104 Chapter 6
apart by wild beasts, impressed spectators and power-
fully endorsed the concept of eternal life. Many pagans
converted in spite of the obvious danger. Admittedly,
had the persecutions been consistent they might have
succeeded, but not all emperors were anti-Christian.
Each persecution was followed by a generation or more
in which the numbers of the faithful could be replaced
and even grow.
Though persecution backfired, Christianity needed
to explain itself to the educated elite to gain general ac-
ceptance. Moreover, as the movement spread, differ-
ences of opinion began to develop within it. During the
second and third centuries, a growing number of writ-
ers addressed themselves both to the task of defining
Christian doctrine and explaining it in terms acceptable
to those who had received a Greco-Roman philosophi-
cal education. These men, who eventually became
known as the Fathers of the Church, included the apol-
ogist Justin Martyr and theologians such as Tertullian,
Origen, and Clement of Alexandria. Together, they be-
gan the process of forging a new intellectual tradition
based upon faith as well as reason.
By the end of the third century, perhaps 10 percent
of the empire was Christian. Most of the followers were
concentrated in the east or in Africa. More significant,
the Fathers had done their work: Converts were coming
increasingly from the upper classes. In cities in Syria and
Asia Minor, Christians had become a majority and even
the leading families had accepted the faith. The last, and
one of the most terrible, of the persecutions occurred
under Diocletian in 303, but by then the church was too
strong to be destroyed (see chronology 6.1).The Crisis of the Later Roman Empire
In 1776, Edward Gibbon described the fall of Rome as
“the triumph of Christianity and barbarism.” Though
his The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empireis one of theDOCUMENT 6.1
Tacitus: Nero’s Persecution of Christians
Tacitus (c. A.D. 56–120) is the best known of the ancient Roman his-
torians. He was born to a patrician family in Gaul, educated at Rome,
and rose to the Senate and then to become consul under Nerva in
A.D. 97. Tacitus produced two long histories, The Annals(covering
A.D. 14–68) and The Histories(covering A.D. 68–96). Together
they provide the best record of the early Principate. The Annals, from
which the following excerpt is taken, is one of the few contemporary
sources to mention Jesus of Nazareth.
A disaster followed, whether accidental or treacherously
contrived by the Emperor is uncertain, as authors have
given both accounts; a fire—worse, and more dreadful
than any which have ever happened to this city—broke
out amid the shops containing inflammable wares, and in-
stantly became fierce and rapid from the wind.... It dev-
astated everyplace below the hills, outstripping all
preventive measures; the city, with the narrow winding
passages and irregular streets that characterized old Rome,
was at its mercy....
All human efforts, all the lavish gifts of the Emperor,
all attempts to placate the Gods, did not dispel the infa-
mous suspicion the fire had been started at someone’s
command. To quiet the rumor, Nero blamed and inge-
niously tortured a people popularly called Christians,
hated for their abominations [including their prediction
that the world would soon end in a conflagration marking
the second coming]. Christus, from whom the cult had its
origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of
Tiberius, at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius
Pilate, but this noxious superstition [Christianity], sup-
pressed for a moment, broke out again not only in Judea,
where it began, but in Rome itself, where all things
hideous and shameful from every part of the world be-
come popular.
Nero first arrested all who confessed [to being Chris-
tians]; then, upon their testimony, a vast multitude was
convicted not so much of arson as of hatred of the human
race. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths.
They were sewn in the skins of beasts and torn to pieces
by dogs. Many died nailed on crosses or burned at the
stake to illuminate the night. Nero gave his gardens for
the spectacle and put on a circus, mingling with the
crowd in the costume of a charioteer.... Thus, even
though the victims deserved the severest penalty, a
feeling of compassion arose on the ground that they
suffered not for the public good but to glut the cruelty
of one man.
Tacitus. The Annals,book 15, chaps. 38, 44, trans. A. J. Church and
W. J. Brodribb. New York: Macmillan, 1906.