CLASSICS 219: THE ROMAN EMPIRE
Precept 8 : Persecution

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Readings
Eusebius, History of the Church
• Book 2, sec. 1-3 (Penguin pp. 35-40), 13-16 (pp. 47-50), 22-25 (pp. 57-63);
• Book 3. 17-20 (pp. 80-82), 26-29 (pp.89-93), 32-38 (95-100);
• Book 4. 14-17 (pp. 116-126), 28-30 (pp. 136-137);
• Book 5. 1 (pp. 139-148), 16-18 (pp. 160-167);
• Book 6. 1-8 (pp. 179-187), 16-23 (pp. 193-200);
• L&R sec. 167-169 (pp. 550-561), 171 (pp. 564-566);
• The Martyrdom of Saints Perpetua and Felicitas

Eusebius (c. 260-339) is one of the most important of western historians. His goal was to describe and explain the rise and triumph of Christianity and the Christian Church. In doing so he gives us the only complete surviving narrative history (albeit one-sided) of the principate, but he breaks with the whole tradition of classical historiography: he does not make up speeches for the actors, and he quotes at length from original documents. With him, a new conception of the nature of historical truth was born.

The rise of the Church will occupy us under several headings, but this week we are concerned particularly with persecution between 30 and 250 A.D. What was persecution? What forms did it take? How did contemporaries perceive it? BE PREPARED TO CITE EVIDENCE.

1. Re-read Pliny's letter and Trajan's reply carefully (Letters, book 10, nos. 96-97: in L&R or in the Penguin edition or on the web). Three categories of Christians are distinguished: what are they, how does Pliny treat them, and how does Trajan react?
2. In the years before 250, what are the possible reactions of Roman officials, imperial and local, to the new religion, and what motivates them? Is there an official persecution? How do you define persecution?
3. In the same period, how do ordinary people treat the Christians, and again why do they act they way they do?
4. How and why do pagan intellectuals take notice of Christians? Note especially their opponent, the first great Christian intellectual, Origen.
5. This week you will read several authentic, first-hand accounts of the Acts of the Martyrs: the Martyrs of Scillium, in L&R 171; St Polycarp, in Eusebius 4.15; the Martyrs of Lyons, in Eusebius 5.1; St. Perpetua and St. Felicitas. Note the relations of the Christians within their own group and with outsiders. What gives them their strength to resist and what attracts others to them?
6. The story of Perpetua is stunning: why?
7. Eusebius discusses numerous heresies within the church. What are the controversial questions dividing the community? Are heresies purely theological in nature? Was the early church itself a persecutor?

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Last Updated: 2004-04-28

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