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| The Emperor thankfully ascribes his Victories and all other Blessings to Christ; and condemns the Conduct of the Tyrant Maximin, the Violence of whose Persecution had enhanced the Glory of Religion.
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Chapter XXII.—The Emperor
thankfully ascribes his Victories and all other Blessings to Christ;
and condemns the Conduct of the Tyrant Maximin, the Violence of whose
Persecution had enhanced the Glory of Religion.
To thee, Piety, I ascribe the cause of my own prosperity, and of all
that I now possess. To this truth the happy issue of all my endeavors
bears testimony: brave deeds, victories in war, and triumphs over
conquered foes. This truth the great city itself allows with joy and
praise. The people, too, of that much-loved city accord in the same
sentiment, though once, deceived by ill-grounded hopes, they chose a
ruler unworthy of themselves,3483
| 3483 [Maxentius (W. Lowth in loc.).—Bag.] | a ruler who
speedily received the chastisement which his audacious deeds deserved.
But be it far from me now to recall the memory of these events, while
holding converse with thee, Piety, and essaying with earnest endeavor
to address thee with holy and gentle words. Yet will I say one thing,
which haply shall not be unbefitting or unseemly. A furious, a cruel,
and implacable war was maintained by the tyrants against thee, Piety,
and thy holy churches: nor were there wanting some in Rome itself who
exulted at a calamity so grievous to the public weal. Nay, the
battlefield was prepared; when thou didst stand forth,3484
| 3484 This passage clearly refers to the voluntary sufferings of the
martyrs. See the note of Valesius. | and present thyself a voluntary
victim, supported by faith in God. Then indeed it was that the cruelty
of ungodly men, which raged incessantly like a devouring fire, wrought
for thee a wondrous and ever memorable glory. Astonishment seized the
spectators themselves, when they beheld the very executioners who
tortured the bodies of their holy victims wearied out, and disgusted at
the cruelties;3485
the bonds
loosened, the engines of torture powerless, the flames extinguished,
while the sufferers preserved their constancy unshaken even for a
moment. What, then, hast thou gained by these atrocious deeds, most
impious of men?3486
| 3486 Alluding to Maximin, the most bitter persecutor of the Christians,
as appears from the title of this chapter. | And what was
the cause of thy insane fury? Thou wilt say, doubtless, these acts of
thine were done in honor of the gods. What gods are these? or what
worthy conception hast thou of the Divine nature? Thinkest thou the
gods are subject to angry passions as thou art? Were it so indeed, it
had been better for thee to wonder at their strange determination than
obey their harsh command, when they urged thee to the unrighteous
slaughter of innocent men. Thou wilt allege, perhaps, the customs of
thy ancestors and the opinion of mankind in general, as the cause of
this conduct. I grant the fact: for those customs are very like the
acts themselves, and proceed from the self-same source of folly. Thou
thoughtest, it may be, that some special power resided in images formed
and fashioned by human art; and hence thy reverence, and diligent care
lest they should be defiled: those mighty and highly exalted gods, thus
dependent on the care of men!E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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