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Of the Manner in Which the Persecutors Died

Lactantius

Chapter 3

About this work

Author: Lactantius

Chap. III.

After an interval of some years from the death

‹ Chapter 2 Chapter 4 ›

of

Nero

,

there

arose

another

tyrant

no

less

wicked

(

Domitian

)

,

who

,

although

his

government

was

exceedingly

odious

,

for

a

very

long

time

oppressed

his

subjects

,

and

reigned

in

security

,

until

at

length

he

stretched

forth

his

impious

hands

against

the

Lord

.

Having

been

instigated

by

evil

demons

to

persecute

the

righteous

people

,

he

was

then

delivered

into

the

power

of

his

enemies

,

and

suffered

due

punishment

.

To

be

murdered

in

his

own

palace

was

not

vengeance

ample

enough

:

the

very

memory

of

his

name

was

erased

.

For

although

he

had

erected

many

admirable

edifices

,

and

rebuilt

the

Capitol

,

and

left

other

distinguished

marks

of

his

magnificence

,

yet

the

senate

did

so

persecute

his

name

,

as

to

leave

no

remains

of

his

statues

,

or

traces

of

the

inscriptions

put

up

in

honour

of

him

;

and

by

most

solemn

and

severe

decrees

it

branded

him

,

even

after

death

,

with

perpetual

infamy

.

Thus

,

the

commands

of

the

tyrant

having

been

rescinded

,

the

Church

was

not

only

restored

to

her

former

state

,

but

she

shone

forth

with

additional

splendour

,

and

became

more

and

more

flourishing

.

And

in

the

times

that

followed

,

while

many

well

-

deserving

princes

guided

the

helm

of

the

Roman

empire

,

the

Church

suffered

no

violent

assaults

from

her

enemies

,

and

she

extended

her

hands

unto

the

east

and

unto

the

west

,

insomuch

that

now

there

was

not

any

the

most

remote

corner

of

the

earth

to

which

the

divine

religion

had

not

penetrated

,

or

any

nation

of

manners

so

barbarous

that

did

not

,

by

being

converted

to

the

worship

of

God

,

become

mild

and

gentle

.

Notes

1
[See especially vol. iv. p. 141 for the intermediary pauses of persecutions, while yet in many places Christians “died daily.”]