OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 157 appeared the least favourable to the primitive church, CHAP, is by no means so criminal as that of modern sove- ^^^^" reigns, who have employed the arm of violence and terror against the religious opinions of any part of their subjects. From their reflections, or even from their own feelings, a Charles the fifth, or a Lewis the fourteenth, might have acquired a just knowledge of the rights of conscience, of the obligation of faith, and of the innocence of error. But the princes and magi- strates of ancient Rome were strangers to those princi- ples which inspired and authorised the inflexible ob- stinacy of the christians in the cause of truth ; nor could they themselves discover in their own breasts, any motive which would have prompted them to refuse a legal, and as it were a natural submission to the sacred institutions of their country. The same reason which contributes to alleviate the guilt, must have tended to abate the rigour of their persecutions. As they were actuated, not by the furious zeal of bigots, but by the temperate policy of legislators, contempt must often have relaxed, and humanity must frequently have suspended, the execution of those laws which they enacted against the humble and obscure followers of Christ. From the general view of their character and motives we might naturally conclude : I. That a con- siderable time elapsed before they considered the new sectaries as an object deserving of the attention of go- vernment. II. That in the conviction of any of their subjects who were accused of so very singular a crime, they proceeded with caution and reluctance. III. That they were moderate in the use of punishments : and IV. That the afflicted church enjoyed many intervals of peace and tranquillity. Notwithstanding the care- less indifference which the most copious and the most minute of the pagan writers have shown to the affairs of the christians*, it may still be in our jjower to con-
- In the various compilation of the Augustan History, (a part of which
was composed under the reign of Constantine,) there are not six lines which relate to the christians; nor has the diligence of Xiphilin discovered their name in the large history of Dion Cassias.
