apostolicfathers0201clem - Carmel Apologetics

460 EPISTLE OF S. POLYCARP.
only recorded martyrdoms in proconsular Asia during his reign are those
of Polycarp and his companions. The narrative suggests that these
were planned and carried out entirely in the province itself, without the
action of the emperor. He would probably have stopped them,
if he
could. But, even if interposition had been possible at so great a distance
from Rome, he was powerless. Religion was identified with polity in
the Roman system; and of this system the emperor was the chief
corner-stone. Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, all had been deified before
him—the last by the express wish of Antoninus Pius himself, despite the
of the Senate'. M. Aurelius, L. Verus, Commodus, all would
opposition
be deified after him. He himself was destined to deification, when his
time came. Nor was this apotheosis with its consequent worship postponed
till after death. In no region did the cultus of the living
emperor assume such gigantic proportions as in Asia Minor and at no
;
period did it advance by more rapid strides than in the age of the
Antonines. The high character and the upright rule of these sovereigns
disposed men the more readily to yield a homage which they were not
prepared to deny even to dissolute tyrants. Antoninus Pius himself
was invoked at one time as the new Dionysus, at another as Zeus
Eleutherius'. His wife Faustina was the new Demeter^ His two
adopted sons, M. Aurelius and L. Verus, were the Olympian gods, the
new Dioscuri*, the twin brothers, sons of Zeus. The machinery of
persecution was ready to hand in this political religion. Though
Antoninus himself might have no desire to set it in motion, if yet the
impetus were once given from without, he was powerless to stop it. At
best he could only guide and moderate the popular excitement. Nor
were occasions wanting to supply the impulse. Though the wisdom,
IMP. CAESARl . T.AELIO.HADRIANO.AN- had been designated vioi Atwi/cros CI. G.
TONING . AVG . PIG. P . P . PONTIF. MAX .
3455, 6786; and also Z€i>s with various
TRIE . POT . VI . cos . Ill . OPTIMO MAXI- . epithets, such as AwSoj^/atos C. I. G. 1822,
MOQ
. PRINCIPI . ET . CVM . SVMMA . BE- 'EXei/^^ptos il>. ii-j^, but most commonly
NIGNITATE.IVSTISSIMO.OB.INSIGNEM. 'OXlV/LtTTlOS (e.g. C.I. G. 13x2, 1822, 2179,
ERGA.CAERIMONIAS.PVBLICAS.CVRAM. 3036 Journ. of Hell. Stud. VI. p. 363),
;
AC . RELIGIONEM . either alone or combined with other
1
Dion Cass. Ixix. 23, Ixx. i, Spartian. epithets. On this designation 'OXy/^Trios
Hadrian. 27, CapitoHn. Pius 5, Aurel. see below, p. 468.
Victor Caes. 14, Eutrop. Brev. viii. 3.
^
Boeckh C. I. G. 6280 B ^eal 6^ /xic
2 He is vio% Aio'cvo-os in Boeckh C. I. G. ovpaviuvai Tlovcriv, Atjcj re vi-q, Atjui re
349 {Inscr. Attic, ill. 22); and Zei>s in TraXat^, i.e. the new Demeter Faustina
C. I. G. 350, 1
313, 1 314, Add. 4303 h, as well as the original Demeter : see the
in the first passage {=Inscr. Alt. III. 527) note in Boeckh in. p. 923.
with the epithet 'EXeu^^ptos.
*
In like manner Hadrian before him AtocrKoupot.
C. I. G. 1316 Oeoi 'OMiittioi, vioi