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Of the Manner in Which the Persecutors Died

Lactantius

Chapter 15

About this work

Author: Lactantius

Chap. XV.

And now Diocletian raged, not only against his

‹ Chapter 14 Chapter 16 ›

own

domestics

,

but

indiscriminately

against

all

;

and

he

began

by

forcing

his

daughter

Valeria

and

his

wife

Prisca

to

be

polluted

by

sacrificing

.

Eunuchs

,

once

the

most

powerful

,

and

who

had

chief

authority

at

court

and

with

the

emperor

,

were

slain

.

Presbyters

and

other

officers

of

the

Church

were

seized

,

without

evidence

by

witnesses

or

confession

,

condemned

,

and

together

with

their

families

led

to

execution

.

In

burning

alive

,

no

distinction

of

sex

or

age

was

regarded

;

and

because

of

their

great

multitude

,

they

were

not

burnt

one

after

another

,

but

a

herd

of

them

were

encircled

with

the

same

fire

;

and

servants

,

having

millstones

tied

about

their

necks

,

were

cast

into

the

sea

.

Nor

was

the

persecution

less

grievous

on

the

rest

of

the

people

of

God

;

for

the

judges

,

dispersed

through

all

the

temples

,

sought

to

compel

every

one

to

sacrifice

.

The

prisons

were

crowded

;

tortures

,

hitherto

unheard

of

,

were

invented

;

and

lest

justice

should

be

inadvertently

administered

to

a

Christian

,

altars

were

placed

in

the

courts

of

justice

,

hard

by

the

tribunal

,

that

every

litigant

might

offer

incense

before

his

cause

could

be

heard

.

Thus

judges

were

no

otherwise

approached

than

divinities

.

Mandates

also

had

gone

to

Maximian

Herculius

and

Constantius

,

requiring

their

concurrence

in

the

execution

of

the

edicts

;

for

in

matters

even

of

such

mighty

importance

their

opinion

was

never

once

asked

.

Herculius

,

a

person

of

no

merciful

temper

,

yielded

ready

obedience

,

and

enforced

the

edicts

throughout

his

dominions

of

Italy

.

Constantius

,

on

the

other

hand

,

lest

he

should

have

seemed

to

dissent

from

the

injunctions

of

his

superiors

,

permitted

the

demolition

of

churches

,

—

mere

walls

,

and

capable

of

being

built

up

again

,

—

but

he

preserved

entire

that

true

temple

of

God

,

which

is

the

human

body

.

Notes

1
[Truly an eloquent passage, and a tribute to Constantius, which Constantine, in filial humour, must have relished.]