apostolicfathers0201clem - Carmel Apologetics

456 EPISTLE OF S. POLYCARP.
contained in any extant writing of Irengeus, but it is
by no means certain
that the story would not have escaped Eusebius, either from inadvertence
or from ignorance.
Thus the reign of the most humane, most beneficent, and most upright
of the Roman emperors — the Numa of the imperial regime'
— was
stained with the blood of an innocent and blameless man, whose
extreme old age, if
nothing else, might have exempted him from such
a fate. The fact is a striking comment on Roman polity ;
for the
result was inevitable. If the view which has been taken in a previous
chapter (p. 7 sq) be correct, Christianity had never been anything else
but an illicit rehgion, and Trajan by his famous rescript only formulated
the mode of dealing with it. At all events from his time onward to
the end of the second century
it was directly forbidden by the law, and
its adherents were punishable by death. On this point there is no
divergence of opinion. But, though the law remained unaltered, the
disposition and attitude of the reigning emperor might materially affect
the position of the Christians. The temper of Trajan's immediate
successor would not be unfavourable to them. Easy, versatile, inquisitive,
cosmopolitan in his sympathies and his tastes, Hadrian would
at
all events regard Christianity as an interesting study in the history of
religions. Half sceptic, half devotee ^ a scoffer and a mystic by turns,
stances. Such narratives at all events dWa TrepiepyoTepos'Adpiavos, wanep elirov,
testify to a wide-spread belief. iy^vero, Kal /xavTelats /MayyaveLats re irav-
^
Fronto p. 206 (ed. Naber) 'Numae roSaTraij expfro [after which Dion tells
regiaequiperandus'jCapitol. /'i«Ji3 'Rite the story of Antinous], § 22 'ASptafds 5^
comparatur Numae, cujus felicitatem pie- i:.ayyave'i.ai.s p-iv tktl /cat yorjTeiais iKcvouTo
tatemque et securitatem caerimoniasque wore rov vypov k.t.X. [during
his last
semper obtinuit', Aurel. Victor. £pit. 15 illness]; Ammianus xxv. 4. 17 'praesa-
'quamvis eum Numae contulerit aetas giorum sciscitationi nimiae deditus [Jusua',
Eutrop. Brev. viii. 4 'qui merito lianus], ut aequiparare videretur in hac
Numae Pompilio conferatur, ita ut Romulo parte principem Hadrianum ; supersti-
Trajanus aequetur'. tiosus magis quam sacrorum legitimus
^
For the sceptical side of his charac- observator, innumeras sine parcimonia
ter see the letter to Servianus, Vopiscus pecudes mactans, ut aestimaretur, si rever-
Satuniin. 8 (given below, p. 480) ;
and tisset de Parthis, boves jam defuturos ;
the sportive verses to his departing soul, Marci illius similis Caesaris, in quern id
'
Animula, vagula, etc.,' Spartian. Zi^at/r. accepimus; Oi \evKol /3des Mdpxy rc^
25. For his superstitious tendencies see Katuapf "Af (ti> i/tK^o-jp, i^/xeis aTrwXd/ie^a' ;
Julian's character of him, Caesares p. Pausanias i. 5. 5 (car' tp.k -ijdT] ^aaiX^us
311 ei's re tov ovpavbv d