and then threw himself 
 flat upon his belly amid the thorn-bushes. The pangs of 
 thirst tormented him ; in his hands he scooped up the 
 water from a pool close by. " Lo ! this is the drink of a 
 Nero ! '' he exclaimed. By these words he simply was 
 striving after effect ; nor did any more serious ones fall 
 from his lips, even in that dread hour ; not a sign of any 
 qualms of conscience, no backward glance at his past in 
 this miserable creature, worn out by crime and debauchery ; 
 there remained but the soul of a poor buffoon} 
 
 Through the hole which they had succeeded in making 
 beneath the wall, he dragged himself into a neighboring 
 room. There he threw himself down upon a cot tremb- 
 ling with fear, sobbing, only now and then starting up 
 from his stupor of grief to declaim a few lines of tragedy 
 verse. He was overheard muttering^ those lines from 
 CEdipus, which depicted his distressful state, — 
 
 " My Wife, my Mother, and my Father 
 Pronounced on me sentence of death." 
 
 The witnesses of this cowardly agony were fain to see 
 an end to it, and besought Nero to seek death as a refuge 
 from the indignities which threatened him. He bade 
 them dig his grave so as to fit his body ; told them what 
 precious marbles they should ornament it with ; then 
 demanded that water and wood be brought for his funeral 
 rites. At each fresh order he wept, and never ceased 
 repeating, " What an artist the world is about to lose ! " 
 
 In the interval a message is handed Phaon : Nero 
 seizes it ; therein he reads that the Senate denounces him 
 as an enemy of his fatherland and ordains that he be 
 punished according to the ancient law. 
 
 " What sort of punishment is that ? " he demands. 
 
 They answer him that the condemned man be stripped 
 of his garments, his head thrust in the stocks, and that he 
 be then beaten with rods until he be dead, whereafter his 
 body must be dragged down with iron hooks and thrown 
 
 1 Suetonius, Nero, 48. 
 
270 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 into the Tiber. For an instant this vision seems to give 
 him some decision. He takes up two daggers which he 
 wore upon his person, tries their points, then thrusts them 
 hack into their sheaths. 
 
 " The fatal moment has not yet arrived," he says ; the 
 scoundrel was bent on fighting off the approach of death 
 and covering his last hours with shame, as has been so 
 strikingly depicted by Suetonius. 
 
 " Now he would beseech Sporus to weep and mourn with 
 him, and again, beg some one to give him courage to die 
 by killing himself with him. Sometimes, too, he rebuked 
 himself for his cowardice ; he would say, " I am but drag- 
 ging out a wicked and miserable life," and then added : 
 " This is not fitting a Nero ; this befits me not ! Each man 
 must needs be resigned at such moments ; come, then, 
 arouse thyself, my soul ! " Already were approaching the 
 horseguards who had been ordered to take him alive. 
 When he heard them, with trembling lips he repeated 
 this line in Greek, — 
 
 " The fast flying feet of quivering coursers now I hear; " ^ 
 
 whereupon he drove the steel into his side, aided by the 
 hand of his secretary, Epaphroditus. 
 
 He was still breathing when the centurion entered, who, 
 feigninor that he was come to assist him, wanted to bind 
 up the wound. 
 
 " Too late, too late," said Nero, and added, " Is this thy 
 plighted faith ? " 
 
 He expired while uttering these words, with wide-open 
 and staring eyes, an object of horror and fear to those who 
 gazed upon him. ^ That fidelity which the dying Nero 
 sought in vain from those about him, was confined to three 
 lowly women who refused to abandon his corpse. Two of 
 them had helped to bring him up, and remembered nothing 
 else save the charms of his childish hours. The other, 
 Actaea, though belonging to the servile class, had been 
 
 1 Homer, Iliad, x. .535. 
 
 2 Suetonius, Nero, 48 ; Dion Cassius, Ixiii. 28, 29. 
 
ROME. 271 
 
 loved by him in the old days, before he had given himself 
 up to his later excesses. ^ Some say that she is that 
 favorite of Nero spoken of by St. John Chrysostom and 
 whom Saint Paul converted ;2 this conjecture has little 
 historical foundation, unhappily, for it would be a pleasing 
 thought that it was a Christian woman who performed 
 the last pious rites for the persecutor of her Faith. 
 
 Eome indeed felt far too happy at its deliverance from 
 such a monster to dole him out the poorest funeral honors. 
 While the joyous throng went dancing through the streets, 
 waving their liberty caps, his three pious friends were left 
 free to burn his body, wrapped in a costly shroud, and to 
 repose his ashes in the burial-place of the Domitius, on the 
 Hill of the Gardens (the Pincio of to-day).^ From these 
 heights he continued for many a day to exert an indefin- 
 able sway to terrorize men's souls ; unknown hands each 
 year left flowers on his tomb, whether it was to appease 
 his Manes, or to avert his vengeance,^ since even the fact 
 of his death remained shrouded in doubt to some minds, 
 and they feared him too greatly not to dread his possible 
 return. Happily for the world, Nero had disappeared 
 forever. But a few years later the elder Pliny uttered the 
 verdict of history, and unconsciously in a few words per- 
 formed an act of righteous retribution : using against the 
 tyrant the same weapon, that same accusation of infamous 
 practices, which he had had recourse to in his persecutions 
 of the Christians, he brands him as " the enemy of the 
 human race." ^ The widespread horror felt for the tyrant 
 by the general public worked in favor of the Christians, 
 as of his other victims ; for men had become sated and 
 disgusted with torture and bloodshed. Furthermore, the 
 
 1 Suetonius, Nero^ 50. 
 
 2 St. John Chrysostom. Adversus oppiignatores vitce monasticce, vol. i. 
 3 ; Greppo, Trois memoires relatifs a Vhistoire ecclesiastiqite des premiers 
 siedes chre'dens, pp. 41 et seq. 
 
 3 Suetonius, Nero, 50 ; Dion Cassius, Ixiii. 29. 
 
 * Suetonius, Nero, 57; Dion Chrysostom, Orat., xxi. 10; Plutarch, 
 Galha, vii. ; Tacitus, Histor., ii. 8 ; Sulpicius Severus, Histor., ii. 29 ; 
 Lactantius, De morte persecnt., 2. 
 
 * Pliny, Historia naturalis, vii. 46. 
 
272 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 disorders which were just then racking the Empire helped 
 to divert public attention from the faithful. To over- 
 throw Nero, not only Eome and the Praetorian camp had 
 taken up arms, but the provinces and their legions as 
 well ; each of these different parties clung to its own 
 ambitious views and individual interests ; the death of 
 Vindex and the military uprightness of Verginius alone 
 delayed for a few days the outbreak of civil war. Galba, 
 the Emperor elected out of Spain, was accordingly per- 
 mitted to take in hand the reins of power, but with too 
 feeble a grasp to handle them aright. The new Caesar had 
 administrated successively four provinces ^ with inflexible 
 honesty, and looked forward to manifesting in the gov- 
 ernment of the Empire the same unfaltering justice. 
 Unhappily, having reached the age of seventy-three, 
 and crippled with gout, he was far too broken in body 
 to regenerate a world which had unlearned every lesson 
 of virtuous conduct and asked only to be amused. Nor 
 had he even the talent required to select ministers capa- 
 ble of supplying what he lacked. Kather, he allowed 
 the reaction against the preceding reign to turn into a 
 very unwise and uncalled-for persecution, while by his 
 niggardliness he disaffected both the people and the 
 troops of Eome, long wonted to generous displays of lux- 
 ury.2 " The slightest largess," says Tacitus, " would have 
 kept the soldiers true to their duty ; he ruined himself 
 by this old-fashioned sternness, and by a rigorousness too 
 severe for our manner of life." ^ These same tendencies 
 led him astray in the choice of a successor : instead of 
 restoring his popularity by this act, as he had hoped, he 
 merely hastened its decline. Otho, who had but recently 
 well-nigh ruined himself in the cause in Spain, regarded it 
 as the basest ingratitude that his friend should have pre- 
 
 1 Aquitania, lT])per Germany, Africa, and Tarraconensis. Suetonius, 
 Galba, 6, 7, 8. 
 
 2 Suetonius, Galba, 12-"16; Dion Cassius, Ixiv. 1-3; Plutarch, Galba, 
 xv.-xviii. 
 
 3 Tacitus, Histor., i. 18. 
 
ROME. 273 
 
 ferred to him Piso, a young man whose sole recommenda- 
 tion was the austerity of his life. Eage and disappointment 
 made Otho take sides with the Praetorian Guards. This 
 band of picked men, already ripe for revolt, were easily 
 won over by his flatteries, his promises, and the little 
 wealth left him, all of which he showered upon them. 
 Whereupon they responded by acclaiming him Lord and 
 Master of the World. Galba was forthwith overwhelmed 
 in the onslaught of conspirators, and massacred in the 
 open forum.i 
 
 There could be no doubt as to what was expected of 
 Otho by the populace and the soldiery. All remembered 
 the part taken by him in the luxurious debaucheries in 
 the preceding reign ; it was almost as much as if his 
 word was pledged to revive them. And at first he seemed 
 fain to float with the tide, allowing himself to be saluted 
 by the name of Nero, re-erecting the statues which Nero 
 had built, putting his favorites back in office, and giving 
 orders to complete the " Golden House." But beneath 
 these politic acts he was concealing hopes most creditable 
 to himself. He, too, after the example of Galba, har- 
 bored designs of managing Eome like the province of 
 Lusitania, which he had governed uprightly for ten years. 
 Time alone failed him. The legions of Lower Germany, 
 now escaped from the iron grasp of Galba, had saluted as 
 Emperor their chosen chief Vitellius. Those of Upper 
 Germany and of Brittany had joined forces with them, — 
 in all, eleven legions ; and these, the most valiant in the 
 Empire, began to march Eomewards on learning of the 
 murder of Galba. This redoubtable army came pouring 
 down ever more speedily, and met in conflict, on the fields 
 of Bedriacum,2 with the forces which Otho had been too 
 tardy in collecting. The latter were scattered in every 
 direction, and eighty thousand bodies encumbered the 
 ground. His friends urged Otho to continue the struggle. 
 
 1 Dion Cassius, Ixiv., 5, 6 ; Plutarch, Galba, xxi.-xxix. ; Suetonius, 
 Galba, 17, 19, 20; Tacitus, Histor., i. 12-42. 
 
 '^ Between Cremona and Verona. The site of Bedriacum has never been 
 exactly determined. 
 
 18 
 
274 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 " One such battle should suffice," he said, and leisurely, 
 but with his wonted calm, he slew himself.^ He had 
 been in power only eighty-eight days, and he yielded 
 place to a person of infamous renown, whose reign was 
 to be but one long orgy. The name of Yitellius will last 
 as long as time, but only as a term of reproach, to brand 
 weaknesses lower even than those of Nero: disgusting 
 excesses at the banquet board. 
 
 The East, though docile hitherto, was at last aroused 
 by the never ending train of revolutions it was forced to 
 submit to. Mucianus, who was then in command of the 
 Syrian legions, was far too politic to risk a military u^)- 
 risinsj. But in his neif]jhborhood was a man of harder 
 temperament, Vespasian, sent by Nero to put down the 
 Jews, and who had, in fact, driven them back into Jeru- 
 salem. This soldier's parentage, lowly as it was honest, 
 was not calculated to excite rivalry, despite the fact that 
 his long campaigns and his triumph in Britain left him 
 without a peer among the generals of the world. Nor 
 was he less distinguished for his integrity in the admin- 
 istration of government affairs. So poor was he on leav- 
 ing his province of Africa that he was compelled to gain 
 a livelihood by turning horse-dealer. No arm would seem 
 more capable of recovering Eome and strangling the per- 
 nicious germs left there by the Saturnalia of Nero. No 
 more than Mucianus, however, although for very different 
 reasons, was Vespasian the man to attempt the enterprise ; 
 but he had with him his son Titus, a loftier spirit and 
 one far bolder, who, discerning the straits the Empire had 
 reached, would not fail in his duty. Mucianus, though 
 not desirous of being Emperor himself, was not loath to 
 have a hand in the making of one : he urged Titus to 
 realize his plan, and tendered him all the influence of his 
 name and credit in the East. 
 
 The most intimate, the most powerful of these influ- 
 ences brought to bear upon him was that of Berenice, sister 
 
 1 Dion Cassius, xliv. 7-15 ; Suetonius, Otho, 5-11; Tacitus, Histor., i 
 44-90 ; ii. 11-49 ; Plutarch, Otho. 
 
ROME. 275 
 
 of Agrippa II. The lovely Jewess had inspired an over- 
 mastering passion in the breast of Titus, and now pressed 
 him to ascend the throne, always secretly cherishing the 
 dream of sitting there beside him. To this end she 
 spared no resource at her command : keen, wily, versed 
 in the arts of intrigue, and of an irresistible charm of 
 person, she won over to Vespasian the princes of Syria 
 and all who were either allied to or connected with her 
 family. The movement once set in motion spread to 
 neighboring countries; Egypt yielded its allegiance; 
 even the Parthians themselves offered their aid.^ 
 
 Vespasian himself had done absolutely nothing to win 
 such a hazard of fortune : Titus and his supporters per- 
 suaded him at least to do nothing to thwart it; moreover, 
 they took good care to work upon his mind by mysteri- 
 ous voices. Pagan oracles from Paphos and Carmel,^ which 
 kept repeating whithersoever he went that the " Master 
 of the World" was about to come forth out of Judaea. 
 The subjugated Jews who thronged the Eoman camp 
 were prodigal of similar predictions ; the most illustrious 
 among them, the historian Josephus, loaded with chains 
 and brought before the conqueror, had addressed him only 
 in the character of a prophet : " Do not thou send me 
 unto Nero, keep me with you in fetters. Soon thou shalt 
 be sovereign lord of the earth, of the sea, and the whole 
 human race. " ^ 
 
 Thus incited on every hand, Vespasian had but to per- 
 mit himself to be elevated to the supreme power. Never- 
 theless he halted in Egypt until his legions from the East 
 should have cleared the way before him. Mucianus 
 marched at their head upon Eome ; the army of the 
 Danube, with which he intended to combine forces, an- 
 ticipated him and invaded Italy, where the legions of 
 Germany were drawn up in defence of their unhappy 
 
 1 Tacitus, Histor., ii. 73-81 ; Suetonius, Vespasianus, 1-5. 
 
 '^ Tacitus, Histor., ii. 4-78 ; Dion Cassius, Ixv. 9 ; Suetonius, Ves- 
 pasianus, 5. 
 
 8 .Tosephus, Bell, .hid., iii. iii. 3, 9; iv. x. 7 ; Suetonius, Vespasianus, 
 5; Dion Cassias, Ixvi. 1. 
 
276 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 choice. Civil war now raged, and after awful scenes of 
 carnage, victory rested with the Flavians. But at what a 
 price ! Cremona sacked, in Eome forty thousand corpses, 
 the Capitol in flames, everywhere bloodshed and pillage. 
 Vitellius, wallowing in the mire of his base enjoyments, 
 at first had refused to notice anything or give a com- 
 mand ; " like to those unclean animals who, once gorged 
 with food, think only of sleeping." ^ Nor did he rouse 
 himself from this torpor save for an instant of agitation, 
 doomed to die as befitted him, covered with disgrace. He 
 had taken refuge in a porter's lodge. The soldiers of 
 Mucianus haled him forth and dragged him along the 
 whole length of the Sacred Way, half naked, a rope 
 around his neck, amid the insults and the mockeries of 
 the populace. After this fashion they pushed and jostled 
 him as far as the Gemonii, where he succumbed, hacked 
 to pieces ; thence the still quivering remnants, impaled on 
 a hook, were cast into the Tiber. *^ 
 
 Thereafter Vespasian reigned without a rival, and very 
 shortly with none to contest his right ; for Mucianus 
 knew well how to conciliate all parties, sparing the feel- 
 ings of the vanquished, while restoring discipline in the 
 army and order in Kome. When his able lieutenant 
 arrived at Brundusium, together with the Senate, to re- 
 ceive the new Augustus, he gave into the hands of his 
 lord an Empire, drained of blood and treasure, it is true, 
 but glutted with revolution, and demanding no other 
 boon save to breathe the air of peace and safety. 
 
 1 "Vitellius . . . curis liixum obtendebat : non parare arma non 
 alloquio exercitioque militera firmare, non in ore vulgi agere : seel um- 
 braculis hortorum abditus, ut ignava animalia, quibiis si cibum suggeras, 
 jacent tor])entque, praeterita, instantia, futura, pari oblivione dimiserat." 
 Tacitus, Historice, iii. 36. 
 
 2 Suetonius, Vespasianus, 15-17 ; Dion Cassius, Ixv. 8-21 ; Tacitus, 
 Historice, iii. 
 
CHAPTEE XIV. 
 
 VESPASIAN IN GALILEE AND JUD^A. 
 
 From the incidents I have just been relating the reader 
 may imagine what the four years which succeeded the 
 burning of Eome must have been to the Christians of 
 that city, — an unbroken series of alarms. Even when 
 they were not involved in a general bloodshed, those con- 
 vulsions which shook the world, the legions of the East 
 and West met in mortal combat, the fearful state of con- 
 fusion wherein it seemed that the Empire must crumble 
 to the earth ; all things, indeed, recalled to the minds of 
 the believers those catastrophes foretold by the Master as 
 the prelude to His return.^ Many believed that the world 
 had arrived at that " beginning of the great sorrow," ^ to 
 an overthrow of everything existing, whence were to 
 arise "new heavens and a new earth wherein righteous- 
 ness shall abide." ^ 
 
 The advent of the Flavians dissipated this dream by 
 proving that Eome was not arrived at the eve of its dis- 
 solution. On the contrary this Queen of the world re- 
 tained sufficient vitality to further broaden her views, 
 enlarge her form of government, and even find room for 
 her Christian subjects, under certain conditions hard to 
 be borne, it is true, but at least not insupportable. This 
 they began to comprehend in proportion as the tolerance 
 shown by the new heads of the State made itself more 
 widely felt : their thoughts, wearied with meditating on 
 the sudden and triumphant return of Jesus, began to be 
 
 1 Matt. xxiv. 1-51 ; Mark xiii. 1-37; Luke xxi. 5-33. 
 
 2 Mark xiii. 8. 8 2 Peter iii. ] 3. 
 
278 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 absorbed once more with that sole kingdom which the 
 Saviour came to found, His Church, whose mission it is 
 to regenerate the world, obscurely and slowly, through 
 tedious centuries of toil and tribulation. 
 
 Peter and Paul had devoted their final moments on 
 earth to fortifying this Divine society of souls, to en- 
 dowing it with a stricter discipline and a well-ordered 
 hierarchy, and consequently a more lasting form of gov- 
 ernment. Once reassured and fully informed as to the 
 re-establishment of order throughout the Empire, the 
 disciples began at last to realize what their teachers had 
 tried to make them understand ere they were called from 
 them. Though never forgetting that the Day of the Lord 
 is to come unexpectedly, they now ceased to make this 
 fact the one absorbing theme of consideration, and set 
 about awaiting it, as it behooves us all to do, by devoting 
 a large share of our efforts to the duties and cares of the 
 present life. They sought after Jesus, no longer as though 
 He were a phantom hovering over the distant horizon, but 
 ever present in the Church, His visible Body here below. 
 Thenceforth all their efforts were absorbed, as the Apos- 
 tle's had been, in fortifying the Holy City wherein it be- 
 hooved them to dwell until summoned thence by the 
 Master, and in binding more closely together the numer- 
 ous bodies of brethren composing it. Hereafter what 
 place was to be occupied by Jerusalem in the company 
 which these communities went to make up? Though 
 hitherto known as the Mother Church, was she destined 
 to sustain this character forever, remaining always the 
 centre and metropolis of Christianity ? On this point, 
 likewise, the Flavians were commissioned by God to shed 
 new and unlooked-for light. Their mission during this 
 decisive phase of Christianity was so important that in 
 order to present any adequate picture of it as a whole, 
 we must go back a few years and resume our narrative 
 of the insurrection at Jerusalem in 67. 
 
 The defeat of Cestius had but aggravated the situation 
 of that unhappy city, for Eome, obeyed everywhere, could 
 not remain quiet under the humiliating blow inflicted on 
 
VESPASIAN IN GALILEE AND JUDAEA. 279 
 
 her by one of the smallest provinces of the Empire.^ No 
 wise or thoughtful Israelite could deceive himself as to 
 the immanence of the danger or the impossibility of avert- 
 ing it. Where were the men to muster against those legions 
 now about to invade Judciea thirsting for revenge ? From 
 the neighboring countries, all hostile to tliem,^ there was 
 no aid to be looked for. Messengers had been despatched 
 to the Jews settled in the kingdom of the Parthians, and 
 all throughout the East.^ Some responded to their ap- 
 peal, but the majority displayed but little willingness to 
 compromise themselves in so risky a business ; still others 
 had all they could do to defend themselves within their 
 own borders, for the massacres had begun afresh upon 
 the rumor that the victorious sedition was threatening all 
 the lands lying roundabout. At Damascus, despite the 
 fact that most of the women were affiliated to Mosaism, 
 they slaughtered all the Jews : the sole precaution taken 
 by the Pagans was to surprise their victims so suddenly 
 as to preclude the possibility of any general tumult.* 
 
 Thus isolated, Jerusalem displayed only the greater 
 ardor in preparing the defence ; so overvrhelming was the 
 enthusiasm that even the moderate party yielded to it. 
 At this juncture there was but one small group of Hero- 
 dians who, out of their attachment to their princes, rejoined 
 them, and thus took sides with the Eomans.^ Did the 
 party composed of politic and prudent Israelites thus 
 make common cause with the Zealots out of the fulness of 
 their hearts and without ulterior motives ? did they, like 
 the latter, foster the illusion that Heaven would perform 
 a miracle in their defence ? or was it solely with the hope 
 of moderating the movement, and in the final instance 
 
 1 ** Augebant iras quod soli Judsei iion cessissent." Tacitus, Historice, 
 V. 1. 
 
 ^ In this war the neighboring kings of Syria and Palestine lent their 
 aid to the Romans : Antiochus, King of Commagene, Sohemus of Emesa, 
 and one of the Arabian chieftains named Malchus. Josephus, Bell. Jud.y 
 iii. iv. 2, 
 
 3 Josephus, Bell. Jiid. Proem. 2 ; vi. vii, 2 ; Dion Cassius, Ixvi. 4. 
 
 * Josephus, Bell. Jud., ii. xx. 2 ; Vita, 6. 
 
 5 Josephus, Bell. Jud., ii. xx. 1 ; Vita, 6. 
 
280 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 arranging a compromise with Eome ? However this may 
 be, there seemed at first no division of opinion among 
 them. The Priestly aristocracy and the most learned 
 Pharisees threw themselves into the struggle with the 
 same ardor as did the Zealots. Gn every hand young 
 men were being drilled ; arms, machinery, and materials 
 of war were being collected in all haste ; Jerusalem and 
 every hamlet in the land which could fortify itself, was 
 shielded by ramparts ; all Judaea rose up as one man to 
 defend its Faith, its Temple, its national existence, unto 
 the death.^ The harmony existing between them was so 
 complete and so unanimous during the first burst of 
 patriotism that — and this is a rare thing in times of 
 revolution — the government was constituted according 
 to law and intrusted to the worthiest citizens. The sov- 
 ereignty of the Sanhedrin was respected, the police and 
 the urban administration were left in the hands of the 
 customary magistrates. They did more than this : an 
 assembly held in the Temple conferred all powers, so far 
 as the government and preparation for war were concerned, 
 on two men of the highest rank, Joseph ben Gorion, and 
 Hanan (son of Annas, who condemned Jesus), the oldest 
 of the High Priests.^ 
 
 With such men standing at its front, the party of re- 
 sistance could claim the suffrages of the very dlite of the 
 nation. The scholars and noted thinkers of Israel, Josue 
 ben Gamala, Simeon ben Gamaliel, Hillel's grandson, the 
 sacerdotal aristocracy, the upper middle classes, all, in 
 fact, with one accord joined hands in the movement. 
 
 Their choice of governors for the provinces in like man- 
 ner fell upon men of personal weight, moderate opinions, 
 all accustomed to wield power. The historian Josephus 
 was of this number; and, although his writings have 
 given him more renown than his political career, none 
 the less was the part he now took upon himself in this 
 national war a glorious one ; for to him was confided the 
 position which was most exposed to the onslaughts of the 
 
 J Josephus, Bell. Jud., iii. xxii. 1. ^ Ibid., Bell. Jud., iii. xx. 3, 
 
VESPASIAN IN GALILEE AND JUD.EA. 281 
 
 enemy, the land of Galilee.^ The defence of this region 
 was quite as difficult to organize as it was thereafter to 
 maintain ; for the country appeared very much divided as 
 to the proper course to pursue. Its capital, Sephoris, 
 called upon the Komans as with one voice.^ The lower 
 classes were mad partisans of the war in Tiberias, but 
 the aristocracy remained faithful to Agrippa, sharing 
 his conciliatory and peaceful views.^ At Giscala, the 
 former bandit chieftain, named John, had set the people's 
 minds aflame, and dreamed of becoming himself King 
 of Galilee.* Similar disorders were breaking out on the 
 other side of the Jordan ; bands of brigands were harry- 
 ing the countryside, despoiling the towns, pillaging and 
 massacring all who withstood them. There was no 
 other way left for Josephus except to come to some 
 agreement with these predatory bands ; putting them on 
 his pay-rolls he formed from their number a formidable 
 wing of his army." Nor was it a lighter task to restore 
 order, unity of plan and action in the towns with whose 
 defence he had been intrusted. In all this he gave evi- 
 dence of as much presence of mind as he did of diplo- 
 macy ; triumphing by wily plots when a vigorous stroke 
 would have ruined everything. By these means he suc- 
 ceeded in collecting together some three score thousand 
 men and stationed garrisons in various places which he 
 fortified : Jotapata, Tarichsea, Tiberias, Itabyrium, on the 
 Thabor.^ Doubtless when compared with the legions of 
 Eome these were but a heterogeneous mass of recruits, 
 soldiers of fortune, scarce knowing the meaning of the 
 word " discipline " ; but their love of their native land 
 was to render them capable of enduring all and of daring 
 anything. 
 
 In the spring of the year 67 Vespasian proceeded to 
 Antioch, where he organized the expedition confided to 
 him. This prudent general had no idea of confronting 
 
 1 Joseplms, Bell. Jud., ii. xx. 4. 
 
 2 Ibid., Vita, Q7, 71 ; Bell. Jud., in. iv. 1. 
 
 8 Ibid., Vita, 9. 5 Ibid , Vita, 14. 
 
 * Ibid., Bell. Jud., xxi. 1. « Ibid., Bell. Jud., ii. xx. 6 ; Vita, 37. 
 
282 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 the insurrectionists with other than an adequate equip- 
 ment; for this reason his son, Titus, had braved the 
 perils of a winter's voyage in order to bring him troops 
 from Egypt.^ This reinforcement put at his disposal 
 three legions, twenty-three cohorts, a goodly number of 
 auxiliaries, — in all, sixty thousand well disciplined men 
 skilled in warfare, robust and well able to withstand the 
 hardships of any campaign. 
 
 Putting himself at their head, Vespasian proceeded 
 along the usual highway from Syria into Palestine along 
 the sea-coast, and established his headquarters at Ptole- 
 mais (St. John of Acre). Sephoris was not far away 
 from this first encampment. Eealizing that it was now 
 under protection, the town gave free utterance to its feel- 
 ings and declared itself for Eome.^ Gabara was not so 
 prudent, and its hostility gave Vespasian an opportunity 
 of making an example of it: the entire male population was 
 put to the sword, the city and its suburbs were burned, 
 and all that escaped death were doomed to slavery.^ But 
 even more fearful to the souls of the inhabitants was the 
 appearance of his legions among them. They found their 
 way within the deepest valleys, marching in extended 
 order and in close array, always as prompt to meet the foe 
 as to answer the bugle-call. A host of scouts beat the 
 country in front of them, and in their rear the auxiliary 
 troops carried with them a formidable train of supplies 
 and machinery of warfare.^ In vain did Josephus endeavor 
 to arrest their progress; forsaken by the troops he had 
 gathered together, ill-accustomed to war, he was fain to 
 
 1 Josephus, Bell. Jud., iii. iv. 2. ^ Ibid., Bell. Jud., iii. ii. 4. 
 
 3 Ibid., Bell. Jud., iii. vii, 1. The existing text of Josephus has 
 Gadara ; ttj TroXet tQ)v Vabdpewv. But in all probability Gabara is 
 the proper reading. Cadara (the modern Oummkeis) is indeed located 
 to the east of the Lake of Genesareth, and it is scarcely probable that 
 Vespasian, at the outset of the expedition, should have pushed forward so 
 far with his army. Gabara {Kabarah), on the contrary, being in close 
 jtroximity to St. John of Acre, the Romans' first encampment, their first 
 attack would naturally be directed at this city, one of the most important 
 in the province. (Josephus, Vita, 25.) See Robinson, Biblical Researches^ 
 vol. iii., p. 87. 
 
 * Josephus, Bell. Jud.. iii. vi. 2. 
 
VESPASIAN IN GALILEE AND JUDAEA. 283 
 
 beat a retreat towards Tiberias,^ whereupon, seeing that 
 they were about to attack Jotapata, he hastened thither 
 to its defence.^ 
 
 In all Galilee there was no citadel more difficult than 
 this to carry .^ Located in the midst of mountains and 
 forests, it stands upon a promontory connected on only 
 one side with the neighboring heights, with so steep a 
 declivity, and so deep withal that one can scarcely descry 
 the depths of the ravines which encircle it> The most 
 determined men among the Galileans, somewhere in the 
 neighborhood of forty thousand, had taken refuge on this 
 mountainous spur, which they regarded as impregnable, 
 if not inaccessible. Vespasian, having learned from a de- 
 serter that Josephus was then in Jotapata, together with 
 the picked men of his forces, massed all his troops, hop- 
 ing thereby to crush the rebellion and its leader at one 
 blow. When the besieged saw from afar their forests 
 falling beneath the sappers' axe, they realized that they 
 must either conquer or die. 
 
 Five assaults having been repulsed, Vespasian invested 
 the city by a regular siege. A bulwark of stone and 
 wood was constructed upon the ridge on that side where 
 the circumvallation was approachable. This work, erected 
 at great cost of lives, beneath a shower of darts, over- 
 topped the ramparts and permitted the besiegers to con- 
 trol the town ; but the Jews, who in a few days raised 
 their walls, were once again under cover. Still further 
 they succeeded in protecting themselves against the dread- 
 some battering-ram by the aid of sacks of straw which 
 deadened its blows. Even the '' turtle-hack," that unfail- 
 ing resource of the legionaries when every other method 
 of attack failed, was of no avail against Jotapata. Boil- 
 
 1 Joseplms, iii. vi. 3. ^ ibid., iii. vii. 3. 
 
 8 In 1847 Shultz located, to the north of Sephoris, and in the modern 
 village of Jefat, the site of ancient Jotapata. Zeitschrifl der deutschens 
 morgrnland. GeseUschnft, vol. iii. p. 49 et seq. ; 59 et seq. ; Ritter, Erd- 
 hnnde, xvi. 764-768; Robinson, Biblical Researches, iii., ji. 105 ; Gue'rin, 
 Galilee, i. pp. 476-487 ; The Survey of Palestine, Conder and Kitchener, 
 i. 289, 311-313. 
 
 * Josephus, Bell, Jud,, ii. vii. 7. 
 
284 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 ing oil poured in torrents upon the besiegers, rushed over 
 their vault of shields ^ and consumed the legionaries. 
 
 Emboldened by these ineffectual attacks, Josephus and 
 his soldiers suddenly became the aggressors. Sallying 
 out, armed with torches, they fell upon the assaulters' 
 outworks, and in a few hours destroyed gabionades, pal- 
 ings, wooden towers, and military engines of every 
 description. 
 
 But that tenacious spirit of the Eoman, which ever 
 rose superior to any rebuff, speedily repaired the damage 
 it had suffered. The overthrown battering-rams were re- 
 erected, no matter how great the obstacles proffered on 
 the part of their foes ; day and night they kept on at 
 their work, beating upon the walls. It happened one 
 evening that, while Vespasian was directing their blows in 
 person, a javelin struck him; overmastering the pain 
 which he must have felt, he dashed through the breach 
 made by his soldiers now made furious by the sight of 
 his wounds. A terrible hand-to-hand encounter there- 
 upon ensued and lasted until morning. The ballistee 
 exerted all their weapons against the ramparts, crush- 
 ing men and walls alike beneath their shower of stones ; 
 the clash of arms and the battle cries of the combatants 
 found their answer throughout the city in the frightened 
 shrieks of women and children. At daybreak, when 
 the soldiers' arms, tired of cutting and hacking, fell back 
 listless, the blood of the besiegers lapped the base of the 
 walls in great pools ; thereabouts the dead were heaped 
 one upon another so closely that upon these corpses one 
 might climb over the outer walls : but within this blood- 
 encircled enclosure, the Galileans still stood, unconquered 
 nor yielding one whit, since they had found means of re- 
 pairing the breach. 
 
 In despair of carrying the place by assault, Vespasian 
 restricted all his efforts to keeping up the blockade, never 
 ceasing, however, to harass his foes. He caused fifty 
 
 1 Tins roof, which the soldiers formed with their shields raised together 
 over their heads, allowed them to approach the walls and undermine them. 
 
VESPASIAN IN GALILEE AND JUD^A. 285 
 
 towers shielded by iron to be built, high enough to over- 
 look the town and control it. On these towers his best 
 bowmen were stationed, with orders to strike down who- 
 ever put his head above the ramparts. While very 
 many of the besieged perished thus, hunger and thirst 
 killed off many more. Both salt and water were lack- 
 ing, and forty-seven days' struggle had exhausted their 
 strength as well as their means of subsistence. From a 
 deserter Vespasian was given to understand that their 
 sentinels could not be relieved, and were so wearied that 
 they were forced to sleep on post. One foggy night cer- 
 tain picked men of his force crept within the lines noise- 
 lessly, slaughtered the slumbering guards, and took pos- 
 session of the citadel ; after them came the whole army. 
 On awakening, the town realized that it was doomed to 
 death. Merciless was the massacre ; neither women nor 
 children were spared by the exasperated Eomans. A little 
 crowd of men took refuge in the furthermost part of the 
 city ; when descried, and seeing they were overwhelmed 
 by mere numbers, they killed one another.^ 
 
 Although the town was taken, it mattered nothing un- 
 less Josephus was made a prisoner. For three long days 
 Vespasian searched for him in vain, but finally a woman 
 betrayed him and disclosed the cave wherein he had con- 
 cealed himself, together with forty of his partisans. The 
 Eoman general summoned him into his presence, and 
 Josephus was fain to accede to his wishes ; but his com- 
 rades in arms stood between them, declaring that nothing 
 but death should separate them. Josephus was endowed 
 with all the wily diplomacy inborn in his race, ever ready 
 to extricate himself from the worst situations. He won 
 over his fanatical followers to the idea that the greatest 
 part they could play in the tragedy, would be to kill one 
 another, drawing lots to decide which one should be first 
 in the order of sacrifice. By shrewdly manipulating the 
 ballots he managed to leave himself with but one other 
 
 1 Josephus, Bell. Jud., iii. vii. 4-36. See Parent, Siege de Jotapata 
 (1866). 
 
286 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 survivor, who it seemed was no more anxious to die than 
 was his chief. But Josephus did not stop at this ; unable 
 to overcome the Komans by force of arms, he endeavored 
 to circumvent them by Jewish diplomacy. Accordingly 
 he turned at once, and without the least token of scrupu- 
 lousness, from the maddest partisan of Jewry to a most 
 respectful worshipper of Eome. When brought to the 
 presence of the Flavians, he decked himself in the garb 
 of a Prophet of his nation, disclosed to them that in the 
 Oracles of Israel a glorious future awaited them, and thus 
 wormed himself into their good graces. Speedily he 
 became the bosom friend of Titus, and with him took 
 part in the siege of Jerusalem, despised by his fellow- 
 countrymen, it is true, but caring little or nothing for 
 their respect. Luck seemed to him to be on the side of 
 the Eomans; and on the winning side, whichever it 
 might be, he was always to be reckoned.^ 
 
 The taking of Jotapata put into Vespasian's hands 
 all Galilee from the sea to the hither shore of the Lake 
 of Genesareth ; but on the opposite side stood Gamala,^ a 
 fortress not less impregnable, both on account of its 
 site and on account of the courage of its defenders. 
 As at Jotapata, their resistance was that of heroes, and 
 their fate even more tragical. In this citadel, which was 
 perched upon a craggy height rising from the heart of the 
 city, the Jews, once brought to bay, their forces all ex- 
 hausted, embraced their wives and children, then with 
 their offspring in their arms, they flung themselves into the 
 depths below. Only two women survived, not one child : 
 the remnant of the living and wounded the Eomans cast 
 down from the tops of the walls. ^ 
 
 ^ Josephus, Bell. Jud., iii. viii. 1-9; Suetonius, Vespasianus, 5; Dion 
 Cassius, Ixvi. 1. 
 
 2 Josephus locates Gamala in lower Gaulanitis on the lake over against 
 Tarichyea {Bell. Jud., iv. 1.) The height covered with ruins now known 
 by the name of KaJa and Hasen, on the eastern shore of the lake is the 
 locality which corresponds best to these indications. Guerin, Galilee, i. 
 317-321 ; cf. Furrer, Zeitschrift des deutschen Paldstina Vereins, ii. 1879, 
 pp. 70-72; xii. 1889, pp. 148-151; Merrill, East of the Jordan, 1881, 
 pp. 161, 164, 168. 
 
 8 Josephus, Bell. Jud., iv. i. 2, 7. 
 
VESPASIAN IN GALILEE AND JUDyEA. 287 
 
 Tiberias and Tarichaea fell victims to the same inexo- 
 rable vengeance.^ The citizens of these towns, near neigh- 
 bors, had taken refuge in sailing-vessels. Putting himself 
 at the head of a flotilla, Vespasian pursued and mas- 
 sacred them so furiously that the lake, as well as its 
 shores, for a long time after, stank from the corruption of 
 dead bodies. The rest of the insurgents had laid down 
 their arms under a promise of safe conduct; but this 
 time Vespasian smirched his high reputation by failing 
 to keep faith. The wretched throng was driven into the 
 Hippodrome of Tiberias and there cut out like a bunch 
 of cattle ; twelve hundred of them were aged and infirm : 
 these they slaughtered ; six thousand of the more robust 
 were sent off to Nero to help dig out the Isthmus of 
 Corinth ; thirty-six thousand four hundred were sold as 
 slaves.2 Everywhere when the inhabitants hesitated about 
 swearing allegiance, they were exterminated by Vespasian 
 at once, and in harmony with his preconceived policy. 
 
 In all Galilee there was but a single outpost wliich had 
 not been disarmed. This was Giscala ; ^ not indeed that 
 the peasant population of this town evinced any special 
 longing to enter upon a hopeless struggle, but rather be- 
 cause they dreaded most their leader, an adventurer and 
 a fellow-townsman, John, the son of Levi. The hordes 
 of insurgents who had flocked to his standard were ca- 
 pable of going to the last extremity if a sudden onslaught 
 was attempted to inflame their wrath. Happily for Gis- 
 cala, Titus was the one intrusted with the task of reduc- 
 ing the town. With his wonted moderation he began by 
 
 1 Tarichoea stood some thirty stadia to the south of Tiberias ; the Arab 
 village of Kharbet-el-Kerah marks its site. Gnerin, Galilee, i., pp. 275 et 
 seq. ; Robinson, Biblical Researches, ii, 387 : Ritter, Erdkunde, xv. 1, 
 344 et seq.; Conder, Palestine Exploration Fund, Quarterlj Statements^ 
 1878, pp. 190-192. 
 
 2 Josephus, Bell. Jiid., iii. x. 1-10. 
 
 3 The hamlet known to-day as El-Djich, situated to the north of Safed 
 on the heights above Lake Meron, has preserved the name of Giscala. 
 "The plateau covered by it is elevated some six hundred feet above the 
 lake ; nowadays it is planted with vineyards, fig-trees, and olive orchards, 
 and divided into a large number of separate fields." Guerin, Galilee, vol. 
 ii., p. 96; cf. Conder, The Snrvoj of Western Palestine, i. 198, 224-226. 
 
288 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 offering the city very advantageous terms of capitulation, 
 and these John accepted, for it offered him an opportunity 
 of marching out of the city which he had found great 
 difficulty in controlling, and of betaking himself to a ter- 
 ritory better adapted to his mode of warfare. Making 
 sharp use of the occasion, he managed to find time to 
 slip through the fingers of the Eomans ; pretending that 
 he was a scrupulous observer of the Law, he asked that 
 his surrender might not take place on the same day, 
 which happened to be the Sabbath. Titus did not con- 
 fine his clemency to merely granting this respite, but 
 together with his troops withdrew into the neighboring 
 city of Cydissa. 
 
 About midnight, John, seeing that the highways were left 
 open to him, and no Eoman outposts at hand to sound an 
 alarm, crept out with his companions and all those citizens 
 of Giscala who were loath to be delivered into the hands 
 of the enemy ; even the wives and children of the latter 
 followed in his rear. He speedily realized that the latter 
 were retarding his flight, and gave orders that they should 
 be abandoned by the wayside. A useless sacrifice this, for 
 Titus' cavalry overtook him and killed six thousand of 
 his men. Only with the greatest difficulty did he man- 
 age to escape with a handful of his troopers and take 
 refuge in Jerusalem.^ This was in the last months of 
 67 ; Vespasian and Titus went into winter quarters at 
 Csesarea, deferring the final blow of their campaign till 
 the following year. 
 
 They were well aware, however, that the suspension of 
 actual hostilities would work to their advantage, and that 
 the only profit that the Jews would make of it would 
 be to foment internal dissensions. For difference of 
 opinion, waxing daily more acute, had indeed succeeded 
 their unanimity during the early days of the war. Han an 
 and the leaders of the aristocracy elected to office with 
 him, had too much common-sense not to recognize, on 
 sober second thought, that for them to put themselves 
 
 1 Josephus, Bell. Jud., iv. ii. 1-5. 
 
VESPASIAN IN GALILEE AND JUDJEA. 289 
 
 against Rome was sheer madness. Working by under- 
 hand means, they sought to calm down their over-excited 
 spirits and retard their preparations for defence. Although 
 they were informed of the fact that Galilee was in its 
 last extremities, they did not so much as raise a hand to aid 
 it. The more enthusiastic minds, suspecting this double 
 play, shuddered at the thoughts, and their number in- 
 creased constantly ; for the progress made by the Romans 
 in the North was constantly driving before them numbers 
 of malcontents in the dii'ection of the Holy City. Ac- 
 cordingly, when the prime leader of the resistance, John 
 of Giscala, appeared at the gates of Jerusalem, a horrified 
 throng Hocked to greet him. John understood full-well 
 that what his fellow-countrymen desired was not fruit- 
 less lamentations, but bold, nay, presumptuous speech, 
 which alone in moments of disaster can reawaken men's 
 hopes. And so, although his little band was still breath- 
 less and plainly exhausted, he brazened it all out, declar- 
 ing that neither he nor his men were fugitives, but were 
 simply come to seek a more advantageous post of battle. 
 " What, forsooth, were the hamlets of Galilee that he 
 should spend his forces for them ? Before all, it behooved 
 him to help save the mother city ! As for the Romans, 
 there was no need to fear anything from that quarter ; 
 he had watched their machines as they broke in pieces 
 against the walls of Giscala, while they themselves were 
 easily entrapped by the most childish stratagems of war : 
 unless they grew wings in the meantime they would not 
 find an entrance into Sion." ^ 
 
 The wiser ones among them trembled on hearing the 
 shouts of acclamation which greeted his speech ; it meant 
 that the reins of power were slipping from their grasp ; 
 that Jerusalem w^as doomed to be divided anew into two 
 irreconcilable parties, — and not only the Holy City, but 
 all the towns roundabout. Everywhere, indeed, a majority 
 of the citizens were in favor of yielding as best they 
 could. But that very timidity which led them to prefer 
 
 1 Josephus, Bell. Jitd., iv. iii. 1. 
 19 
 
290 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 peace, made them submit to the enraged throng which 
 clamored for war. Soon these fanatics were no longer 
 content to terrify their fellow-citizens : sallying forth 
 from the towns where they dwelt, they formed into bands 
 and scoured the countryside, proclaiming that it was their 
 mission to seek out and punish all traitors. Using this 
 as their pretext, it was easy for them to spread red-handed 
 pillage and incendiarism in every direction. Jerusalem 
 was where they foregathered whenever they were weary 
 of ravaging the country roundabout. From every hand 
 they hastened thither, and at once joining the war party, 
 they contributed that leaven of savagery which daily 
 waxed more powerful; little by little the Zealots pro- 
 ceeded to more daring acts of violence. It was not long 
 before they began to usurp the authority of the magis- 
 trates, inventing and then attaching long lists of sus- 
 pected persons. Men of the highest rank, and among 
 them three members of Herod's family, were after this 
 fashion thrown into prison, and shortly after put to 
 death. ^ 
 
 No remonstrance being made on the part of the popu- 
 lace against these outrages, the hot-headed enthusiasts 
 were encouraged to proceed to still more daring deeds of 
 lawlessness ; they were emboldened to lay hands on the 
 Pontificate, thereby hoping to obtain complete master- 
 ship. By isolating the noble families whose right it had 
 been for many a long day to furnish the High Priest from 
 out their number, the fanatics conceived the idea of hav- 
 ing the High Priest chosen by lot, and that from one of 
 the lowliest branches of the Levitical tribe. This was 
 equivalent to abandoning themselves to blind chance and 
 to incurring the risk of the most humiliating complica- 
 tions. The lot fell upon a rustic brought up on the farm, 
 utterly incapable of comporting himself with dignity and 
 respectability in the position to which he was elevated 
 against his will, despite the sumptuous vestments in 
 which they dressed him up. The clownish bearing of 
 
 1 Josephns, Bell. JucL, iv. iii. 2-6. 
 
VESPASIAN IN GALILEE AND JUDAEA. 291 
 
 the unfortunate man excited the laughter of the people ; 
 but such a piece of buffoonery overstepped the limits, and 
 a reaction set in.^ 
 
 Hanan profited by this turn in the tide of popular feel- 
 ing to bar the way before these madmen who were doing 
 their best to ruin everything. This High Priest, as 
 shrewd as he was resolute, was the one man able to 
 have saved Jerusalem had he lived ; at least his is the 
 honor of having tried to do so. Terrified at seeing him 
 take this stand against them, the Zealots took refuge in 
 the Temple, whereupon Hanan convoked a general as- 
 sembly of the city whereof he was the lawfully elected 
 head, and he set forth to them the disgrace of submitting 
 to a tyranny worse than that of the Eomans. The latter 
 had at least respected the Sanctuary of Israel ; the Zealots 
 had used it as a barracks, as a hospital for their wounded, 
 and as the scene of their worst disorders. Turning his 
 eyes filled with tears toward the Temple, he spoke of it to 
 them in words of such heart-broken grief that the people 
 besought him to lead them forthwith against the defilers. 
 Hanan was arming them for the attack, whereupon the 
 Zealots, now forewarned, flung themselves upon this mass 
 of men as yet not organized to resist them, and at the 
 first assault drove them back ; but in their turn yielding 
 to superiority of numbers, they were forced back into the 
 Temple. The assailants entered with them, and took 
 possession of the first enclosure, that vast esplanade open 
 to the Gentiles. Hanan, now soiled with blood, as were 
 also those with him, durst not press forward any further 
 within that part of the Sanctuary, which no Israelite 
 might enter without first purifying himself. He was 
 content with investing these inner porches, and that so 
 closely that the besieged, in despair of finding any exit, 
 summoned to their aid the Idumoeans.^ 
 
 A strange recourse this on the part of the self-styled 
 Zealots of the Law ; for the name of Edom was and still 
 
 1 Josephns, Bell. Jud., iv. iii. 8 ; cf. Dei'enbourg, Essai sur I'histoire 
 de la Palestine, p. 269. 
 
 2 Josephus, Bdl. JiuL, iv. iii. 7-12. 
 
292 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 is to-day, held in abomination by Israel. Yet no other 
 hope was left them, and they knew they were sure of 
 being heard. Full well did they know what to expect 
 from them, for in their forays they had many a time en- 
 countered those wandering hordes, more like brigands 
 than shepherds, in every respect similar to the Bedouins 
 of our day. Like the latter, the descendants of Esau, 
 half Jewish, and half savage, always panted for the fray ; 
 they rushed to the combat as if it were a festival. Their 
 chieftains needed but to sound the war-cry in the moun- 
 tain passes of Idumaea, and in a few days twenty thousand 
 men, gathered together at their call, were marching under 
 their command and appeared before the walls of Jeru- 
 salem. The city, taken by surprise, had barely time to 
 close its gates. 
 
 The Idumasans were not the men to relinquish their 
 prey : though repulsed by Hanan, they pitched their tents 
 below the walls and awaited their opportunity. This 
 occasion a tempest and the blackness of night combined 
 to offer them. The hurricane swept down with an un- 
 heard-of violence ; the solid earth shook under the impact 
 of wind and thunderbolts. Taking advantage of the up- 
 roar, certain Zealots sawed down the gates of the en- 
 closure wherein they were blockaded, and traversed the 
 Court of the Gentiles : the only thought of the senti- 
 nels had been to seek shelter from the cyclone. Thus 
 unhindered they managed to reach the gates of the city, 
 forced them open, and joining forces with the Idumgeans, 
 with them re-entered Jerusalem. Thereafter it was 
 merely a question of penetrating within the outer porches 
 of the Temple by piercing the lines which the Zealots 
 held in durance. Six thousand men had been intrusted 
 with the investment ; but dumfounded by this furious 
 and unexpected attack from without, they fled, giving 
 themselves up for lost and throwing away their arms. 
 The majority were slain, powerless to escape ; others, mad 
 with terror, leaped from the lofty walls of the Temple, 
 down into the town below, and were dashed to pieces. 
 One group of young men alone retaining their presence 
 
SCALE OF METERS 
 
 THE TEMPLE OF JERUSALEM 
 
 After the plans made by if. de Vogvs 
 
VESPASIAN IN GALILEE AND JVD^A. 293 
 
 of mind, engaged the foe in combat, but soon, surrounded 
 on all sides, they too were slaughtered pitilessly. 
 
 When the day broke, eight thousand five hundred 
 corpses were to be seen strewn over the Porches of the 
 Gentiles ; their blood streamed down in rivulets ; all 
 Jerusalem was plunged in dreadful grief and terror ; 
 tliis was the opportunity the Idumseans were waiting 
 for to loot and ravage. The High Priests, Hanan and 
 Jesus, son of Gamala, had been marked out for their ven- 
 geance as the two arch-traitors who had tried to deliver 
 Judaea over to Rome ; by dint of long seeking they 
 discovered their hiding-place, slew them, and cast their 
 bodies to the dogs and vultures. Such an outrage had 
 never been heard of in Israel, where the most miserable 
 criminals received the rites of burial on the very evening 
 of their execution : it shows the depths of the abyss in 
 which the city was striving. 
 
 With Hanan disappeared the last vestige of lawful 
 government in Jerusalem, the last hope of salvation. 
 Massacres followed in swift succession. Scouring the 
 streets, the Zealots and Idumaeans killed all such as 
 came under the ban of their suspicion : the lower classes 
 swiftly and on the spot ; men of high birth, youths 
 especially, after the most cruel ordeals; most of them, 
 thrown into prison, were constrained by torture to take 
 sides with the rebels or perish after frightful suffering. 
 Twelve thousand persons, the most noble and most highly 
 respected in the city, succumbed during these dreadful 
 days.^ 
 
 The Idumaeans, however, were not blinded by the same 
 hatred, the same fanaticism, as were the Zealots. They 
 speedily came to recognize the fact that the Romans were 
 not before the city gates, as they had been led to believe, 
 but that they themselves had been summoned there simply 
 to insure the triumph of a faction. Disgusted with the 
 part assigned them and with the bloodshed which inun- 
 dated them, they decided to return to their mountain 
 
 1 Joseplius, Bell. Jud., iv. iv. 1-7 ; v. 1-3. 
 
294 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 homes ; but this they would not do until they had first 
 opened wide the prison doors. Perchance they believed 
 that thereby they were repairing in part the deeds of vio- 
 lence in which they had been accomplices ; in reality 
 they reinforced their allies, the abettors of murder, by 
 some two thousand hired assassins.^ 
 
 Jerusalem had small need of such recruits. Neverthe- 
 less, at the departure of the Idumasans, the city began to 
 breathe again and to pick up some little hope; but the 
 Zealots lost no time in dissipating their illusions on this 
 score ; the massacres began again. Too great freedom of 
 speech caused the downfall of Gorion, a man of illustrious 
 birth. Neither his preference for a popular form of gov- 
 ernment nor his liberal views preserved him from the 
 daggers of the fanatics. Quite as unjustly perished Nico- 
 las of Persea, the ablest military tactician in Judaea, and 
 who had played a leading part in the defeat of Cestius. 
 As he was dragged along the streets of Jerusalem he 
 displayed the honorable wounds he had received in their 
 defence, but in vain. He died calling down upon his 
 executioners famine, pestilence, and the mailed fist of 
 Eome, exclaiming that he hoped they might slaughter 
 one another.^ 
 
 While uttering these invectives, Nicolas might have 
 foreseen their fulfilment ; for even then the Zealots' party 
 was broken up into factions : John of Giscala had been 
 intriguing for some time among these and the partisans 
 of peace, although both from past experiences and his 
 own natural bent, he must have leaned towards the peace 
 party. Without much outward demonstration he deter- 
 mined upon the part he would take ; and stealing in, so 
 to say, within the ranks of the contending parties, he suc- 
 ceeded in overmastering them by the same means which 
 had served him so well at Giscala, — by either mislead- 
 ing or frightening them. When the Idumseans quitted 
 Jerusalem, John was already in command of an armed 
 company altogether independent of the Zealots ; though, 
 
 1 Joseplius, Bell. Jud., iv. v. 5 ; vi. 1. ^ l])i^,^ iv, vi. 1. 
 
VESPASIAN IN GALILEE AND JUDJEA. 295 
 
 like the troops of the latter, their whole activity was con- 
 fined to proscribing and massacring the poor people.^ 
 Thus the Holy City rested under the weight of a twofold 
 tyranny : soon a third was to come to crown and com- 
 plete their miseries. 
 
 As we have seen,'^ when Cestius was defeated a troop 
 of maddened Zealots had taken possession of Masada on 
 the shores of the Dead Sea, and made this impregnable 
 fortress their retreat.^ One of the robber chieftains well 
 known throughout the countryside, Simon-ben-Gioras, 
 had set himself up as their lord and master. Though far 
 less gifted with intelligence than was John of Giscala, 
 this bandit overawed his followers by his lofty stature 
 and headlong bravery. As much and even more than 
 his fellow insurrectionist, John, had been in Galilee, he 
 was the very soul of the rebellion throughout the south- 
 ern districts of the province. Forty thousand volunteers, 
 drawn about his standard by his ever-increasing renown, 
 had grouped themselves about the little band which he 
 had from the first trained and disciplined in warfare. 
 Together they formed a horde of fanatics ready to follow 
 their leader blindly. First they ravaged Idumaea, then 
 sacked Hebron, burning and laying waste everything in 
 their path. The terrified Zealots rose to arms and en- 
 deavored to withstand them. Though repulsed at the first 
 encounter, they succeeded in capturing one of Simon's 
 wives and held her as a hostage. The maddened bandit 
 proceeded to the very walls of Jerusalem, torturing and 
 slaying whomsoever came in his path ; whereupon he cut 
 off the hands of the majority of his prisoners and then 
 sent them inside the city walls bidding them to say that 
 Simon had sworn before God to treat all the inhabitants 
 of the town in like manner. Every one knew that he was 
 a man of his word : immediately his wife was restored to 
 him, and he withdrew his troops for the while, but only 
 to return speedily to encamp beneath the walls. 
 
 1 Josephiis, Bell. Jud., iv. iii. 13 ; vii. 1. ^ Chapter IX. 
 
 8 Josephus, Bell. Jud., iv. vii. 2. 
 
296 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 Oftentimes some pressing danger will suggest some 
 strange means to banish it. The moderate party, first 
 overwhelmed by the Zealots, but now seeing them in 
 turn fearful of Simon's robber band, conceived the plan 
 of appealing to the latter in order to overcome their 
 oppressors. Nor was this resolution taken under the in- 
 fluence of a sudden panic, as one might be tempted to 
 think ; rather it was the result of a debate calmly con- 
 ducted by the High Priests themselves. One of them, 
 named Matthias, was intrusted with the lofty function 
 of sealing the alliance and of escorting the sham allies 
 within the Upper City. This was equivalent to aban- 
 doning the last stronghold left in their hands. Thereafter 
 poor Jerusalem was left to the mercy of a robber chief.^ 
 
 All these lamentable happenings were speedily re> 
 ported in the Koman camp. Every one of his staff officers 
 urged Vespasian to take advantage of these dissensions to 
 make an attack upon Jerusalem. 
 
 " Wait, wait ! " he answered ; " wait a bit, and these fools 
 will destroy one another. By attacking them we shall 
 only bring about an end to their discords. God is a 
 wiser leader than I am; and 'tis He that fights for us 
 and will deliver unto us the enemy when exhausted and 
 brought to naught." ^ 
 
 This system of warfare he kept up during the two years 
 which succeeded the submission of Galilee : making slow 
 advances; occupying all the outposts whence Jerusalem 
 might hope for aid ; driving before him the robber hordes ; 
 taking good heed, however, not to exterminate them, but 
 rather encouraging them by every means to foment re- 
 bellion and thus enclose the doomed city in a network of 
 its own making. Now master of the Mediterranean sea- 
 coast, he re-conquered all the land east of the Jordan and 
 the Dead Sea and subjugated Idumc^a; then, leading 
 his troops up toward the Holy City, he took possession 
 one by one of the outposts which encircled it: Lydda, 
 Emmaus, Jericho.^ During the month of July, 69, the 
 
 1 Josephus, Bell. Jud., iv. ix. 3-12. 2 n^ij.^ iv. vi. 2, 
 
 2 Ibid., iv. iii. 2 ; vii. 3-6 ; viii. 1 ; ix. 1. 
 
VESPASIAN IN GALILEE AND JUDJBA. 297 
 
 insurrectionists held but three isolated fortresses in the 
 neighborhood of the Dead Sea. The Eoman invasion 
 creeping up on all sides was now enclosing the city. 
 Vespasian's horsemen were already aiming their arrows 
 against the sentinels on the ramparts, with no one to 
 impede them. He had made all arrangements for begin- 
 ning the siege, when his sudden elevation to the throne 
 occurred and thus retarded the destruction of the Holy 
 City for a few months.^ 
 
 The unhappy town was no longer capable of utilizing 
 this last respite afforded it to plead for truce, or to 
 strengthen its fortifications ; the city was at the mercy 
 of numberless factions. Even the Temple, on the eve of 
 its destruction, had become a field of battle. From the 
 heights of Mount Moriah the Zealots, with their leader 
 Eleazar, still remained sole masters of the holy enclosure 
 of both the Sanctuary and the Inner Porches. With six 
 thousand of his followers, John of Giscala was camping 
 in the wide spaces of the Gentiles' Court, while Simon, 
 with his ten thousand brigands, held possession of the 
 Hill of Sion. 
 
 These three bodies of men, now collected within their 
 own fortified positions, were merely bent on destroying 
 one another ; each day occurred new hand-to-hand en- 
 counters. Oftenest Simon was the aggressor. He real- 
 ized full well that Jerusalem would not be his until he 
 had captured the Temple, — that very hearthstone and 
 soul of the Holy City. All his efforts, however, were 
 powerless when directed against the lofty walls of God's 
 Sanctuary. Even more than the prodigious elevation of 
 these ramparts, did the presence there of John of Giscala 
 render them impregnable. Not content with repulsing 
 the assaults of Simon, he pursued his troops into the 
 Lower City, taking advantage of these sallies to re-victual 
 his men. This he did, not as a friend, but as a ravaging 
 foe, spreading havoc among the poor folk who had taken 
 refuge thereabouts, and now beheld their houses sacked 
 
 1 Josephus, Bell. Jud., iv. ix. 2. 
 
298 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 during these street fights, while the provisions which 
 they had stored up for a siege were either pillaged or 
 destroyed by fire.^ 
 
 Happily for these unfortunate creatures, John dared 
 not hazard such sorties as these except upon occasions 
 when he knew that the Zealots were either weary of 
 fighting or steeped in wine, since he himself had need to 
 be on his watch against the foe. 
 
 The Zealots, indeed, had all the advantages of position, 
 and from the upper terraces of the Temple sent down a 
 shower of arrows upon the Galileans who were crowded 
 into the first enclosure. John knew of no better way of 
 repelling their attacks than by use of his catapults and 
 balist?e. Eocks thrown by these machines of war not only 
 laid low the soldiers of Eleazar, but falling into the very 
 heart of the Sanctuary, crushed down both priest and vic- 
 tim before God's altar ; for even amid the worst of these 
 sanguinary strifes the Holy Sacrifice was still oftered. 
 By common consent the Galileans and the Zealots had 
 allowed free entrance to each and every Israelite who 
 wished to approach the Sanctuary to perform some rite 
 of his religion. No one, however, penetrated therein 
 without realizing that he held his life in his hands ; nay, 
 more, a thrill of horror must have seized them on be- 
 holding God's House stained with blood, and the Sacred 
 Porches encumbered with dead bodies, which none durst 
 so much as touch. 
 
 A similar state of desolation, moreover, reigned throu^^h- 
 out the whole city ; the people were all a prey to this 
 overwhelming terror, though not daring so much as to 
 whisper their fears, since the slightest sign of discourage- 
 ment on their part was treated as a crime. Nor was there 
 longer any opportunity to fiee for refuge to the Eomans : 
 all exits were guarded, and whoever ventured an escape 
 was slain on the spot.^ Strict as was this surveillance, a 
 considerable number of the citizens managed to make 
 good their flight ; these were the Christians of the Holy 
 
 1 Josephus, Bell. Jud., v. 1-3. ^ Joseplius, Bell. Jud., v, 1-5. 
 
VESPASIAN IN GALILEE AND JUDAEA. 299 
 
 Oity.^ It is well known how exceedingly dear Jerusalem 
 was to them ; up to the end they had remained steadfast 
 in this feeling, considering that nowhere else might they 
 adore Jesus so well as within the Temple. Their grief 
 equalled that of the Jews when they beheld their 
 common sanctuary desecrated by so many murders, and 
 realized that they must needs forego their customary 
 ascent thither for daily prayer. Yet that prophecy of 
 the Lord came back to their memories : — 
 
 " When you shall behold the abomination of desolation 
 established within the Holy Place.^ . . . When you shall 
 behold the hosts encompassing Jerusalem, know that its 
 ruin is nigh. Then let them that are in Judea flee into 
 the mountains, and let them that are in Jerusalem with- 
 draw therefrom, and let not them who are in the fields 
 enter therein. For thereupon shall ensue the days of 
 vengeance. . . . Woe to the women with child and them 
 that give suck in those days, for there shall be then 
 great affliction throughout the land, and wrath shall fall 
 upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the 
 sword and shall be led away captive into all nations, and 
 Jerusalem shall be trodden under foot by the Gentiles."^ 
 
 So clear and precise was this Oracle of God that none 
 could fail to recognize its fulfilment. If we are to be- 
 lieve St. Epiphanius, an Angel was sent from Heaven to 
 confirm them in this belief, and to announce to the lead- 
 ing men of the congregation that the hour for flight had 
 come.* 
 
 The Mother Church did indeed merit the honor of some 
 such divine warning ; for its piety, bigoted though it may 
 have seemed, was nevertheless sincere and ever amenable 
 
 1 'HviKa ^/xeXXeu rj ttoXu oKicJKeaOaL virb tS>v 'Po/xatW . . . ttjs ttoXcws 
 fxeWotjaris dpdrjv airoWvcrdaL. St. Epiphanius, De mensuris et ponderibus, 15 
 (cf. Hceres, xxix. 7. ) These words wouki seem to indicate that the flight of 
 the Christians took place durinsj the period immediately preceding the defi- 
 nite investment of the city by Titus ; it may likewise be noticed tliat I am 
 a little more specific in my statements here than in The Christ the Son 
 of God, book vi. chap. iii. 
 
 2 Matt. xxiv. 15. 3 i^^ke xxi. 20-24. 
 
 4 St. Epiphanius, De Mensuris, 15 ; Hcer., xxix. 7 ; Eusebius, Histor. 
 eccles., iii. 5. 
 
300 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 to any commands from on High. So now all departed 
 forthwith at the call of their Pastors, hastily, nor even 
 casting one backward glance. The Saviour had bidden 
 them pray that their flight should not encounter any 
 obstacle, that it should take place neither in the winter 
 nor on the Sabbath day.^ Doubtless the congregation of 
 Saints, instructed by James, must have been instant in 
 beseeching this favor, and powerful enough with God to 
 obtain it. During those dreadful days when Simon with 
 his robber horde had turned upon John of Giscala, in the 
 excitement of their encounters and the exhaustion which 
 was their natural sequel, the watch kept on the city gates 
 must have been less rigorous. In all likelihood they took 
 advantage of some such hour of relaxation to make good 
 their escape. One day of rapid marching would suffice 
 to reach and cross the Jordan ; once on the other side tlie 
 Christians needed no longer fear any pursuit on the part 
 of the Zealots. Nevertheless, they saw fit to increase the 
 distance between them and Jerusalem, and pushed on 
 toward the north into Decapolis. Their leaders, by a 
 happy choice, had designated Pella^ as the place of refuge 
 where they should forgather. 
 
 This town and Scythopolis were the only two free cities 
 in that region, but Pella had the advantage of being 
 without a Eoman garrison, and hence quieter and more 
 retired. Its site is an admirable one, built upon a high- 
 land, elevated some thousand feet above the Jordan 
 Valley ; while plentiful springs dash down in waterfalls 
 into the ravines roundabout. The delightful character 
 of the region had attracted thither many of Alexander's 
 veterans, who gave it the name of a market town in 
 
 1 Matt. xxiv. 20. 
 
 2 The modern Kharhet Fahil. The vast ruins hereabout cover a beauti- 
 ful platform beneath whicli a stream gushes forth, ' ' which not being, as 
 then it was, channelled out and divided into various waterways, to irrigate 
 the orchards first, and then the fields, now spreads itself over an extremely- 
 fertile valley which it has changed into a marsh covered with a dense 
 thicket of rushes, agnus castus, laurel-roses, and willows, the lair of num- 
 berless wild boars." Guerin, Galilee, i. pp. 289 et seq. ; cf. Robinson, 
 Biblical Researches, iii. 320-325 ; Merrill, East of the Jordan, pp. 442-447. 
 
VESPASIAN IN GALILEE AND JUD^A. 301 
 
 Macedonia, their general's native place.^ Thenceforth 
 Pella had been more Pagan than Jewish in character. In 
 vain did Alexander Jannseus, in his anger at their refusal 
 to participate in the Judaic rites, put the town to the 
 sword ; ^ once restored by the Eomans, it remained there- 
 after a Syrian city.^ The refugees from the Mother 
 Church found peace and tolerance, and from their coign 
 of vantage could contemplate the dying throes of poor 
 Jerusalem, whence God had rescued them. Surely no 
 spectacle could have filled their hearts with deeper grief, 
 and yet none was so needful to convince them that but 
 one Israel w^as destined to abide forever, an Israel, not of 
 the flesh, but of the spirit, — " The Israel of God."^ 
 
 1 Georges Syncelle, p. 274, Paris ; Stephen of Byzantium, Meineke's ed. 
 V. Aioj', ttoKls . . . KolXt]? Iivpias, KTia/xa 'AXe^dvdpov /cat Il^XXa. 
 
 2 Josephus, Bell. Jiid., i. iv. 8 ; Antiq. JucL, xxiii. xv. 4. 
 
 * Ibid., Bell. Jud., i. vii, 7 ; Antiq. Jud., xiv. iv. 4. 
 
 * Galat., vi. 16. 
 
CHAPTEE XV. 
 
 THE DESTKUCTION OF JERUSALEM. 
 
 On his elevation to the throne Vespasian left C?esarea 
 and repaired in all pomp to Beyrout, Antioch, and Alex- 
 andria, one after another. His son Titus accompanied 
 him.i The absence of the leaders of the expedition nat- 
 urally caused suspension of hostilities, and for several 
 months permitted free access to Jerusalem. During this 
 short respite the fever which had been consuming the 
 city seemed to have been lowered a little in temperature ; 
 as the approach of the Passover-tide brought with it some 
 sort of truce between the factions, the Jews were quick 
 to profit thereby to liock thither from all parts unto the 
 great feast of their nation. Although the throngs appear 
 to have been less numerous than in years of peace, when 
 the number of the pilgrims sometimes reached three 
 millions,^ still it was so considerable that the city, which 
 on ordinary occasions contained about one hundred thou- 
 sand souls, held six times that number when Titus 
 returned to invest it. As usual, this mass of people had 
 camped about the walls. On the approach of the Eomans 
 they rushed within the gates, some moved by fear, others 
 by fanaticism, ])ut all alike doomed thenceforth to the 
 same fearful fate. 
 
 Titus had only been waiting for the close of the stormy 
 season to permit of his leaving Alexandria. During the 
 month of March, 70, some time before the Jewish Pass- 
 over,^ he had betaken himself to Ci^i'sarea, there to take his 
 
 1 Joseplius, Bell.Jnd., iv. x. 6 ; xi. 1 ; Tacitus, Histor., ii. 81-83. 
 
 2 Josephus, Bell. Jnd., ii. xiv. 3 ; vi. ix. 3. 
 
 3 Hoffmann, De imperatoris Titi temporibus recte definiendis, pp. 19, 
 20. The Jewish Passover, according to the calculation made by M. I'Ahbe 
 Memain, occurred in the year 70 on the 14th of April. La connaissance 
 des temps evanr/eliques, chap, v., pp. 429, 431, 435, 507 et seq. 
 
B nay IC \ y' 
 
 Iki Icuiplt 
 
 1 U J fUulies 
 
 Huly Place 
 I P tests Court 
 t Altar o/Bu t Ojffe i 
 ) Co toftelsae tea 
 G Court of t e Monen 
 i Court oftlie Oe tiles 
 
 Lo igman6 Green t& Co 
 
THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. 303 
 
 place at the head of his troops. An imposing body of 
 men had been massed together: there were the three 
 legions but lately commanded by Vespasian ; there was 
 the famous Twelfth, come thither from Antioch and burn- 
 ing to avenge its defeat under Cestius ; there were twenty 
 cohorts from the Syrian towns, and a large squadron 
 of cavalry from Arabia.^ Together they formed a for- 
 midable army, — some fifty thousand men most ably gene- 
 railed ; for Titus, while more politic and less harsh than 
 his father, was quite his equal in handling military forces, 
 and exceeded him in the art of besieging. There were 
 valiant officers on his staff, and among them many Jews 
 of note who had rallied around his standard at Eome and 
 now shared his headquarters ; there was Agrippa, the 
 historian Josephus, and Tiberius Alexander, who held the 
 high rank of Prefect of the Pretorium near his person.^ 
 
 Gabaath-Saul,^ lyi^o nearly four miles from Jerusalem, 
 had been selected as the rendezvous for the various 
 detachments. Titus hastened on ahead with six hundred 
 horsemen, to reconnoitre the approaches to the region, 
 and came very near losing his life in the venture. Seeing 
 the gates of the city closed, and no one either without the 
 walls or on the ramparts, he spurred on unsuspectingly ; 
 suddenly a swarm of Jews swept down upon him and 
 separated him from his escort. He had barely time to 
 urge his horse fiercely through the affray in hand-to-hand 
 fight and make good his escape beneath a shower of 
 darts.* A few days later another sortie, quite as unex- 
 pected, cast panic into the ranks of the Tenth Legion 
 while occupied in pitching their camp. Titus, rushing up 
 in the midst of the confusion, found this picked body of 
 
 1 Josephus, Bell. Jud., v. i, 6 ; Tacitus, Histor., v. 1. 
 
 2 Mommseu, Ephemeris epigraphica, vol. v., p. 578; Hermes, Bd. 
 xix. 1884, p. 644 et seq. ; Leon Renier : Memoire sur les officiers qui assis- 
 terent au conseil de guerre tenu par Titus, avaut de livrer avant I'assaut 
 du temple de Jerusalem. In the Me'moires de I'Academie des Inscriptions 
 et Belles-lettres, vol. xxvi., 1867,pp. 264-321. Cf. i\Iommseu, Ephemeris 
 epigraphica. 
 
 3 The modern Tell-el-Foxd (Hill of Beans). Cf. Guerin, Samarie, vol. 
 1., p. 188 et seq. ; Robinson, Biblical Researches, vol. 1., pp. 577-579. 
 
 4 Josephus, Bell. Jud., v. ii. 1-2. 
 
304 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 men routed by tlie suddenness of the shock. With great 
 difficulty he managed to rally them about him, but was 
 forced to prolong the combat that whole day before quiet 
 was once more restored.^ The intrepidity shown by the 
 Jews in these first skirmishes, and their audacity in at- 
 tempting them, awakened the Eomans to the fact that 
 they had entered upon a relentless war. All their reck- 
 oning based upon the hope that the dissensions existing 
 among the besieged would weaken their resistance, now 
 proved to be altogether at fault ; every disagreement was 
 forgotten as soon as it became a question of attacking or 
 repelling their common foe. Eleazar, John, and Simon 
 had joined together in preparing the sortie made upon the 
 Tenth Legion and had conducted it in concert. Further- 
 more, circumstances had reduced to two the three factions 
 which had hitherto divided the city. The Galileans prof- 
 iting by the free entrance permitted to pilgrims during 
 the Passover, had found their way with them into the 
 Sanctuary and had succeeded in subjugating the Zealots. 
 Thus, then, John, now holding possession of the entire 
 Temple, and Simon intrenched upon the Hill of Sion, 
 were left sole masters of Jerusalem.^ 
 
 Titus, put on his guard by the dangers run during the 
 earlier engagement, left nothing neglected which would 
 prevent in future any such unforeseen attacks. A screen 
 of orchards and woodland separated the walls of the city 
 from Mount Scopus, whereon the Koman army was en- 
 camped ; as the trees and gardens, then green and flourish- 
 ing, impeded military operations, he ordered them cut 
 down, and levelled the outlying land up to the very foot 
 of the ramparts.^ Now free and secure in prosecuting 
 his manoeuvres on this denuded soil, he pushed up closer 
 
 1 Ibid,, V. ii. 4. 
 
 2 Josephus, Bell. Jud., v. iii. 1; Tacitus, Histor., v. 12. 
 
 3 Josephus, Bell. Jud., v. iii. 2. The olive trees, always revered in the 
 Garden of Gethsemane as witnesses of the Saviour's agony, may have 
 escaped this devastation. Standing as they did in the lower valley, they 
 could not interfere with the manceuvres of the Romans as did the trees 
 which Titus ordered to be cut down, these lying for the most part to the 
 north of the town. 
 
THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. 305 
 
 and located his headquarters close to the Psephina tower ;i 
 another division of his army he posted on a level with the 
 high tower of Hippicus ; ^ the Tenth Legion he stationed 
 on the Mount of Olives. Thus he encompassed the whole 
 northern part of the city, the only side where it offered 
 any chance of capture, since everywhere else its walls 
 overlooked steep gorges, rendering them absolutely 
 inaccessible. 
 
 Quite as much as this formidable wall, did the site 
 itself of Jerusalem, rising in terraces upon a group of 
 hills, make it one of the most strongly fortified positions 
 known to antiquity. From the heights of Scopus it ap- 
 peared to be cut in two by a ravine which ran from north 
 to south, the so-called TyropoBon. To the east of this 
 valley stands Mount Moriah, crowned with the strong- 
 hold Antonia, and the Temple ; to the west the highest 
 crest of Jerusalem, Sion, the ancient city of David. The 
 lower quarter of Acra extended from the foot of this hill 
 to the northward ; further on in the same direction was 
 Bezetha, the vast suburb which Agrippa had but recently 
 reunited with the Holy City. Each of these regions 
 possessed its own walls, thus making five strongholds, 
 Bezetha, Acra, Antonia, the Temple, and Sion, which the 
 Romans must needs carry one by one.^ 
 
 Titus knew well the weak spot in this line of ramparts, 
 — between the present gate of Damascus and the tower 
 of Psephina. Hereabout Agrippa had been unable to give 
 to the walls of Bezetha the dimensions he had planned, 
 which would have rendered them impregnable ; fearful 
 of future trouble, Rome had checked his cherished 
 scheme.* Nevertheless, as it was, it presented an ob- 
 
 1 This tower, seventy cubits high (Josephus, Bell. Jad., v. iv. 3). 
 crowned the corner formed by the ramparts of Jerusalem to the northeast. 
 
 2 In the citadel of Jerusalem the Tower of David marks the site of that 
 of Hippicus. 
 
 3 Menke, Bibelatlas. Bl. v. ; Zimmermann, Karten und Plane zur 
 Topographie des Alten Jerusalem ; Wilson, Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem 
 during 1864-1865. See in The Christ the Son of God, vol. i., Appen. i., 
 Jerusalem and the Temple. 
 
 * Josephus, Bell. Jud,, v. iv. 2. 
 
 20 
 
306 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 stacle so serious as to necessitate a systematic attack. 
 Three earth embankments, held up by fascines and logs, 
 were raised little by little to the level of the walls ; over 
 these they rolled up the moving towers which were to 
 overlook the ramparts and cover the approach of the bat- 
 tering-rams. At the outset the resistance would seem to 
 have been as vigorous as the attack. Unused to the 
 handling of balistie, the Jews preferred a hand-to-hand 
 encounter, and swept down in torrents upon the foe. 
 Once and again did the legions sway back before the fury 
 of these sallies ; their machines of war were burned, and 
 one of their wooden towers felled. None the less steadily 
 did their battering-rams beat against the walls, and on 
 the fifteenth day they succeeded in effecting a wide 
 breach.^ 
 
 Through this the Eoman army entered unchecked ; 
 exhausted by two weeks of sanguinary struggle, the be- 
 sieged did not so much as try to make a stand against the 
 enemy, but evacuated the vast enclosure of Bezetha, to 
 shut themselves up in that of Acra, their second line of 
 fortification. Here the breach took less time to accom- 
 plish, since after five days' labor the bugle sounded the 
 assault, but the defence became only the more deadly. 
 Step by step the Jews disputed the ground in the narrow 
 streets and alleys of these lower quarters ; it cost the 
 legions a full five days' more fighting before they were 
 masters of Acra.^ 
 
 The two lines of fortifications carried after such pro- 
 digious labors put the Eomans in possession of the lower 
 part of the city only ; all the Upper City remained to 
 conquer. Seated proudly on their three hills, Sion, the 
 Temple, and Antonia formed as many immense citadels, 
 so lofty and so steep that they might well discourage tlie 
 most daring. On every side Sion frowned down upon 
 them from its lofty perch ; the wall above its crest was 
 arranged in jutting and retiring angles in such wise as to 
 leave the enemy's flank always exposed.^ In front rose 
 
 1 Josephus, Bell. JucL, v. vi. 2 ; vii. 2. ^ i}3i(j_ y. vii. 3-4 ; viii. 1-2. 
 8 Tacitus, Histor., v. 11 ; Josephus, Bell. Jud., v. iv. 1-3. 
 
THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. 307 
 
 the Temple, fortified still more carefully ; the piece of 
 wall left undestroyed at the foot of Haram shows us to 
 this day what must have been the streugth of the ram- 
 parts erected in similar warlike pomp up to the very sum- 
 mit. The Porches alone which crowned the heights would 
 have sufficed to constitute a formidable line of defence.^ 
 
 To order an immediate attack upon such gigantic works 
 as these would have been madness. This Titus realized 
 the more, seeing how his legions were losing spirit on 
 recognizing that the foe was more enthusiastic than ever, 
 and that his retreat was impregnable. Accordingly he 
 gave his worn-out troops a few days' rest, and profited by 
 it to review in person all the regiments in his command. 
 The pretext alleged for this manoeuvre, which he bade be 
 made as imposing as possible, was his desire to distribute 
 among the soldiers their pay ; his real motive, however, 
 was to restore confidence to the legions in themselves, 
 and to overawe Jerusalem by this spectacular deploy- 
 ment of the forces destined to overcome it. When he 
 deemed the desired effect had been produced he sent 
 Josephus as liis envoy to propose honorable terms of sur- 
 render to the besieged, but their only answer was jeers 
 and words of bitter sarcasm.^ At this insolence Titus 
 was beside himself ; now instead of generosity which 
 they scorned, he would try what terror would do. Every 
 night many half -starved wretches slunk out to dig up 
 such roots and vegetables as they could find in the fields ; 
 he bade them be watched and seized. Every morning 
 thereafter five hundred of these unfortunates, sometimes 
 more, were hung up on crosses where they could be seen 
 by the besieged. Nor did he cry a halt until wood and 
 space were both lacking for the gibbets. An odious piece 
 of barbarism this, whose sole effect was to exasperate the 
 Jews and at the same time cast a grievous blot upon 
 Titus' reputation. He needs must revert to the weari- 
 
 1 "Templum in modum arcis, propriique muri, labore et opere ante 
 alios ; ipsa porticus, quis templum ambiebatur, egregium propugnaculiim." 
 Tacitus, Histor., v. 12; Josephus, Bell. Jud., v. v. 1-6. 
 
 2 Josephus, Bell. Jud., v. ix. 1-4. 
 
308 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 some labors of a siege and await such results as they 
 might accomplish against these fortresses perched high 
 above his grasp.^ 
 
 Two embankments were erected in front of Sion whilo 
 two others were directed against Antonia. These works 
 had cost seventeen days of hard labor, and seemed all 
 but finished when of a sudden the earth and wood works 
 which threatened Antonia collapsed amid a cloud of dust 
 and smoke. John had succeeded in undermining the 
 ground beneath and filling tunnels with sulphur and pitch ; 
 at a signal the whole structure sunk down into a burn- 
 ing furnace. Two days later Simon's robber hordes threw 
 themselves on the outworks erected against them, and 
 put them to the torch, evincing such fury that the Eo- 
 mans, wrapped in flames, recoiled in terror and were 
 forced to flee before their pursuers into their own camp 
 lines. This double blow left Titus in a precarious situa- 
 tion, with his machines of war destroyed and his soldiers 
 in their discouragement muttering among themselves that 
 old cry of the Jews, " Jerusalem is impregnable." He 
 must needs resign himself to continue the blockade and 
 to wait for famine to do what he could not accomplish 
 by assault.2 Thereupon there arose that wall of ill-omen 
 whereof Jesus had foretold them as He wept over the 
 city : " The day shall come upon thee when thine enemies 
 shall cast a trench about thee and encompass thee round 
 on every side and overturn thee flat to the ground, — thee 
 and thy children within thee ; because thou hast not 
 known the time when God hath visited thee." ^ The 
 soldiers, everjoyed at entering upon a task from which 
 they looked for sure and definite results, now evinced 
 an almost unbelievable activity : " The hand of God was 
 urging them on," says Josephus.* In three days a wall 
 of stone and earth thirty-nine stadia in length (a little 
 over four miles) encircled Jerusalem. The circumvalla- 
 
 1 Josephus, Bell. Jud., v. xi. 1. 
 
 2 Ibid., V. xi. 4-6; xii. 1. 3 l^^].^ xix. 43-44. 
 
 * 'OpfiT] di TLS e/ATTtTTTct 8aifj.6i^ios Tots (jTpaTidjTaLS. Joseplius, BeU. Jud., 
 V. xii. 2. 
 
THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. 309 
 
 tion traversed Bezetha and Kedron, ascended the Mount 
 of Olives, and crowned its heights ; numerous redoubts 
 fortified it on this side, for a surprise on the part of the 
 Zealots sallying forth from the fortresses of the Bead 
 Sea was possible at any moment : against this it be- 
 hooved them to be on their guard.^ 
 
 Thereafter, enclosed and hemmed in on all sides, Jeru- 
 salem was left a prey to that consuming fever which 
 had reached the delirium point ; and now famine came 
 to add the last touch of horror. Such provisions as were 
 left had fallen into the hands of the men in arms, and in 
 vain did the throng beg for a handful of wheat or barley ; 
 not a kernel could they obtain, no, not even at the price 
 of a fortune. Men fought for the skins of animals, a bit 
 of leather from their buckles, nay, even for the dung of 
 cattle. Even the sewers they madly searched for food. 
 The fierce pangs of hunger had deadened every other 
 natural feeling ; husbands and wives, mothers and chil- 
 dren snatched from one another the poorest scraps of 
 food.2 
 
 The robbers and the Zealots alike looked calmly down 
 upon the death throes of the people. Scanning the faces 
 of each citizen to note whether some sign of strength 
 might not betray a hidden stock of victuals, they pro- 
 ceeded to torture any such unfortunate until they had 
 robbed the inhabitants of their very last resources. To 
 this famine-stricken throng death came as a deliverance ; 
 and generously, at least, did death do its work. The 
 houses were filled with corpses, the streets and squares 
 strewn with them, for none were buried any more. Ac- 
 cording to the tale of a deserter, more than a hundred 
 thousand bodies had been interred within the space of 
 two months and a half.^ But now their arms were weak- 
 ened by privation, nor had any one the money to pay for 
 this pressing need ; they were forced to throw their dead 
 from the tops of the ramparts into the gorges overlooked 
 
 1 Josephus, Bell. Jud., v. xii. 2. 
 
 2 Ibid., V. X. 2, 3. 
 
 ^ Josephus, Bell. Jud., v. xiii. 7. 
 
310 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 by the Temple and Sion ; there they lay heaped up, and 
 putrefied in the sun. Chancing to pass by one of these 
 charnel heaps, Titus showed himself most deeply moved ; 
 lifting his hands toward Heaven, he protested that these 
 horrors were no doings of his.^ 
 
 Indeed he had left no stone unturned to prevent them ; 
 yet what means could be used to influence a city now 
 under a reign of terror ? Certain men, formerly leaders 
 of the people, many of the High Priests, and among them 
 Matthias, who had been the means of introducing Simon 
 into Jerusalem, were suspected of favoring a capitulation : 
 they were sentenced to be executed without respite or 
 pity ; the sole favor begged by Matthias, that of dying 
 before his children, even this was refused him.^ A blind 
 belief had taken possession of these fanatics, namely, that 
 God would never abandon His Temple. His arm alone 
 would work prodigies in its defence. This faith, ardently 
 propagated, so completely swayed their souls, that many 
 who might have found safety in flight refused to depart. 
 They were bent on remaining upon the Holy Mountain 
 to behold the great miracle.^ 
 
 But now Titus, his patience exhausted, finally per- 
 suaded his legionaries to resume labor on the approaches. 
 No more wood was to be found within the outskirts of 
 Jerusalem ; to obtain it they had to go as far as ninety 
 stadia from the town (about ten miles).* Their eagerness 
 to make an end of it all helped them to triumph over all 
 obstacles ; at the end of twenty-one days four embank- 
 ments, mounted by war towers, overtopped the heights of 
 Antonia. Once more did the Jews sally forth to set fire 
 to these outworks, but this time, weak and famished as 
 they were, they were repelled and forced to withstand the 
 enemy's assaults at these points threatened. Their resist- 
 ance lasted but for four days ; on the fifth of July an 
 unexpected night attack delivered Antonia into the hands 
 of the Eomans. Titus gave commands that this fortress 
 
 1 Josephus, Bell. Jud., v. xii. 3-4. ^ Ibid., vi, ii. 1 ; v. 2. 
 
 2 Ibid..,v. xiii. 1. * Ibid., v. xii. 4. 
 
THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. 311 
 
 be razed almost to the ground in order to give free play- 
 to his machines of war, and thereby finally overcome that 
 Temple where all that was left of life in Jerusalem now 
 writhed in the throes of a last agony. ^ 
 
 Here again Famine lent her helping hand : even the 
 men-at-arms, their scanty store of provisions exhausted, 
 raced hither and thither like dogs in pursuit of their 
 quarry. A band of these fanatics scenting the odor of 
 roasting meat, broke their way into the house whence it 
 came. There they found themselves face to face with a 
 once wealthy woman named Mary, daughter of Eleazar. 
 This wretched creature had just finished cooking her child 
 and was ravenously devouring her repast. Offering them 
 what was left, she said : " Eat ; it cannot be more repul- 
 sive to you than it is to its mother ! " They recoiled in 
 horror.2 
 
 The Eomans, to whom this crime was reported, might 
 well judge thereby to what extremities the town was re- 
 duced. About the same time another accident revealed 
 their abject condition even more strikingly. On the 
 twelfth of July the perpetual sacrifice ceased to be offered 
 in the Temple, for lack of men, says Josephus, but more 
 probably for lack of victims.^ No similar interruption 
 had occurred save in the gloomiest days of their history, 
 during the captivity in Babylon and the persecution of 
 Antiochus. Great was the emotion that thrilled the 
 hearts of the Jews, for with it was mingled a vague appre- 
 hension that their worship had ceased for all time. Nor 
 was this presentiment unwarranted: never more was 
 Israel destined to offer sacrifice upon the Holy Mount, 
 and to this very day the chosen people set aside a solemn 
 day of fasting and lamentation to commemorate this sad 
 event.* 
 
 Titus took advantage of the impression produced in the 
 Temple by this happening, to attempt once again to bring 
 them to terms. By his orders Josephus, drawing near 
 enough to be heard, cried out with a loud voice to the 
 
 1 Josephus, Bell. Jud., vi. i. 1-7. ^ Ibid., vi. ii. 1. 
 
 2 Ibid., vi. iii, 3-4. * Mishna, Taanith, iv. 6. 
 
312 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL, 
 
 Zealots that Titus offered a safe conduct to John, who 
 might withdraw with all the men he saw fit to select ; he 
 promised furthermore to have the lawful sacrifices in the 
 Temple, and to employ for this purpose such ministers as 
 the Jews might designate. " We have naught to fear," 
 replied John, " the Temple is the City of God." ^ 
 
 Thus an assault w^as become inevitable; Titus bade 
 them to make ready to storm the place, and on their side 
 the Jews were busy making preparations. Eesolved to 
 concentrate the defence within the upper part of the Tem- 
 ple, they burned everything round about that might serve 
 as a shield for the assailants ; first, the gallery which con- 
 nected the Sanctuary with Antonia, and thereafter the 
 Porches of the first enclosure to the north and to west- 
 ward. The Eomans now masters of this wide-spreading 
 esplanade, rolled thither their battering-rams, and the 
 last act in this tragic war was begun. For five long days 
 their most powerful machines battered away at the walls 
 without making any impression upon them : the stones 
 were of such huge dimensions, grooved and fitted together 
 so firmly, that nothing could shake them. Their frequent 
 attempts to scale the walls were equally fruitless ; the 
 ladders heavily weighted with soldiers were pushed away 
 from the wall, and their human freight dashed to pieces 
 on the pavement below. On the eighth of August, how- 
 ever, the Eomans succeeded in setting fire to the lower 
 part of the gate which separates the Court of the Gentiles 
 from the higher part of the Temple. The silver and gold 
 which covered the folding doors, ran down in rivulets of 
 flame into the Inner Porches and thus spread conflagra- 
 tion. The Jews had never conceived the possibility of 
 such a misfortune ; now suddenly enveloped in fire, they 
 stood rooted to the spot and allowed the porticos of the 
 second enclosure to burn unchecked beneath their very 
 eyes. These magnificent edifices were almost entirely 
 consumed, when Titus gave the command to save what 
 little was left of them.^ 
 
 1 Josephus, BcII. Jml., vi. ii. 1. 2 ibid,, vi. iv. 1, 2. 
 
THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. 313 
 
 The gates once burned, there was free access opened to 
 the Temple ; nevertheless, like a gaping wound it loomed 
 before their gaze one whole day, nor did a single soul dare 
 to cross that threshold. A superstitious terror held the 
 legionaries back, habituated though they were to brave 
 all danger. They hesitated in awe before a sanctuary 
 wherein no profane person ever entered, or so folks said, 
 save to meet death. ^ Still other apprehensions checked 
 and disturbed their general ; on the one hand, his anxiety 
 to preserve a monument which Berenice, Agrippa, and 
 Josephus had taught him to cherish and well-nigh wor- 
 ship ; on the other hand was the thought that, in destroy- 
 ing the edifice to which the Jews and Christians alike 
 were so deeply attached, he would be destroying at a 
 single blow two superstitions which were disturbing the 
 Empire.2 Feeling that the question was too deep for him 
 to solve, he called his staff officers together and deliber- 
 ated with them whether it were better to burn the Tem- 
 ple or carry it by storm. Titus, according to Josephus, 
 inclined to the latter opinion ; ^ while, according to Tacitus, 
 he was anxious to destroy it altogether.* However this 
 may be, the resolution to preserve the sanctuary of Israel, 
 even at the cost of a sanguinary struggle, prevailed, and 
 they began anew the assault. 
 
 In this the Jews forestalled them, for on the morning 
 of the tenth of August they essayed to sally forth in a 
 body. Halted by the legionaries, who sustained the en- 
 counter with great energy, they kept up the hand-to-hand 
 
 1 Dion Cassius, Ixvi. 6. ^ Sulpicius Severus, Chronicon, ii. 30. 
 
 3 Josephus, Bell. Jud., vi. iv. 3. 
 
 * " Nonnullis videbatur sedem sacratam ultra omnia mortal ia illustrem 
 non oportere deleri ... At contra alii, et Titus ipse, evertendum in 
 primo templuni censebant, quo plenius Judseorum et Christianorum religio 
 tolleretur ; quippe has religiones, licet contrarias sibi, iisdem tanien ab 
 auctoribus profectas ; Christianos ex Judseis extitisse : radice sublata, 
 stirpem facile perituram." (Sulpicius Severus, Chroiiicon, ii. 30.) Pro- 
 fessor Bernays, by his scholarly investigation, has left no doubt about 
 the fact that here, as elsewhere, Sulpicius Severus is simply following 
 in the lead of Tacitus, and that we may regard this passage as another 
 extract made from a part of the "History" now lost to us. {Ueber die 
 Chronih des Sulpicms Severus, pp. 48-61.) Cf. Schiller, Geschichte der 
 romisclicn Kaiserzeit, i. 399. 
 
314 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 struggle all day long, nor yielded a foot of ground until 
 trampled by the cavalry, which had been brought up on 
 the esplanade and succeeded in sweeping all before it. At 
 nightfall Titus retired to his tent believing the battle over ; 
 but despair rendered the Zealots tireless. After a few 
 moments' rest, new streams of the besieged fell suddenly 
 upon the Eomans ; this time they were repulsed with 
 such vigor that the enemy entered pell-mell upon their 
 heels right into the porches of the Israelites, and pursued 
 them to the very gates of the Sanctuary. There a soldier, 
 acting without orders, but as if inspired by God,^ seized 
 a beam which was still burning in the porches set on fire 
 two days before, and aided by one of his comrades, hurled 
 it into the chambers which surrounded the Holy Place ; 
 in a few instants these wooden halls shot up in flames 
 and the Temple was burning. The Jews uttered a shriek 
 of horror at this spectacle. Titus hastened up and by word 
 and gesture he bade them extinguish the conflagration, 
 but his voice was lost in the tumult. The soldiers, the 
 first steps once taken within the Sanctuary, had shaken 
 off their fears ; dazzled by the gold that glittered on all 
 sides, they thought of nothing but their booty. Titus 
 was swept aside by this throng, too greedy for their prey 
 to see or heed aught else, and he was fain to proceed with 
 some of his officers into the Sanctuary as yet left intact ; 
 here he stopped to gaze about for an instant, then entered 
 into the Holy of Holies. The majesty of the place sur- 
 passed all his expectations, it moved him so deeply that 
 he rushed forth at once, resolved at any cost to save such 
 a marvel of beauty. But while repelling the pillagers 
 and exhausting himself with crying out to his men to 
 quench the flames, one of his own soldiers who had lin- 
 gered behind him, set fire to the interior. The smoke and 
 fiery tongues were now spreading on every hand. Titus 
 realized that the Temple's doom was sealed, and he 
 withdrew.^ 
 
 1 AaifMovl({} upfirj TLVL xpc^Mfos* Josephus, Bell. Jud., vi. iv. 5. 
 
 2 Josephus, Bell. Jud., vi. iv. 3-7. 
 
THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. 315 
 
 The conflagration, sweeping on thenceforth unhindered, 
 speedily converted the crest of Mount Moriah into a fear- 
 some brazier : it seemed as if the mountain would burn 
 to its very base. From Sion and the neighboring heights, 
 the Jews gazed, eating their hearts out with rage at the 
 annihilation of their last hope. Cries of agony and exe- 
 cration rose from this throng and mingled with the ring- 
 ing shouts of the legionaries and the shrieks of the 
 slaughtered. So tremendous was the clamor at that 
 dread hour that it was heard over beyond Jordan.^ Nev- 
 ertheless, the flames did not put a stop to the carnage. 
 Now drunk with bloodshed, walking on a pavement 
 carpeted with corpses, the Eomans killed every one that 
 came in their path. The majority of the Jews, let it be 
 said, in their madness and desperation, sought death of 
 their own will ; some throwing themselves upon the 
 swords of the legionaries, others flinging themselves into 
 the flames, or killing one another. Certain priests, having 
 climbed the pinnacle of the Temple, wrenched off the 
 golden points, with their fastenings of lead, and hurled 
 them down upon the assailants ; but soon they too disap- 
 peared in the flames. One little band of Zealots alone, 
 rallied together by John of Giscala, succeeded in breaking 
 through the Eoman ranks and rejoined Simon by means 
 of the bridge which connected Sion with the Temple. 
 The rest of the children of Israel, whom the expectation 
 of a great miracle had massed together on Mount Moriah, 
 was now lost beyond peradventure. Six thousand of 
 these unfortunates, for the most part old folk, with women 
 and children, had taken refuge beneath one of the porches ; 
 these were put to the torch and all perished.^ When the 
 flames died down there remained on the Holy Mount but 
 two blackened gates and the ruins of the enclosure re- 
 served for women. The legions collected together their 
 Eagles, and amid the smoking debris offered sacrifice 
 of thanksgiving to these idolatrous emblems.^ At this 
 
 1 Josephus, Bell. Jud., vi. v. 1. ^ l\)i^, vi. vi. 1. 
 
 2 Ibid., vi. V. 1-2. 
 
316 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 crowning insult the Jews' eyes were opened. That 
 "abomination of desolation " ^ begun by the Zealots was 
 now accomplished before their very eyes. The God whom 
 they had misprized had forsaken the Holy Place ; where 
 howsoever long He had willed that men should adore 
 Him, He now rejected them and their worship. 
 
 The task of the conquerors was not, however, finished ; 
 it remained for them to carry the real citadel of Jeru- 
 salem, ancient Sion. The ramparts of this Upper City 
 still stood intact ; the most fanatical of the insurgents 
 had gathered there and at their head were John and Simon, 
 who had joined forces for a supreme struggle. And, 
 nevertheless, when the moment for action arrived the two 
 leaders hesitated; realizing how exhausted their men 
 were, they asked the Eoman general for a parley. They 
 offered to evacuate the stronghold provided that they were 
 allowed to withdraw into the desert, together with their 
 wives and children. Titus had intended simply to par- 
 don them ; but angry that they should dare to impose 
 conditions, he cut short the interview, declaring that 
 nothing was left them but death.'^ 
 
 Thus he must needs begin a new siege, one no less 
 laborious than those preceding it. For in Sion, in itself 
 so formidable, the Jews held possession of a stronghold 
 fitted to withstand all attacks ; this was the Palace of 
 Herod, flanked by its three enormous towers, Hippicus, 
 Phasael, and Mariamne. For eighteen days the four 
 legions were occupied in erecting embankments against 
 the western wall contiguous to this Palace. On the 
 seventh of September, their labors completed, the ma- 
 chines of war were set battering at the ramparts and 
 soon made a breach. To their great surprise, the legions 
 met with no resistance upon their entrance. Famine and 
 fever had done their work in enfeebling the defenders ; 
 half dead, they had but enough breath left in their ema- 
 ciated bodies to flee in every direction and bury them- 
 selves in the underground cavities over which Jerusalem 
 
 1 Matt. xxiv. 15. '^ Joseplius, Bell. Jud., vi. vi. 2, 3. 
 
THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. 317 
 
 is built. All clay long the Komans rushed about through 
 the narrow streets of Sion, lootmg, slaying, and burning 
 everything in their path, but from many of the dwellings 
 whence they expected to reap rich booty, they were forced 
 to recoil, suffocated by the stench of corpses with which 
 they were filled. Night put an end to the carnage and 
 gave the flames full sway to complete the work of de- 
 struction. When Titus arrived upon the blazing hill-top 
 and beheld intact those towers of Herod which no ma- 
 chine of war could ever have impaired, this last victory 
 of his, easy as it was, seemed to him a miracle, and he 
 gave thanks unto the God who had fought for him.^ 
 
 The following days were employed in ransacking the 
 sewers and underground passages of the city, whence 
 they dragged many thousand new captives, discovering 
 two immense treasures which, when added to the booty 
 gathered from the rest of Jerusalem, formed such a mass 
 of gold that the price of that metal fell by one-half 
 l:liroughout Syria. Titus' share of the spoils comprised 
 the sacred objects saved from the Sanctuary of the 
 Temple : the Yeil of the Holy of Holies, the Book of 
 the Law, the Table of the Bread of Proposition, and the 
 Seven-Branched Candlestick; these he set aside to be 
 used in his triumph. Beside these trophies, an enormous 
 number of prisoners remained in his hands ; Josephus 
 reckons them as being about ninety-seven thousand. 
 This throng, driven toward the Temple, were there herded 
 together like cattle within a part of the enclosure still 
 standing, and there the soldiers, like cowboys of the plains, 
 rushed in and cut them out. All such as had borne arms 
 were slaughtered ; the only ones spared were seven hun- 
 dred young men of fine figure and exceptional beauty, 
 who were destined to lend lustre to the triumph of the 
 conqueror. As to the others, those wlio were less than 
 seventeen years of age were sold; the rest were reserved for 
 the mines or the amphitheatre. Such was the exhausted 
 condition of these captives that during the few days de- 
 
 1 Josephus, Bell. Jud., vi. viii. 1, 4, 5 ; ix. 1. 
 
318 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 voted to this work of selection thousands of them died 
 from weakness, others from despair.^ 
 
 The two leaders of the rebellion were not among the 
 number of these unfortunates, and they were searched 
 for in vain. John of Giscala was the first whom hunger 
 constrained to reveal himself ; he gave himself up to 
 Titus, who spared his life and was content merely to im- 
 prison him.^ Simon had a larger stock of victuals at his 
 disposal ; it was only toward the end of October that the 
 soldiers who guarded the Temple saw rising out of the 
 ground a creature wasted to a skeleton, covered with a 
 white tunic and purple mantle. It was Simon, who, his 
 provisions and his strength alike exhausted, was attempt- 
 ing to pass through their lines in the guise of a ghost. 
 He was arrested, speedily recognized, and despatched to 
 Caesarea to be left at the disposal of Titus.^ 
 
 For at this period the Prince, having left Jerusalem, 
 was making his progress through Syria in celebration of 
 his victory. The prisoners he had in his train formed an 
 ample stock to draw from for the cruel sports of the circus. 
 In the amphitheatre at Cyesarea-Philippi two thousand 
 five hundred were burned alive, thrown before wild 
 beasts, or forced to kill one another. At Beyrout there 
 was a similar massacre. After this fashion the conqueror 
 marched on as far as Antioch and the Euphrates, every- 
 where acclaimed.* Turning back towards Egypt, he called 
 a halt on the way and expressed a desire to see Jeru- 
 salem again. The destruction ordered by him was ac- 
 complished. Of all that city whose haughty beauty had 
 dazzled his eyes only six months previous, a city so 
 mighty in armed men and good as to be able to defy 
 Eome, — of all this wonder of the world there remained 
 but a heap of ruins. The Tenth Legion pitched their 
 camp on the littered site of the Temple. On the summit 
 of Mount Sion, Herod's three towers, rCwSpected by his 
 commands, still stood as witnesses to the obstacles he 
 
 1 Josephus, Bell.Jud., vi. ix. 2-4. ^ lt)i,|.^ yii. ji. i. 
 
 2 Ibid., vi. ix. 4. * Ibid,, vii. ii. ; i 
 
 iii. 1 ; V. 1, 2. 
 
THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. 319 
 
 had triumphed over : some walls of buildings were like- 
 wise left along the spur of this hill, and among them the 
 Cenaculum,^ where Jesus had substituted for the Mosaic 
 Eitual a worship in spirit and in truth, the Eternal Sacri- 
 fice, the Eucharist. 
 
 The other quarters of Jerusalem, Bezetha, Acra, and 
 Ophel, had disappeared entirely, and a similar state of 
 devastation reigned for more than five miles roundabout. 
 The outskirts of Jerusalem, where once luxuriant gardens 
 gladdened the eye, had been turned into a waste of rocks 
 and rubbish such as it is to-day. Touched to the heart, 
 Titus wept over the unfortunate town, and cursed those 
 madmen who had forced him thus to spread havoc about 
 their own hearthstones. Even the fame he had won from 
 this war seemed to him now an oppressive burden ; to 
 those who lavished congratulations upon him, he was wont 
 to reply, " 'T was not I that conquered. God in His wrath 
 against these Jews made use of my arm." ^ 
 
 These sentiments which Pagans and Jews alike ascribe 
 to Titus, in no wise altered his determination to make a 
 triumphal entry into Eome. Vespasian's stern simplicity 
 was not at all to his taste ; his son's enthusiasm swept away 
 all his objections and forced him to consent to surround 
 the ceremony with a pomp exceeding anything ever known 
 hitherto. To the fascinated gaze of Josephus the pro- 
 cession appeared like a scintillating stream of gold and 
 silver and ivory and precious stones pouring in waves of 
 color along the Via Sacra. All the marvels of the Orient 
 found their place in this gorgeous display, costly tapes- 
 tries, rare animals magnificently caparisoned, everything 
 in fact, which art and nature had combined to produce 
 in those foreign parts. Great scaffoldings, three or four 
 stories high, were dragged along in front of the onlook- 
 ers, displaying for their benefit the various episodes of the 
 great war in a series of tableaux. Thereafter, as living 
 trophies, marched the picked men among the captives, 
 
 1 St. Epiphaiiins, De mensuris, 14. 
 
 2 Josephus, Bell. Jud., vii. v. 2 ; Philostratus, vi, 29. 
 
320 LAST YEARS OF SAINT PAUL. 
 
 those seven hundred youths, the most splendid specimens 
 of the Jewish race, whom he had kept in reserve for this 
 pageant; at their head stalked Simon-ben-Gioras, the 
 hangman's noose about his neck ; by this they led him 
 along to death, scourging him at every step. Vespasian 
 and Titus in their triumphal chariot brought up the rear, 
 but before them were carried all that truly symbolized 
 the victory won in this war, — the Book of the Law and 
 the sacred spoils snatched from the burning Temple, the 
 Table of Gold, the Seven-Branched Candlestick, and the 
 Veil of Purple from the Holy of Holies.^ According to 
 ancient usage, the procession halted at the foot of the 
 Capitol, and Simon was dragged into the Mamertine 
 prison, flung into the Tullianum dungeon, then strangled. 
 After but a few moments a messenger announced to the 
 Caesars that the enemy of Eome was no more : there- 
 upon sacrifices were offered and the day ended in merry- 
 making.2 
 
 To Vespasian all this parade had been but as a weari- 
 ness to the flesh and a waste of time ; ^ to Titus it was 
 the triumph of his life to have obtained his father's 
 permission for it ; in it he saw at once the reflex of his 
 glory and an assurance that henceforth the Empire was 
 bound to remain in the hands of his family. Neither 
 one of them had the least idea that in the designs of 
 God their triumph was but the crowning and the con- 
 secration of that great work to the accomplishment of 
 which, for now forty years, so many lowly martyrs had 
 toiled, first among them Peter and Paul witli their brethren 
 in the Apostolate. This Law against which Paul had 
 waged a tireless warfare, uttering that famous rebuke, 
 that, though good in itself as it was, it did but beget " the 
 wrath of God, sin and death," * — this same Law the Eo- 
 
 1 The arch of Titus in the Forum preserves to this day the memory of 
 his triumphal progress, as well as a picture of the various tokens borne be- 
 fore him : the Table of Gold, the Seven-Branched Candlestick, the Cen- 
 sers, and the Silver Trumpets. 
 
 2 Josephus, Bell. Jud., vii. v. 3-6. * Rom. iv. 15 ; viii. 2 ; vii. 6. 
 
 3 Suetonius, Vespasianus, 12. 
 
THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. 321 
 
 mans were displaying in their pageants, as now powerless 
 and enslaved, in that Book which they carried along the 
 triumphal way. The trophies taken from the Temple 
 bore witness, on their part, to the worth of the whole 
 Mosaic worship : these, " the shadows and figures of 
 heavenly " ^ realities had given place to the Eternal Priest- 
 hood, an undying Sacrifice. Thus, then, was all Jeru- 
 salem abolished, — " that Jerusalem here below doomed, 
 she and her children alike unto bondage." ^ In her stead 
 had arisen that mystical " Sion " ^ greeted from afar by 
 the Apostle to the Gentiles, " a Jerusalem on High, alto- 
 gether of the Heavens."^ In the new order of things 
 Eome was destined to take the place of the Jewish me- 
 tropolis in the olden Covenant ; she was to become the 
 Queen City and the Mother, not of a race, but of the 
 whole world. All this glory, destined to wax greater, 
 and to the end of time, — all this she owed, not to the 
 Flavian Emperors, but to the two humble Apostles whom 
 Jesus sent thither to die among her people, that thus 
 Peter should take in hand Paul's work, and remain 
 forevermore that steadfast foundation which not even 
 the powers of Hell shall prevail against.^ 
 
 1 Hebr. viii. 5. 3 Hebr. xii. 22. 
 
 2 Gal. iv. 25. * Gal. iv. 26 ; Hebr. xii. 22. 
 
 5 " Thou art Peter, and upon tbis Rock will I build My Church ; and 
 the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it." Matt. xvi. 18. 
 
 21 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Abraham, 164. 
 
 AcT.EA, not Paul's convert, 12; 107 
 
 et seq. ; at Nero's death-bed, 270. 
 Agrippa, 42; associated with Albinus, 
 
 156; intercedes for people, 179; 
 
 pleads for peace, 181 ; withdraws into 
 
 Batausea, 182; sends cavalry, 184; 
 
 palace burnt, 184, 303. 
 Albinus, 42; made Procurator, 155 
 
 et seq. 
 Alexander, Philo's nephew, 189. 
 Alexander of Ephesus, 208. 
 Alexandria, massacre, 189. 
 Ananias, associated with Albinus, 
 
 156 ; head of conservative party, 182 ; 
 
 attacked bv Zealots, 184 ; his death, 
 
 185. 
 Annas, appointed High Priest, 42. 
 Aquila and Priscilla with Paul in 
 
 Rome, chap x., 15, 16 ; in Ephesus, 
 
 223. 
 Archives, chamber of at Jerusalem 
 
 burned, 184. 
 
 Babylon, meaning Rome, 140. 
 
 Barnabas, part in composition of He- 
 brews, 158 et seq. 
 
 Bedriacum, 273. 
 
 Berenice, intercedes for people, 179; 
 pleads for peace, 181 ; friend of 
 Titus, 274. 
 
 BuRRHUS, Nero's tutor; inability to 
 instruct Nero, 110, 111. 
 
 C^sarea, outbreak of rebellion, 187. 
 Carpus, Paul's host, 223. 
 Celerus, architect, 112, 117. 
 Cenaculum, preserved, 319. 
 Cestius, 178 ; campaign of, 186 et seq. ; 
 
 his overwhelming defeat, 193 et seq. 
 Christians (of Jerusalem), take flight 
 
 to Pella, 300. 
 Church, the, 79 et seq. 
 Claudia, wife of Pudens (?), 236, n. 4. 
 
 Clement, 25 ; testimony as to perse- 
 cutions, 119 et seq. ; as to martyr- 
 dom, 125; part in composition of 
 Hebrews, 160 et seq., 161, 162, n. 5. 
 
 Corbulo, victories in the East, 259 ; 
 suicide, 263. 
 
 Cornelia (Gens) 15. 
 
 Court of Appeals, 86 et seq. 
 
 Crescens, sent to Galatia, 231. 
 
 Cretans, their character, 203. 
 
 Crete, revisited by Paul, 202 et seq. 
 
 Dalmatia, evangelized, 226. 
 Deaconesses, qualification, 213 et seq. 
 Deacons, qualification, 213. 
 Decapolis, ravaged, 188. 
 Delation, its meaning, 230, n. 3. 
 "DoMiNE, Quo Vadis?" 250. 
 
 Edict, of persecution, chap, vii., § I. 
 
 Eleazar, Captain of the Temple, 182; 
 a perjurer, 185. 
 
 Epaphroditus, 17, 18. 
 
 Ephesians, Epistle to, 71 et seq. 
 
 Ephesus, visited by Paul, 207; re- 
 visited by Paul, 216 et seq. 
 
 Episcopate, chap. xi. 
 
 Epistle, to the Philippians, 17 et seq. ; 
 to the Colossians, chap, iii.; to Phile- 
 mon, chap. iv. ; to Laodicaeans, lost, 
 71; to Ephesians, 71 et seq.; 1st of 
 St. Peter, chap, vii., § H. ; Hebrews, 
 chap, viii.; to Timothy, 218 et seq.; 
 to Titus, 224 et seq. ; 2d of St. Peter, 
 244 et seq. 
 
 Erastus, 223. 
 
 Essenes, doctrine, 51 et seq. 
 
 Extreme Unction, 38 et seq. 
 
 Galba, death, 273. 
 Ga:mes (Quinquennial), 128. 
 Gates, of the Temple, 177. 
 Gaul, in rebellion, 264. 
 Gaulanitis, ravaged, 188. 
 
!24 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Gerasa, ravaged, 188. 
 
 Gkssius Flohus, governor of Judaea, 
 174 et seq. ; stirring up rebellion, 
 178; abandons Jerusalem, 186. 
 
 Gnostics, tendencies, 49 et seq. 
 
 Golden House, 112 et seq., 116 ; com- 
 pleted, 229. 
 
 GEiECiNA (Pomponia), histor}-^, 13. 
 
 Greece, visited by Nero, 260 et seq. 
 
 Hanan, leader of Jews, 291 ; death, 291. 
 
 Hebrews, chap. viii. 
 
 Henoch, 171. 
 
 Henoch (Book of), quoted, 119; by 
 
 Jude, 197 et seq. 
 Helius, 235 ; power in Rome, 260 ; 
 
 recalls Nero, 263. 
 Heretics, of Rome, 10; Gnostics, 
 
 chap, iii.; scourged by St. Jude, 
 
 195 et seq., 221, 239 et seq. ; rebuked 
 
 by Peter, 245 et seq. 
 Hesebon, ravaged, 188. 
 Hierarchy, chap. xi. 
 HiPPicus, tower, 185. 
 Hymen^us, 208. 
 Hymns, 222, 239. 
 
 Idum^ans, enter Jerusalem, 292. 
 Illyria, evangelized, 226. 
 Incarnation, taught by Paul, 57. 
 
 James (St.), chap. ii. ; death, 42 et seq. 
 
 Jericho, surrenders to rebels, 186. 
 
 Jerusalem, first persecution 154, 
 et seq. ; first uprising, chap, ix., § I. ; 
 destruction of, chap. xv. 
 
 Jesus (son of Hannan), history, 45. 
 
 Jews, of Rome, 5; animosit}'- toward 
 Christians, 120 et seq. 
 
 John of Giscala, capitulates, 287; 
 flight, 288; enters Jerusalem, 288; 
 imprisonment, 318. 
 
 JosEPHUS, Governor of Galilee, 280; 
 loses Gabara, 282; undertakes siege 
 of Jotapata, 283 ; made prisoner, 285, 
 303. 
 
 JosuE, 165. 
 
 JuD^A (rebellion of), chap. ix. 
 
 JuDAizERS, at Rome, 10; in Macedonia, 
 22, 30; at Colossi, 54; again com- 
 bated by Paul, 73 et seq.; term 
 applied to Christians, 190. 
 
 Jude, Epistle of, chap. x. ; translation, 
 200. 
 
 Julius (Centurion), delivers Paul to 
 Roman authorities. 
 
 Justification, 34 et seq. 
 
 Levites, 180. 
 
 Linus, Peter's successor, 236. 
 Luke, part in composition of Hebrews, 
 160 ; with Paul in Rome, 231. 
 
 Malta, revisited by Paul, 202. 
 Mamertine (prison), 251, n. 3. 
 Man ahem, 184; his death, 185. 
 Mariamnb, the Asmona;an, 181; 
 
 tower, 185. 
 Mark, with Paul in Rome, chap, x., 
 
 16, 64. 
 Martyrs, 118 et seq. 
 Masada, captured by Zealots, 182. 
 Massacres, of the Christians by Nero, 
 
 118 et seq.; of Jews in the East, 186 
 
 et seq. 
 Matthias, 310. 
 
 Melchisedec, history of, 167 et seq. 
 Mesopotamia, field of St. Jude's 
 
 labors, 199. 
 Metilius, cowardl}' surrender, 186. 
 Michael (Archangel), quoted by 
 
 Jude, 198. 
 Moriah (Mt.), illuminated, 177. 
 Moses, 165 ; meeting with Melchise- 
 dec, 168 ; assumption, 198. 
 
 Nero, youthful history, pp. 1-4 ; his 
 attachment to Poppaea, 109; his de- 
 generac3% 110; his part in the burn- 
 ing of Rome, 114 et seq.; massacre 
 of Christians, chap. vi. ; edict of per- 
 secution, 135 et seq. ; reconstructs 
 Rome, 229 et seq. ; despoils the 
 wealthy, 229 et seq. ; decline in 
 popular favor, 258 et seq. ; crowns 
 Tiridates, 259; visits Greece, 260; 
 miserable triumphs, 261 ; recalled to 
 Rome, 263; mad conduct in face of 
 revolt, 265; deserted by Pretorian 
 guard, 267; flight, 268; cowardice, 
 269; death, 270; burial, 271. 
 
 NicopoLis, Paul's headquarters, 226. 
 
 Noe, 171. 
 
 Octavia, 108. 
 
 Olympian Games, won by Nero, 261. 
 
 Onesimus, chap. iv. 
 
 Onesiphorus, with Paul in Rome, 231. 
 
 Otho, joins revolt, 264 et seq. ; takes 
 
 sides with Pretorian Guards, 272; 
 
 his death, 273. 
 
 Palatium, 112. 
 
 Pastoral Epistles, chapter xi. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 325 
 
 Pastors, regulated by Paul, 203 et seq. ; 
 qualifications, 212; instructed, 225. 
 
 Paul, first imprisonment, chap, i.; 
 preaches to Jews of Rome, v et seq. ; 
 writestoPhilippians, ITe^.se^. ; writes 
 to Colossians, 47 etseq. ; to Philemon, 
 64 et seq.; to Laodicasans, 71; to 
 Ephesians, 71 et seq. ; released, 86 
 et seq. ; journey to Spain, 88 et seq. ; 
 Peter's fondness for him and his 
 works, 143 et seq. ; author of He- 
 brews (?), 158 ; revisits Crete, 202 et 
 seq.; leaves for Asia, 206; journey- 
 ings, chapters x.-xii. ; writes to Tim- 
 othy and Titus, chap, xi.; writes 
 again to Timoth}'-, 237 et seq. ; death, 
 chap. xii. ; date of martyrdom, 253 
 n. 3; burial-place, 255. 
 
 Pella, ravaged, 188; described, 300 
 et seq. 
 
 Persecution, first general one, chap, 
 vii. 
 
 Peter, 89; Vatican his See, 129; first 
 letter, chap, vii., § II.; makes use of 
 Jude's Epistle, 202; meets Paul in 
 Nicopolis, 228 ; second Epistle, 244 
 et seq. ; his death, chap. xii. ; date 
 of martyraom, 253 n. 3 ; burial-place, 
 255. 
 
 Phaon, friend of Nero. 
 
 Pharisees, tendencies, 41 et seq. 
 
 Phasael tower, 185. 
 
 Philadelphia, ravaged, 188. 
 
 Philemon, cnap. iv. 
 
 Philetus, 208. 
 
 Philip, his four daughters, 213. 
 
 Philippians, gifts to Paul, Epistle to 
 the, chap, i., § II. 
 
 Phcebe, 214. 
 
 Piso, 107, 229. 
 
 Pliny, concerning edict, 137. 
 
 Pompeii, abuse of Christians, 131. 
 
 Pontificate, corruption of, 41 et seq. 
 
 Popp^A, a Jewish proselyte, 5; not 
 Paul's convert, 12; her character, 
 107 et seq. ; her death, 109 ; sketch 
 of her life, 121; friend of Florus's 
 wife, 178. 
 
 Pr^etorium, where located, 3. 
 
 Prayer, in Paul's life, 75 et seq. 
 
 Presages, 177. 
 
 Presbytery, 151; qualifications, 212. 
 
 Priesthood, 163 et seq. 
 
 Priests, 180; qualifications, 212 et 
 seq. 
 
 Pudens, 14; ministers to Paul, 236. 
 
 PUTEOLI, 162. 
 
 Qu^stiones Perpetuae, 233. 
 
 Rationalist, authenticity of Paul's 
 
 Epistles, vi-vii. 
 Robbers, of Judaea, 155. 
 Rome, burning of, chap, vi., § I.; 
 
 propaganda of Church, 120 ; termed 
 
 Babylon, 140. 
 RuFUS, made Prefect of Pretorian 
 
 Guards. 
 
 Sacrifice, Holy, still offered, 298; 
 could never more be held, 311. 
 
 Sanhedrin, intercedes with Florus, 
 179. 
 
 Scopus, encampment of Roman army, 
 192. 
 
 Scythopolis, story of, 188. 
 
 Seneca, Nero's tutor, chap, i.; in- 
 ability to instruct Nero, 110; allusion 
 to persecution, 129, w. 2; not Paul's 
 convert, chap. xiii. 
 
 Severus, architect, 112, 117. 
 
 Sibylline Books, 118. 
 
 SiLVANUS, history, 142. 
 
 Simon, his death, 188 et seq. 
 
 SiON, its capture by Titus, chap. xv. 
 
 Slaves, of Rome, 12; duties of, 62; 
 Onesimus, 65; during the first cen- 
 turies of Christianity, 66 et seq. 
 
 Sohemus, 191. 
 
 Spain, Paul's journey to, 88 et seq. ; 
 homeward journey, 162. 
 
 Sporus, 270. 
 
 Suetonius, 115; testimony concern- 
 ing Christians, 122. 
 
 Tacitus, testimony concerning Chris- 
 tians, 122, 132, 
 
 Tarich^a, destroyed by Vespasian, 
 287. 
 
 Temple, 175 ; presages of destruction, 
 177; despoiled of its treasury', 178. 
 
 Theophilus, 92. 
 
 Tiberias, destroyed by Vespasian, 
 287. 
 
 TiGELLiNUS, made Prefect of Pretorian 
 Guard, chap, iii., 107; responsibility 
 to Nero, 266 et seq. ; for conflagra- 
 tion, 114, 116; traitor to. 
 
 TiGELLiNUS, Prefect of Pretorium, 235, 
 260. 
 
 Timothy, in Rome, 64; copies Epistle 
 to Philemon, 69; made Bishop of 
 Crete, 216: Epistle to, 218 et seq.; 
 second letter, 237 et seq. 
 
 Timothy, with Paul in Rome, chap, x., 
 16 ; copies down Epistle to the Philip- 
 pians, 18. 
 
326 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 TiKiDATES, crowned King of Armenia, 
 
 259. 
 Titus (St.), left as Bishop of Crete, 
 
 205 ; recalled from Crete, 224 et seq. ; 
 
 with Paul in Rome, 231; sent to 
 
 Dalmatia, 232. 
 Titus (son of Vespasian), chap. xv. 
 Tradition, in Paul's teachings, 222. 
 Treasury, 180. 
 
 Tke Fontane, scene of Paul's martyr- 
 dom, 255. 
 Trophies, 254. 
 Trophimus, 223. 
 Tryphenus, with Paul in Rome, 
 
 chap. X. 
 Tryphosus, with Paul in Rome, 
 
 chap. X. 
 TuLLiANUM, described, 251, n. 3. 
 Tychicus, with Paul in Rome, chap. 
 
 X. 16, 231; sent to Ephesus, 232. 
 
 Vatican, Nero's Gardens, 111; scene 
 of martyrdom, 124; Peter's See, 129; 
 
 scene of his martyrdom, 252 et seq. ; 
 
 scene of Nero's triumph, 264. 
 Vespasian, sent into Judasa, 264; 
 
 poverty, 274. 
 ViNDEX (Julius), raises standard of 
 
 revolt, 264 et seq. ; his death, 272. 
 Virgin (the Blessed), cousin of St. 
 
 Jude, 197. 
 Vitellius, conquers Rome, 274; death, 
 
 276. 
 
 Wives, duties of, 62, 82. 
 
 Women, of Macedonia, 24, 62 ; Peter's 
 advice to, 148; Paul's directions, 213 
 et seq. ; of Asia rebuked, 219. 
 
 Word of God, 52. 
 
 Xystus, meeting-place of people, 181. 
 
 Zealots, incite Jerusalem to revolt, 
 177, 180; storm Masada, 182; take 
 possession of Jerusalem, 184 et seq. ; 
 admit Idumoeans, 292 et seq. 
 
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