Christians in mind when he wrote the passage, which only condemns an eagerness to meet death without real justification and without due dignity.[1]
There are other expressions in this book which seem to glance at a body of men who must have been often in Marcus's thoughts. For instance, when he speaks (vii. 68) of those who "can live out their lives in the utmost peace of mind, even though all the world cry out against them what they choose, and the beasts tear them limb from limb," he cannot be thinking of criminals in the ordinary sense of the word, for it is evident that innocent people are meant, and if so, what innocent people received such treatment? It is not at all impossible—I think it highly probable—that Marcus looked upon the Christians as misguided enthusiasts, who had to be punished as the law then stood,[2] but whom he no more than Hadrian and Pius[3] wished to punish. Again (vii. 51) he quotes the indignant cry of whom but the Christians? They kill us, they cut us limb from limb, they execrate us! Adding the comment: How does that prevent you from being pure, sane, sober, just? In yet another place (iii. 16), in words that point still more conclusively to the Christians, he acknowledges that to own the Intelligence as ruler and guide to what is a clear duty is found also among "those who do not believe in Gods, and those who will not stand by
- ↑ This is not much more than what Clem. Alex. says, Stromata, iv. 4. There were some egregious cases of voluntary martyrdom in Spain under the Moslems (see the present writer's Christianity and Islam in Spain, pp. 37 ff.). See also the conduct of Callistus, afterwards Bishop of Rome. Hippolytus, Refut. Haer. ix 12. Nor were philosophers exempt from the reproach of dying iactationis causa (see Digest, xxvii. 3. 6. 7).
- ↑ This was the view of Rusticus, his 'domestic philosopher.' (See Acts of Justin Martyr.)
- ↑ This is clear from the joint letter of Marcus and Pius to the Larissaeans, Thessalonicans, Athenians, and all the Greeks against mob-violence towards the Christians; see Melito in Eusebius, iv. 26, § 10).
