WEBVTT

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Book Nine, Part One.

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CHAPTERS ONE THROUGH EIGHT.

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Book Nine, Chapter One.

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The Pretended Relaxation.

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Instead of sending the above-quoted decree
to the governors under him, gave them

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verbal commands to relax the war against
us.

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For since he could not in any other way
oppose the decision of his superiors,

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keeping the law which had been already
issued secret, and taking care that it

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might not be made known in the district
under him, he gave an unwritten order to

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his governors that they should relax the
persecution against us.

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They communicated the command to each
other in writing.

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Sabinus, at least, who was honored with
the highest official rank among them,

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communicated the will of the Emperor to
the provincial governors in a Latin

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epistle, the translation of which is as
follows.

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With continuous and most devoted
earnestness their majesties, our most

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divine masters, the emperors, formerly
directed the minds of all men to follow

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the holy and correct course of life,
that those also who seemed to live in a

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manner foreign to that of the Romans
should render the worship due to the

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immortal gods.

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But the obstinacy and most unconquerable
determination of some went so far that

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they could neither be turned back from
their purpose by the just reason of the

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command, nor be intimidated by the
impending punishment.

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Since, therefore, it has come to pass that
by such conduct many have brought

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themselves into danger, their majesties,
our most powerful masters, the emperors,

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in the exalted nobility of piety,
esteeming it foreign to their majesties'

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purpose to bring men into so great danger
for such a cause, have commanded their

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devoted servant, myself, to write to thy
wisdom, that if any Christian be found

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engaging in the worship of his own people,
thou shouldst abstain from molesting and

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endangering him, and shouldst not suppose
it necessary to punish anyone on this

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pretext.

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For it has been proved by the experience
of so long a time that they can in no way

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be persuaded to abandon such obstinate
conduct.

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Therefore it should be thy care to write
to the curators and magistrates and

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district overseers of every city,
that they may know that it is not

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necessary for them to give further
attention to this matter.

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Thereupon the rulers of the provinces,
thinking that the purpose of the things

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which were written was truly made known to
them, declared the imperial will to the

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curators and magistrates and prefects of
the various districts in writing.

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But they did not limit themselves to
writing, but sought more quickly to

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accomplish the supposed will of the
emperor in deeds also.

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Those whom they had imprisoned on account
of their confession of the deity they set

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at liberty, and they released those of
them who had been sent to the mines for

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punishment, for they erroneously supposed
that this was the true will of the

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emperor.

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And when these things had thus been done,
immediately, like a light shining forth in

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a dark night, one could see in every city
congregations gathered and assemblies

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thronged, and meetings held according to
their custom.

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And every one of the unbelieving heathen
was not a little astonished at these

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things, wondering at so marvellous a
transformation, and exclaiming that the

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God of the Christians was great and alone
true.

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And some of our people, who had faithfully
and bravely sustained the conflict of

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persecution, again became frank and bold
toward all, but as many as had been

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diseased in the faith and had been shaken
in their souls by the tempest,

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strove eagerly for healing, beseeching and
imploring the strong to stretch out to

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them a saving hand, and supplicating God
to be merciful unto them.

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Then also the noble athletes of religion,
who had been set free from their

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sufferings in the mines, returned to their
own homes.

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Happily and joyfully they passed through
every city, full of unspeakable pleasure

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and of a boldness which cannot be
expressed in words.

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Great crowds of men pursued their journey
along the highways and through the

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marketplaces, praising God with hymns and
psalms.

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And you might have seen those who a little
while before had been driven in bonds from

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their native countries under a most cruel
sentence, returning with bright and joyful

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faces to their own firesides, so that even
they who had formerly thirsted for our

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blood, when they saw the unexpected
wonder, congratulated us on what had taken

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place.

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But the tyrant who, as we have said,
ruled over the districts of the Orient,

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a thorough hater of the good and an enemy
of every virtuous person, as he was,

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could no longer bear this.

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And, indeed, he did not permit matters to
go on in this way quite six months,

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devising all possible means of destroying
the peace he first attempted to restrain

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us under a pretext from meeting in the
cemeteries.

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Then through the agency of some wicked men
he sent an embassy to himself against us,

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inciting the citizens of Antioch to ask
from him a very great favor that he would

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by no means permit any of the Christians
to dwell in their country, and others were

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secretly induced to do the same thing.

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The author of all this in Antioch was
Theoteknus, a violent and wicked man who

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was an imposter and whose character was
foreign to his name.

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He appears to have been the curator of the
city.

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After this man had carried on all kinds of
war against us and had caused our people

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to be diligently hunted up in their
retreats as if they were unholy thieves,

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and had devised every sort of slander and
accusation against us and become the cause

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of death to vast numbers, he finally
erected a statue of Jupiter Filius with

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certain juggleries and magic rites.

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And after inventing unholy forms of
initiation and ill-omened mysteries in

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connection with it, and abominable means
of purification, he exhibited his jugglery

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by oracles which he pretended to utter
even to the emperor, and through a

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flattery which was pleasing to the ruler
he aroused the demon against the

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Christians and said that the god had given
command to expel the Christians as his

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enemies beyond the confines of the city
and the neighboring districts.

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CHAPTER IV.

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THE MEMORIALS AGAINST US The fact that
this man, who took the lead in this

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matter, had succeeded in his purpose was
an incitement to all the other officials

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in the cities under the same government to
prepare a similar memorial, and the

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governors of the provinces perceiving that
this was agreeable to the emperor

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suggested to their subjects that they
should do the same.

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And as the tyrant by a rescript declared
himself well pleased with their measures,

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persecution was kindled anew against us.

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Priests for the images were then appointed
in the cities, and besides them high

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priests by Maximinus himself.

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The latter were taken from among those who
were most distinguished in public life and

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had gained celebrity in all the offices
which they had filled, and who were

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imbued, moreover, with great zeal for the
service of those whom they worshipped.

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Indeed, the extraordinary superstition of
the emperor, to speak in brief,

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led all his subjects, both rulers and
private citizens, for the sake of

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gratifying him to do everything against
us, supposing that they could best show

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their gratitude to him for the benefits
which they had received from him,

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by plotting murder against us,
and exhibiting toward us any new signs of

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malignity.

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CHAPTER V.

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THE FORGED ACTS Having therefore forged
acts of Pilate and our Savior full of

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every kind of blasphemy against Christ,
they sent them with the emperor's approval

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to the whole of the empire subject to him,
with written commands that they should be

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openly posted to the view of all in every
place, both in country and city,

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and that the schoolmasters should give
them to their scholars, instead of their

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customary lessons, to be studied and
learned by heart.

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While these things were taking place,
another military commander, whom the

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Romans called dukes, seized some infamous
women in the marketplace at Damascus in

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Phoenicia, and by threatening to inflict
tortures upon them, compelled them to make

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a written declaration that they had once
been Christians, and that they were

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acquainted with their impious deeds,
that in varied churches they committed

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licentious acts, and they uttered as many
other slanders against our religion as he

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wished them to.

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Having taken down their words in writing,
he communicated them to the emperor,

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who commanded that the documents also
should be published in every place and

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city.

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Not long afterward, however, this military
commander became his own murderer and paid

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the penalty for his wickedness.

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But we were obliged again to endure exile
and severe persecutions, and the governors

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in every province were once more terribly
stirred up against us, so that even some

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of those illustrious in the divine word
were seized and had sentence of death

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pronounced upon them without mercy.

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Three of them in the city of Emesa,
in Phoenicia, having confessed that they

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were Christians, were thrown as food to
the wild beasts.

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Among them was a bishop Silvanus,
a very old man, who had filled his office

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full forty years.

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At about the same time, Peter also,
who presided most illustriously over the

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parishes in Alexandria, a divine example
of a bishop on account of the excellence

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of his life and his study of the sacred
scriptures, being seized for no cause and

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quite unexpectedly, was, as if by command
of Maximinus, immediately and without

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explanation, beheaded, with him also many
other bishops of Egypt suffered the same

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fate.

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And Lucian, a presbyter of the parish at
Antioch, and a most excellent man in every

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respect, temperate in life and famed for
his learning in sacred things,

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was brought to the city of Nicomedia,
where at that time the emperor happened to

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be staying, and after delivering before
the ruler an apology for the doctrine

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which he professed, was committed to
prison and put to death.

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Such trials were brought upon us in a
brief time by Maximinus, the enemy of

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virtue, so that this persecution which was
stirred up against us seemed far more

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cruel than the former.

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CHAPTER VII.

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THE DECREE AGAINST US WHICH WAS ENGRAVED
ON PILLARS The memorials against us and

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copies of the imperial edicts issued in
reply to them were engraved and set up on

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brazen pillars in the midst of the cities,
a course which had never been followed

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elsewhere.

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The children in the schools had daily in
their mouths the names of Jesus and Pilate

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and the acts which had been forged in
wanton insolence.

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It appears to me necessary to insert here
this document of Maximinus which was

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posted on pillars, in order that there may
be made manifest at the same time the

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boastful and haughty arrogance of the
God-hating man and the sleepless,

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evil-hating divine vengeance upon the
impious, which followed close upon him,

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and under whose pressure he not long
afterward took the opposite course in

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respect to us and confirmed it by written
laws.

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The re-script is in the following words.

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Copy of a translation of the re-script of
Maximinus in answer to the memorials

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against us, taken from the pillar in Tyre.

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Now at length the feeble power of the
human mind has become able to shake off

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and to scatter every dark mist of error,
which before this besieged the senses of

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men, who were more miserable than impious,
and enveloped them in dark and destructive

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ignorance, and to perceive that it is
governed and established by the beneficent

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providence of the immortal gods.

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It passes belief how grateful,
how pleasing, and how agreeable it is to

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us that you have given a most decided
proof of your pious resolution,

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for even before this it was known to every
one how much regard and reverence you were

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paying to the immortal gods, exhibiting
not a faith of bare and empty words,

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but continued and wonderful examples of
illustrious deeds.

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Wherefore your city may justly be called a
seat and dwelling of the immortal gods,

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at least it appears by many signs that it
flourishes because of the presence of the

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celestial gods.

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Behold therefore your city, regardless of
all private advantages, and omitting its

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former petitions in its own behalf,
when it perceived that the adherents of

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that execrable vanity were again beginning
to spread, and to start the greatest

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conflagration, like a neglected and
extinguished funeral pyre when its brands

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are rekindled, immediately resorted to our
piety as to a metropolis of all

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religiousness, asking some remedy and aid.

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It is evident that the gods have given you
this saving mind on account of your faith

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and piety.

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Accordingly that supreme and mightiest
Jove, who presides over your illustrious

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city, who preserves your ancestral gods,
your wives and children, your hearths and

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homes from every destructive pest,
has infused into your souls this wholesome

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resolve, showing and proving how excellent
and glorious and salutary it is to observe

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with the becoming reverence the worship
and sacred rites of the immortal gods.

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For who can be found so ignorant or so
devoid of all understanding as not to

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perceive that it is due to the kindly care
of the gods that the earth does not refuse

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the seed sown in it, nor disappoint the
hope of the husbandmen with vain

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expectation, that impious war is not
inevitably fixed upon earth and wasted

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bodies dragged down to death under the
influence of a corrupted atmosphere,

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that the sea is not swollen and raised on
high by blasts of intemperate winds,

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that unexpected hurricanes do not burst
forth and stir up the destructive tempest,

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moreover, that the earth, the nourisher
and mother of all, is not shaken from its

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lowest depths with a terrible tremor,
and that the mountains upon it do not sink

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into the opening chasms.

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No one is ignorant that all these,
and evils still worse than these,

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have oftentimes happened hitherto.

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And all these misfortunes have taken place
on account of the destructive error of the

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empty vanity of those impious men,
when it prevailed in their souls and,

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we may almost say, weighed down the whole
world with shame.

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After other words, he adds, let them look
at the standing crops already flourishing

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with waving heads in the broad fields,
and at the meadows glittering with plants

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and flowers, in response to abundant rains
and the restored mildness and softness of

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the atmosphere.

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Finally, let all rejoice that the might of
the most powerful and terrible Mars has

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been propitiated by our piety,
our sacrifices, and our veneration,

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and let them on this account enjoy firm
and tranquil peace and quiet, and let as

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many as have wholly abandoned that blind
error and delusion and have returned to a

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right and sound mind rejoice the more,
as those who have been rescued from an

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unexpected storm or severe disease,
and are to reap the fruits of pleasure for

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the rest of their life.

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But if they still persist in their
execrable vanity, let them, as you have

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desired, be driven far away from your city
and territory, that thus, in accordance

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with your praiseworthy zeal in this
matter, your city, being freed from every

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pollution and impiety, may, according to
its native disposition, attend to the

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sacred rites of the immortal gods with
becoming reverence.

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But that ye may know how acceptable to us
your request respecting this matter has

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been, and how ready our mind is to confer
benefits voluntarily, without memorials

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and petitions, we permit your devotion to
ask whatever great gift ye may desire in

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return for this your pious disposition.

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And now ask that this may be done and that
ye may receive it, for ye shall obtain it

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without delay.

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This, being granted to your city,
shall furnish for all time an evidence of

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reverent piety toward the immortal gods,
and of the fact that you have obtained

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from our benevolence merited prizes for
this choice of yours, and it shall be

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shown to your children and children's
children.

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This was published against us in all the
provinces, depriving us of every hope of

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good, at least from men, so that,
according to that divine utterance,

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if it were possible, even the elect would
have stumbled at these things.

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And now, indeed, when the hope of most of
us was almost extinct, suddenly,

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while those who were to execute against us
the above decree had in some places

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scarcely finished their journey,
God, the defender of His own church,

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exhibited His heavenly interposition in
our behalf, well-nigh stopping the

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tyrants' boasting against us.

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The customary rains and showers of the
winter season ceased to fall in their

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wanted abundance upon the earth,
and an unexpected famine made its

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appearance, and in addition to this a
pestilence, and another severe disease

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consisting of an ulcer, which on account
of its fiery appearance was appropriately

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called a carbuncle.

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This, spreading over the whole body,
greatly endangered the lives of those who

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suffered from it, but as it chiefly
attacked the eyes, it deprived multitudes

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of men, women, and children of their
sight.

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In addition to this, the tyrant was
compelled to go to war with the Armenians,

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who had been from ancient times friends
and allies of the Romans.

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As they were also Christians, and zealous
in their piety toward the deity,

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the enemy of God had attempted to compel
them to sacrifice to idols and demons,

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and had thus made friends foes and allies
enemies.

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All these things suddenly took place at
one and the same time, and refuted the

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tyrant's empty vaunt against the deity.

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For he had boasted that, because of his
zeal for idols and his hostility against

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us, neither famine nor pestilence nor war
had happened in his time.

20:03.090 --> 20:07.990
These things, therefore, coming upon him
at once and together, furnished a prelude

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also of his own destruction.

20:11.850 --> 20:17.250
He himself with his forces was defeated in
the war with the Armenians, and the rest

20:17.250 --> 20:21.530
of the inhabitants of the cities under him
were terribly afflicted with famine and

20:21.530 --> 20:26.790
pestilence, so that one measure of wheat
was sold for 2,500 adik drachmas.

20:28.170 --> 20:32.550
Those who died in the cities were
innumerable, and those who died in the

20:32.550 --> 20:37.210
country and villages were still more,
so that the tax lists which formerly

20:37.210 --> 20:42.510
included a great rural population were
almost entirely wiped out, nearly all

20:42.510 --> 20:45.490
being speedily destroyed by famine and
pestilence.

20:47.030 --> 20:51.490
Some, therefore, desired to dispose of
their most precious things to those who

20:51.490 --> 20:56.270
were better supplied, in return for the
smallest morsel of food, and others,

20:56.510 --> 21:00.750
selling their possessions little by
little, fell into the last extremity of

21:00.750 --> 21:01.050
want.

21:01.550 --> 21:06.810
Some, chewing wisps of hay and recklessly
eating noxious herbs, undermined and

21:06.810 --> 21:08.350
ruined their constitutions.

21:09.810 --> 21:14.290
And some of the high-born women in the
cities, driven by want to shameful

21:14.290 --> 21:19.310
extremities, went forth into the
marketplaces to beg, giving evidence of

21:19.310 --> 21:22.930
their former liberal culture by the
modesty of their appearance and the

21:22.930 --> 21:24.230
decency of their apparel.

21:25.530 --> 21:30.690
Some, wasted away like ghosts and at the
very point of death, stumbled and tottered

21:30.690 --> 21:34.890
here and there, and too weak to stand,
fell down in the middle of the streets.

21:34.890 --> 21:39.230
Lying stretched out at full length,
they begged that a small morsel of food

21:39.230 --> 21:43.230
might be given them, and with their last
gasp they cried out, Hunger!

21:43.730 --> 21:46.490
having strength only for this most painful
cry.

21:47.410 --> 21:52.150
But others, who seemed to be better
supplied, astonished at the multitude of

21:52.150 --> 21:56.830
the beggars, after giving away large
quantities, finally became hard and

21:56.830 --> 22:01.750
relentless, expecting that they themselves
also would soon suffer the same calamities

22:01.750 --> 22:06.110
as those who begged, so that in the midst
of the marketplaces and lanes,

22:06.570 --> 22:11.330
dead and naked bodies lay unburied for
many days, presenting the most lamentable

22:11.330 --> 22:13.470
spectacle to those that beheld them.

22:14.690 --> 22:19.470
Some also became food for dogs,
on which account the survivors began to

22:19.470 --> 22:23.730
kill the dogs, lest they should become mad
and should go to devouring men.

22:24.910 --> 22:29.530
But still worse was the pestilence which
consumed entire houses and families,

22:29.530 --> 22:34.050
and especially those whom the famine was
not able to destroy because of their

22:34.050 --> 22:35.190
abundance of food.

22:35.870 --> 22:40.970
Thus men of wealth, rulers and governors
and multitudes in office, as if left by

22:40.970 --> 22:45.530
the famine on purpose for the pestilence,
suffered swift and speedy death.

22:46.150 --> 22:48.730
Every place, therefore, was full of
lamentation.

22:49.130 --> 22:53.490
In every lane and marketplace and street
there was nothing else to be seen or heard

22:53.490 --> 22:57.770
than tears, with the customary instruments
and the voices of the mourners.

22:58.650 --> 23:03.870
In this way death, waging war with these
two weapons, pestilence and famine,

23:04.330 --> 23:09.230
destroyed whole families in a short time,
so that one could see two or three dead

23:09.230 --> 23:10.990
bodies carried out at once.

23:12.450 --> 23:16.950
Such were the rewards of the boasting of
Maximinus and of the measures of the

23:16.950 --> 23:18.150
cities against us.

23:19.490 --> 23:24.370
Then did the evidences of the universal
zeal and piety of the Christians become

23:24.370 --> 23:26.170
manifest to all the heathen.

23:27.290 --> 23:32.250
For they alone, in the midst of such ills,
showed their sympathy and humanity by

23:32.250 --> 23:32.970
their deeds.

23:33.370 --> 23:37.730
Every day some continued caring for and
burying the dead, for there were

23:37.730 --> 23:40.170
multitudes who had no one to care for
them.

23:40.630 --> 23:44.870
Others collected in one place those who
were afflicted by the famine, throughout

23:44.870 --> 23:49.630
the entire city, and gave bread to them
all, so that the thing became noised

23:49.630 --> 23:54.810
abroad among men, and they glorified the
God of the Christians, and, convinced by

23:54.810 --> 23:59.430
the facts themselves, confessed that they
alone were truly pious and religious.

24:00.650 --> 24:05.510
After these things were thus done,
God, the great and celestial defender of

24:05.510 --> 24:10.070
the Christians, having revealed in the
events which have been described His anger

24:10.070 --> 24:14.530
and indignation at all men for the great
evils which they had brought upon us,

24:14.990 --> 24:19.530
restored to us the bright and gracious
sunlight of His providence in our behalf,

24:19.530 --> 24:24.450
so that in the deepest darkness a light of
peace shone most wonderfully upon us from

24:24.450 --> 24:29.710
Him, and made it manifest to all that God
Himself has always been the ruler of our

24:29.710 --> 24:30.110
affairs.

24:30.870 --> 24:35.070
From time to time, indeed, He chastens His
people and corrects them by His

24:35.070 --> 24:40.670
visitations, but again, after sufficient
chastisement, He shows mercy and favor to

24:40.670 --> 24:41.970
those who hope in Him.