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On the 19th of July, A.D. 64, a great fire broke out in Rome in the direction of the Circus Maximus, and spread to the Forum, the Velabrum, and part of the Palatine. This conflagration lasted for six days, and was followed by another on the opposite side of the city which destroyed the Campus Martius, the Quirinal and the Viminal. Ten out of the fourteen districts of the city were burnt down. By a strange chance, the Porta Capena and the Trastevere, two Jewish quarters, escaped the fire!

When the Roman citizens recovered from the shock of this calamity and had time to reflect upon its cause, their suspicions fell on Nero. Knowing the character of the man, the conviction grew that Cæsar himself had set fire to Rome to make a new sensation, or that he might rebuild the city on a scale of grandeur suitable to his taste. Murmurs arose, and a sedition threatened the throne. Then Nero accused the Christians of having set fire to Rome, and incited the mob to violence against them.

It is noteworthy that Gibbon conjectures that the persecution of Nero was contrived by the Jews. He says:

"Tacitus very frequently trusts to the curiosity or reflection of his readers to supply those intermediate circumstances and ideas which, in his extreme conciseness, he has thought proper to suppress. We may, therefore, presume to imagine some probable cause which could direct the cruelty of Nero against the Christians of Rome, whose obscurity, as well as innocence, should have shielded them from his indignation, and even from his notice. The Jews, who were numerous in the capital, and oppressed in their own country, were a much fitter object for the suspicions of the Emperor and of the people; nor did it seem unlikely that a vanquished nation, who already discovered their abhorrence of the Roman yoke, might have recourse to the most atrocious means of gratifying their implacable revenge. But the Jews possessed very powerful advocates in the palace, and even in the heart of the tyrant: his wife and mistress, the beautiful Poppæa, and a favourite player of the race of Abraham (Alityrus, the mime), who had already employed their intercession on behalf of the obnoxious people. In their room, it was necessary to offer some other victims, and it might easily be suggested that, although the genuine followers of Moses were innocent of the fire of Rome, there had risen among them a new and pernicious sect of Galileans, which was capable of the most horrid crimes. . ." (D. and F., i. 16).

The Roman citizens would not have awaited Nero's orders if there had been any evidence in July that the Christians were guilty of setting fire to the city. They would have massacred them at once. Christians were already looked upon with disfavour as belonging to an atheistical and secret society, shunning

their fellow men. But a long delay took place, from July to November, before any steps were taken, showing that the criminal charge was an afterthought, born of Nero's danger and Jewish hatred of Christianity.

Suetonius and Dion Cassius both attribute the burning of Rome to agents employed by Nero for that purpose. Tacitus gives the following account of these events:

"A suspicion prevailed that to build a new city and give it his own name was the ambition of Nero. Of the fourteen quarters into which Rome was divided, four only were left entire, three were reduced to ashes, and the remaining seven presented nothing better than a heap of shattered houses, half in ruins. . . . The next care was to propitiate the Gods. The Sibylline books were consulted and the consequence was that supplications were decreed to Vulcan, Ceres, and to Proserpine. . . . But neither these religious ceremonies, nor the liberal donations of the prince, could efface from the minds of men the prevailing opinion that Rome was set on fire by his own orders. The infamy of that horrible transaction still adhered to him. In order if possible to remove the imputation, he determined to transfer the guilt to others. For this purpose he punished with exquisite torture a race of men detested for their evil practices, by vulgar appellation commonly called Christians. The name was derived from Christ, who in the reign of Tiberius, suffered under Pontius Pilate, the Procurator of Judæa. By that event the sect of which he was the founder, received a blow, which, for a time, checked the growth of a dangerous superstition. But it revived soon after and spread with renewed vigour, not only in Judæa, the soil that gave it birth, but even the city of Rome, the common sink, into which everything infamous and abominable flows like a torrent from all quarters of the world. Nero proceeded with his usual artifice. He found a set of profligate and abandoned wretches, who were induced to confess themselves guilty, and on the evidence of such men a number of Christians were convicted. Not, indeed, on clear evidence of having set the city on fire, but rather on account of their sullen hatred of the whole human race. They were put to death with exquisite cruelty, and to their sufferings Nero added mockery and derision. Some were covered with the skins of wild beasts, and left to be devoured by dogs; others were nailed to the cross; numbers were burnt alive; and many covered with inflammable materials, were lighted up, to serve as torches during the night. For the convenience of seeing this tragic spectacle, the emperor lent his own gardens. He added the sports of the circus and assisted in person, sometimes driving a curricle, and occasionally mixing with the rabble in his coachman's dress. At length the cruelty of these proceedings filled every breast with compassion. Humanity relented in favour of the Christians. The manners of that people were no doubt of a pernicious tendency, and their crimes called for the hand. of justice; but it was evident that they fell a sacrifice, not for the

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public good, but to glut the rage and cruelty of one man only" (Anls. xv. 40-44).

Tacitus was about twelve years of age at the time of Nero's persecution. He was a man of good family, educated at Rome, in touch with those who knew the truth. His "Annals" were written in the reign of Trajan, when he had no interests to serve, save those of historic accuracy. He says that the Christians were convicted, not so much for the crime of setting fire to the city as for their hatred of the human race. Odio humani generis convicti. That is, for their "religion," or the aspect of it most displeasing to Rome, their aloofness from the vicious pleasures of the world.

Mob violence would have exhausted itself before the lapse of many days, but under the guidance of Nero, the casual vengeance of the Romans was directed against the Christians as a sect. What began as a massacre ended in a persecution. Nero resolved to convert the Christians by force, or extirpate them from his capital. In this we may suspect the working of Jewish influences behind the throne, for zeal for religion was not one of Nero's characteristics. Christians were offered the

choice of death or worship of the national Gods.

Persecution broke out at Rome in November, A.D. 64. It was the policy of the Romans in times of persecution to seize the Christian leaders first and make an example of them. S. Peter was at Rome, a well-known leader, hated by the Jews. He must have perished amongst the first. Bishop Le Camus, in his "Life of Christ," assigns S. Peter's martyrdom to the year 64.

The horrors of Nero's persecution recoiled upon his own head. The cup of his iniquity was filled. He had already murdered his mother and his wife Octavia. In the year 65 he killed his wife Poppaa. "She died of a kick on her womb, which Nero gave her in a sudden passion, though she was then advanced in pregnancy" (Tacit. Anls. xvi. 6). The tyrant was hated by all the better class of Romans on account of his insatiable thirst for human blood. The formidable conspiracy of Piso broke out and had very nearly dragged Nero from the throne, but for the usual betrayals. In this conspiracy Seneca and Lucan the poet perished, and many others of the best blood of Rome.

In the year 66 the affair of Tiridates the Arsacid gave a temporary stay to the growing hatred of Nero. Tiridates came to Rome to receive at the hands of Nero the crown of the kingdom of Armenia. According to Dion Cassius, who was Consul in A.D. 220, Tiridates left Armenia with a suite of Armenian nobles on horseback, and rode all the way to the

Ionian and Illyrian Sea. He took nine months on this journey. The cities through which he passed were splendidly adorned, and received him with acclamation. The people furnished him with everything.

"Nero was then at Naples, and in that city, the eastern prince was admitted to his presence. The spectacle was magnificent. It served at once to gratify the pride of a Roman emperor, and for a time to soothe the affliction of the people. . . . Nero proceeded with a grand cavalcade to Rome, where the most splendid preparations were made for his reception. The whole city was illuminated and the houses decorated with garlands and laurel wreaths. The people crowded together from all quarters and rent the air with shouts and acclamations, while the emperor, with Tiridates and the Parthian nobility in his train, made his triumphal entry. A day was fixed for the coronation. Nothing could equal the pomp and splendour with which that ceremony was performed" (Tacit. App. to Anls. xvi. 2, Murphy).

The prodigious magnificence of the public spectacle is described by Suetonius, in "Nero," 13. Pliny mentions the decorations of the theatre and the vast display of gold on that occasion, Lib. xxiii. 3. So does Dion Cassius, Lib. lxiii. It was the chief event of the year 66, when S. John was sent to exile. It is referred to in the Apocalypse. In the year 67 Nero absented himself from Italy, and gathered laurels, by an unscrupulous use of power, at the Olympian games in Greece. He came back to Rome and was accorded a triumphal entry, and hailed as a God (Dion, “Nero"). In the meantime a storm had been gathering in Gaul. Julius Vindex, the Governor of a Province in Gaul, openly rebelled and called upon Galba, the Governor of Hither Spain, to assist the liberty of mankind by accepting the Imperial throne. As the result of this conspiracy, Nero found himself before long abandoned on all sides. He was condemned by the Senate. "With one voice they declared the tyrant, who had trampled on all laws human and divine, a public enemy, and by their sentence condemned him to suffer death" (Tacit. App. to Anls. xvi. 13, Murphy).

Nero fled to the villa of his freedman (Phaon) about four miles from Rome, and there died by the "sword." "Nero seized his dagger and stabbed himself in the throat. The stroke was too feeble, Epaphroditus lent his assistance, and the next blow was a mortal wound" (Tacit. App. to Anls. xvi. 14, Murphy).

Josephus, who went to Rome in the train of Titus, two years later, says that "Nero, deserted by all his guards, ran away with four of his most trusty freedmen, and slew himself in the suburbs of Rome" (Wars iv. 9, 2). Dion Cassius gives the same account of Nero's death, attributing it to the sword, his own or his attendant's. See R. xiii. 10.

Nero's superlative wickedness made an extraordinary impression upon the men of his own and succeeding generations. It was commonly believed that there was something supernatural about him, and that he would come to life again and triumph over all his enemies. Many Christians thought he would return again as Antichrist. There is an allusion to this superstition in the Apocalypse.

We must turn now to the Jewish war which ran pari passu with these events. It ensued on the seditions and revolts of the year 66, when S. John was exiled to Patmos. Nero foreseeing a great war impending in Judæa, sent Vespasian, a general who had acquired fame in Britain, to take command of the Army in Judæa. Vespasian set out for the seat of war in the year 66.

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He sent his son Titus to bring up the fifth and tenth legions from Alexandria, whilst he himself entered Syria, where he gathered the Roman forces, together with a considerable number of auxiliaries from the kings in that neighbourhood (Josephus, Wars III. i. 1). In the spring of 67 the Roman General flooded the Jewish land with troops (see Rev. xii. 15). First, Vespasian marched on the city of Gadara, which he captured. "He came then into it, and slew all the youth, the Romans having no mercy on any age whatsoever. He also set fire, not only to the city itself, but to all the villas and small cities that were round about it" (Josephus, Wars III. vii. 1). Then he laid siege to Jotapata, a strong fortress where Josephus had gathered together his army. The siege of Jotapata stayed the tide of invasion for forty-seven days, when it was betrayed, and taken by Vespasian (see Rev. xii. 16). The inhabitants were slaughtered, with the exception of women and infants, who were led away captive, and the city and fortifications burnt down. Josephus was taken prisoner, and accompanied the Roman army to Jerusalem. In the meanwhile Simon, a Jew, with a large band of robbers, ravaged the country in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, and inflicted terrible woes upon the Jews.

Next the Roman legions destroyed Joppa and Taricheæ and Gamala. The city of Gischala was taken. From here one John of Gischala, the incarnation of wickedness, according to Josephus, managed to escape, with a band of robbers, to Jerusalem.

This John, gathered to himself the headstrong zealots, who were at feud with the pacific elders in Jerusalem. With their aid he seized upon the Temple, which he made his headquarters. He also appointed the high priest. From the Temple he waged incessant war upon the rest of Jerusalem,

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