Chapter III: 453 (2)

It is remarkable that so few references to military life occur in Christian epitaphs, whereas they form a prominent feature in those of heathen origin. In ten thousand pagan inscriptions analyzed by M. Le 490 Blant, over five hundred, or, more precisely, 5·47 per cent., were of military character; while in four thousand seven hundred of Christian origin, most of which were after the period of Constantine, only ·57 per cent., were military, or one tenth the proportion of those among the pagans. But even if in the army, the Christians, whose higher dignity was that of soldiers of Christ, would be less likely than the heathen to mention it in their epitaphs. Although Tertullian inveighs against the military service,[784] he yet admits that the Christians engaged in that as well as in other pursuits,[785] and asserts that they were found even in the camps.[786] It is probable, however, that the number in the army was insignificant, and these, it is most likely, were converted after their enlistment. There could be little affinity between the bronzed and hardened ruffians who were the instruments of the reigning tyrant’s cruelty, and the meek and gentle Christians. We know that the latter had often to choose between the sword and the gospel; and many resigned their office, and even embraced martyrdom, rather than perjure their consciences.[787] They could not take the military oath, nor deck their weapons with laurel, nor crown the emperor’s effigy, nor celebrate his birthday, nor observe any other idolatrous festival. Hence they were accused of the dreaded 491 crime of treason, and announced as the enemies of Cæsar and of the Roman people.[788] Tertullian repels the charge, and demonstrates their loyalty to the emperor and to their country.[789]

Feeling that their citizenship was in heaven, the Christians took no part in the troubled politics of earth. “Nothing is more indifferent to us,” says Tertullian, “than public affairs.”[790] If only their religious convictions were unassailed they would gladly live in quiet, unaffected by civic ambition or by worldly strife. “Themselves half naked,” sneered the heathen, “they despise honours and purple robes.”[791] But although accused of being profitless to the state,[792] they were nevertheless diligent in business while fervent in spirit. “We are no Brahmins or Indian devotees,” says their great apologist, “living naked in the woods, and banished from civilized life.”[793] They were no drones in the social hive, but patterns of industry and thrift. Inspired with loftier motives than their heathen neighbours, they faithfully discharged life’s lowly toils, sedulously cultivated the private virtues, and followed blamelessly whatsoever things were lovely and of good report.

In nothing, however, is the superiority of Christianity over paganism so apparent as in the vast difference in the position and treatment of woman in the respective systems. It is difficult to conceive the depths of degradation into which woman had fallen when Christianity came to rescue her from infamy, to clothe her with the domestic 492 virtues, to enshrine her amid the sanctities of home, and to employ her in the gentle ministrations of charity. The Greek courtesan, says Lecky, was the finest type of Greek life--the one free woman of Athens. But how world-wide was the difference between the Greek _hetæra_--a Phryne or an Aspasia, though honoured by Socrates and Pericles--and the Christian matrons Monica, Marcella, or Fabiola. So much does woman owe to Christianity! In Rome her condition was still worse. The heathen satirists paint in strongest colours the prevailing corruptions, and the historians of the times reveal abounding wickedness that shames humanity. The vast wealth, the multiplication of slaves, the influx of orientalism with its debasing vices, had thoroughly corrupted society. The relations of the sexes seemed entirely dislocated. The early Roman ideas of marriage were forgotten; it had no moral, only a legal character. Woman, reckless of her “good name,” had lost “the most immediate jewel of her soul.” The Lucretias and Virginias of the old heroic days were beings of tradition. A chaste woman, says Juvenal, was a _rara avis in terra_. The Julias and Messalinas flaunted their wickedness in the high places of the earth, and to be Cæsar’s wife was _not_ to be above suspicion. Alas, that in a few short centuries Christianity should sink so low that the excesses of a Theodora should rival those of an Agrippina or a Julia! Even the loftiest pagan moralists and philosophers recklessly disregarded the most sacred social obligation at their mere caprice. Cicero, who discoursed so nobly concerning the nature of the gods, divorced his wife Terentia that he might mend his broken fortunes by marrying his wealthy ward. Cato ceded his wife, with the consent of her father, to his friend Hortensius, taking her back after his death. 493 Woman was not a _person_, but a _thing_, says Gibbon. Her rights and interests were lost in those of her husband. She should have no friends nor gods but his, says Plutarch. It was the age of reckless divorce. In the early days of the Commonwealth there had been no divorce in Rome in five hundred and forty years. In the reign of Nero, says Seneca, the women measured their years by their husbands, and not by the consuls. Juvenal speaks of a woman with eight husbands in five years;[794] and Martial, in extravagant hyperbole, of another who married ten husbands in a month.[795] We must also regard as an exaggeration the account given by Jerome of a woman married to her twenty-third husband, being his twenty-first wife.[796]

Nevertheless, God did not leave himself without a witness in the hearts of the people; and we have seen many illustrations of conjugal happiness in previous inscriptions.[797] But Christianity first taught the sanctity of the marriage relation, as a type of the mystical union between Christ and his church; and enforced the reciprocal obligation of conjugal fidelity, which was previously regarded as binding on woman alone. In their recoil from the abominable licentiousness of the heathen, the Christians regarded modesty as the crown of all the virtues, and against its violation the heaviest ecclesiastical penalties were threatened. This regard was at length intensified into a superstitious reverence for celibacy.[798]

The absolute sinfulness of a divorce was maintained by the early 494 councils.[799] The Fathers admit of but one cause, that which Christ himself assigns, as rendering it lawful.[800] They also denounced second marriage, or bigamy, as it was called, which excluded from the clerical order, and from a share in the charities of the church.[801] The marriage relation was regarded as the union of two souls for time and for eternity.[802]

The church, following the principle laid down by St. Paul, strongly 495 opposed mixed marriages with the heathen; and the Fathers denounced them as dangerous and immoral. Cyprian regards them as a prostitution of the members of Christ.[803] Tertullian also designates them spiritual adultery.[804] Where conversion occurred after marriage, the Christian partner was exhorted, in the spirit of the apostolic counsel, to strive by gentleness and love to win the unbelieving companion to Christ. Thus Monica, the mother of Augustine, and Clotildis, the wife of Clovis, both brought their heathen husbands to embrace Christianity.

The rites and benedictions of the church were early invoked to give sanction to Christian marriage;[805] and doubtless in the dim recesses of the Catacombs, and surrounded by the holy dead, youthful hearts must have plighted their troth, and been the more firmly knit together by the common perils and persecutions they must share. Here, too, the wedded pair may have paced the silent galleries, by holy converse inspired with stronger faith and more fervent love. How sweet must discourse of heaven have been in those sunless depths of earth! How 496 thrilling those partings when before another meeting each might win a martyr’s crown.

When the church emerged from the Catacombs the marriage rites assumed a more festive character, and were frequently attended with nuptial processions, songs, music, and feasting. Some of the gilded glasses previously described seem to commemorate these occasions. Thus we occasionally find representations of the man and woman standing with clasped hands before the marriage altar, while Christ crowns the newly wedded pair. Sometimes the glass used in the marriage rite was immediately broken, as if to denote the transient nature of even the highest human bliss. The innocent festivities of these occasions gradually degenerated into convivial excesses; and, in conformity to heathen usages, were contaminated by licentiousness of speech and action unbecoming to Christian modesty. These abuses called for the strong denunciations of the Fathers and the early councils, and at length the clergy were forbidden to attend such festivals. The early Christians were required, in all their entertainments and festivals, by temperance,[806] by purity, by piety, to adorn the doctrines of the Gospel. Prayer hallowed their daily lives, and every act was done to the glory of God.

In their apparel and households the primitive believers were patterns of sobriety and godliness. The pomps and vanities of the world were renounced at their baptism. They eschewed all sumptuous and gaudy clothing as unbecoming the gravity and simplicity of the Christian character. Although many by social rank were entitled to wear the 497 flowing Roman toga, yet by most it was regarded as too ostentatious in appearance; and, disdaining all assumption of worldly honour, they wore instead the common pallium or cloak. They rejected also, as the epicurean enticements of a world the fashion whereof was passing away, the luxurious draperies, the costly cabinets and couches, the golden vessels and marble statuary that adorned the abodes of the wealthy heathen.

The strong instinct of the female mind to personal adornment was suppressed by religious convictions and ecclesiastical discipline; and Christian women cultivated rather the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit than the meretricious attractions of the heathen. “Let your comeliness be the goodly garment of the soul,” says Tertullian. “Be arrayed in the ornaments of the apostles and prophets, drawing your whiteness from simplicity, your ruddy hue from modesty, painting your eyes with bashfulness, your mouth with silence, implanting in your ears the word of God, fitting on your neck the yoke of Christ. Clothe yourself with the silk of uprightness, the fine linen of holiness, the purple of modesty, and you shall have God himself for your lover and spouse.”[807]

“Let woman breathe the odour of the true royal ointment, that of Christ, and not of unguents and scented powders,” writes Clement of Alexandria, warning the faithful against another heathen practice. “Let her be anointed with the ambrosial chrism of industry, and find delight in the holy unguent of the Spirit, and offer spiritual fragrance. She may not crown the living image of God as the heathen 498 do dead idols. Her fair crown is one of amaranth, which groweth not on earth, but in the skies.”[808] The simple and modest garb of the Christian matron is exhibited in many of the representations of _oranti_, or praying figures, in the chambers of the Catacombs. See one beautiful example from a sarcophagus in Fig. 88.

With the corruption of the church and decay of piety under the post-Constantinian emperors came the development of luxury and an increased sumptuousness of apparel. The refined classic taste was lost, and barbaric pomp and splendour were the only expression of opulence. The mosaics in the vestibules of the more ancient basilicas, and an occasional representation from the Catacombs of the period of their latest occupation, illustrate the increased luxury of dress. The primitive simplicity has given place to many-coloured and embroidered robes. The hair, often false, was tortured into unnatural forms, and raised in a towering mass on the head, not unlike certain modern fashionable modes, and was frequently artificially dyed. The person was bedizened with jewelry--pendents in the ears, pearls on the neck, bracelets and a profusion of rings on the arms and fingers. St. Jerome inveighs with peculiar vehemence against the attempt to beautify the complexion with pigments. “What business have rouge and paint on a Christian cheek?” he asks. “Who can weep for her sins when her tears wash bare furrows on her skin? With what trust can faces be lifted to heaven which the Maker cannot recognize as his workmanship?”[809] The mosaic portrait of St. Agnes is richly adorned with gems, and even the 499 earliest examples of the Madonna is bedizened in Byzantine style with a necklace of pearls.[810] The following engraving from D’Agincourt illustrates the tasteless drapery and coiffure which awakened such intense patristic indignation.

Belicia, a most faithful virgin who lived eighteen years.]

The simplicity of the funeral rites of the primitive Christians is indicated by the character of the sepulchral monuments of the Catacombs. No “storied urn or animated bust,” nor costly mausolea, were employed to commemorate those who slept in Christ. A narrow grave, undistinguished from the multitude around save by the name of the deceased, or by the emblem of his calling, or symbol of his faith, and most frequently not even by these, sufficed, in the earlier and 500 purer days of the church, for the last resting-place of the saints. As wealth increased and faith grew cold, more attention was given to the external expression of grief or regard for the departed; and the chambers, at first rudely hewn from the tufa, became ornamented with stucco and frescoes, and lined with marble slabs, and the inscriptions 501 became more turgid and artificial. The superstitious veneration paid to the relics of the saints in later days led to the adornment of their sepulchres; and during the period of the temporal supremacy of Christianity, the posthumous ostentation of the rich was manifested in their costly sarcophagi and funeral monuments.[811]

All immoderate grief for the departed was regarded as inconsistent with Christian faith and hope. “Our brethren are not to be lamented who are freed from the world by the summons of the Lord,” says Cyprian, “for we know they are not lost, but sent before us. We may not wear the black robes of mourning while they are already clothed with the white raiment of joy. Nor may we grieve for those as lost whom we know to be living with God.”[812] Nay, the day of their death was celebrated as their _Natalitia_, or their true birthday--their entrance into the undying life of heaven. The primitive believers were not, however, insensible to natural affection, as many of the inscriptions already given fully prove; but they were sustained by a lofty hope and serene confidence in God.

The early Christian burial rites were entirely different from the pomp and pageantry of grief which characterized pagan funerals. When the spirit had departed, the body was washed with water and robed for the grave in spotless white, to represent, Chrysostom suggests, the soul’s putting on the garment of incorruption. In later times costly robes of 502 silk and cloth of gold were employed for the burial of the wealthy, against which practice Jerome strongly inveighs. “Why does not your ambition cease,” he exclaims, “in the midst of mourning and tears? Cannot the bodies of the rich return to dust otherwise than in silk?”[813] The body was also frequently embalmed, or at least plentifully enswathed with myrrh and aromatic spices, after the manner of the burial of Our Lord. This was especially necessary in the Catacombs on account of the frequent proximity of the living to the dead. We find frequent allusions to this practice in the Fathers.[814] It was a pagan reproach that the Christians bought no odours for their persons nor incense for the gods.[815] “It is true,” says Tertullian, “but the Arabs and Sabeans well know that we consume more of these costly wares for our dead than the heathen do for the gods.”[816]

The nearest relatives or pious friends bore the corpse to the grave, and committed it as the seed of immortality to the genial bosom of the earth, often strewing the body with flowers, in beautiful symbolism of the resurrection to the fadeless summer of the skies.[817] In times of 503 persecution the privilege would often be purchased with money of gathering the martyrs’ mangled remains, and bearing them by stealth, along the pagan “Street of Tombs,” to the silent community of the Christian dead.[818] Instead of employing the pagan _nænia_, or funeral dirge, and _proeficæ_, or hireling mourners, the Christians accompanied the dead to their repose with psalms and hymns,[819] chanting such versicles as, “Return to thy rest, O my soul;” “I will fear no evil, for thou art with me;” “Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord.”[820] Frequently, as will be hereafter seen, the _agape_ or eucharist was celebrated at the grave.

The heathen buried their dead by night on account of the defilement the very sight of a funeral was supposed to cause. The Christians repudiated this idolatrous notion, and, except when prevented during times of persecution, buried openly by day, that the living might be reminded of their mortality and led to prepare for death.

We have thus seen the immense superiority, in all the elements of true dignity and excellence of primitive Christianity to the corrupt 504 civilization by which it was surrounded. It ennobled the character and purified the morals of mankind. It raised society from the ineffable slough into which it had fallen, imparted tenderness and fidelity to the domestic relations of life, and enshrined marriage in a sanctity before unknown. Notwithstanding the corruptions by which it became infected in the days of its power and pride, even the worst form of Christianity was infinitely preferable to the abominations of paganism. It gave a sacredness previously unconceived to human life. It averted the sword from the throat of the gladiator, and, plucking helpless infancy from exposure to untimely death, nourished it in Christian homes. It threw the ægis of its protection over the slave and the oppressed, raising them from the condition of beasts to the dignity of men and the fellowship of saints. With an unwearied and passionate charity it yearned over the suffering and sorrowing every-where, and created a vast and comprehensive organization for their relief, of which the world had before no example and had formed no conception. It was a holy Vestal, ministering at the altar of humanity, witnessing ever of the Divine, and keeping the sacred fire burning, not for Rome, but for the world. Its winsome gladness and purity, in an era of unspeakable pollution and sadness, revived the sinking heart of mankind, and made possible a Golden Age in the future transcending far that which poets pictured in the past. It blotted out cruel laws, like those of Draco written in blood,[821] and led back 505 Justice, long banished, to the judgment seat. It ameliorated the rigours of the penal code, and, as experience has shown, lessened the amount of crime. It created an art purer and loftier than that of paganism; and a literature rivaling in elegance of form, and surpassing in nobleness of spirit, the sublimest productions of the classic muse. Instead of the sensual conceptions of heathenism, polluting the soul, it supplied images of purity, tenderness, and pathos, which fascinated the imagination and hallowed the heart. It taught the sanctity of suffering and of weakness, and the supreme majesty of gentleness and ruth.

[740] Some of these occur also on pagan tombs.

[741] This, it will be remembered, was the name of Augustine’s
son, whose early death he so pathetically laments.

[742] Compare also the classic names Diodorus, Herodotus,
Athenadorus, Heliodorus, Apollodorus, Isidorus--the gift of Zeus,
of Here, of Athene, of the Sun, of Apollo, of Isis; and Diogenes,
Hermogenes--born of Zeus, of Hermes; also the beautiful German
names Gottlieb, Gottlob--Beloved of God, Praise God, etc.

[743] Compare the Puritan names: Accepted, Redeemed, Called, More
Fruit, Kill Sin, Fly Debate, and even lengthy texts of Scripture.
See Neal’s _Puritans_, ii, 133, third foot note. In New England
graveyards may still be found such names as Assurance, Faith,
Hope, Charity, Patience, Perseverance, and all the cardinal
virtues, together with Tribulation, and others still more
ominous. Mr. Wellbeloved is the name of a living person. See also
the French _Bien Aimé_, etc.

[744] Compare the funeral totems, the beaver, the bear, or eagle,
of the American Indians. The Greeks also had similar names:
Lycos, a wolf; Moschos, a calf; Corax, a raven; Sauros, a lizard,
etc.

[745] Sometimes a sort of pun or play upon words occurs, as the
following: HIC IACET GLYCONIS DVLCIS NOMINE ERAT ANIMA QVOQVE
DVLCIOR VSQVE--“Here lies Glyconis. She was sweet by name,
her disposition also was even sweeter.” HEIC EST SEPVLCHRVM
PVLCRVM PVLCRAE FEMINAE--“Here is the beautiful tomb of a
beautiful woman.” Much of the paronomasia is lost in translation.
Another conceit is giving the name of the deceased acrostically
in the initial letters of the lines, an invariable symbol of
degraded taste. See De Rossi, No. 677, A. D. 432.

A few examples of Gothic names occur, as Bringa, Uviliaric,
Erida, (is it Freda?) Ildebrand. In Gaul these are more striking,
as Ingomir, Hagen, and the like.

[746] Quia solum in libro vitæ describi avebant.--_Inscrip.
Antiq._, p. 545.

[747] See chap. ii, p. 419.

[748] Various titles of honour occur in these epitaphs, generally
applied to the Consuls, occasionally to the deceased, and
indicated by initial letters as above, and as follows: VI., _Vir
Illustris_, “An Illustrious Man;” VD., _Vir Devotus_, or
_Devotissimus_, “A Devout, or Very Devout Man;” VC., _Vir
Clarissimus_, FC., _Femina Clarissima_, “A Most Distinguished Man
or Woman;” VH., _Vir Honestus_, FH. _Femina Honesta_, “An
Honourable Man or Woman;” VSP., _Vir Spectabilis_, “A Very
Notable Man;” VP., _Vir Perfectissimus_, “A Most Eminent Man;”
VD., _Vir Doctissimus_, “A Most Learned Man.”

[749] _Apol._, 46.

[750] It may not be uninteresting to notice some of the trades
and occupations mentioned in pagan epitaphs. They are of a much
wider range than those of the Christians, indicating that the
latter were a “peculiar people,” excluded from many pursuits on
account of their immoral or idolatrous character. Besides
occupations like those above mentioned, we find such examples as
QVADRIGARIVS, “A charioteer;” CVRSOR, “The runner;” MAGISTER
LVDI, “Master of the Games;” MINISTER POCVLI, “Toast master;”
DOCTOR MYRMILON, “Teacher of the gladiators,” DERISOR, or SCVRRA
CONVIVIORVM, “Buffoon, or clown of the revels;” STVPIDVS GREGIS
VRBANAE, “Clown of the city company of mountebanks.” We have also
official titles, as NABICVLARIVS CVR. CORPORIS MARIS HADRIATICI,
“Commissioner of the Hadriatic Company;” CVRATOR ALVEI ET RIPARVM
MARIS, “Curator of the river channel and sea banks;” MENSOR
PVBLICVS, “Public measurer;” VILICVS SVPRA HORTOS, “Steward over
gardens;” CAESARIS PRAESIGNATOR, “Imperial Notary;” INVITATOR,
“Agent.” We notice, too, others, as NVMVLARIVS, “A banker;”
MEDICVS IVMENTARIVS, “Mule doctor;” MEDICVS OCVLARIS, “Oculist;”
EXONERATOR CALCARIVS, “Lime dealer;” LANARIVS, “Wool-worker;”
PECTINARIVS, “Comb-seller;” NEGOTIANS SALSAMENTARIVS ET VINEARIVS
“Salt and wine merchant;” CVBICVLARIVS, “Keeper of the Couch;”
GRAMMATICVS LECTORQVE, “Grammarian and reader;” COMPARATOR MERCIS
SVTORIAE, “Shoemaker’s furnisher;” FVNARIVS, “Rope maker;”
NEGOTIATOR LENTIC · ET CASTRENIAR · “A Camp Grocer and Sutler;”
REDEMPTOR AB AERE, “Contractor in Brass;” FABER FERRARIVS, “Iron
Worker;” NEGOTIATOR LVGDVNENSIS ARTIS, “A Dealer in Lyons wares,”
not silks, as the phrase would now mean, but pottery; EXACTOR
TRIBVTORVM, “Tax gatherer;” and the FANATICVS in the temple of
Isis, _i. e._, one hired to stimulate the zeal of the votaries by
wild and frantic gestures, attributed to the inspiration of the
deity. We find also epitaphs of actors, dancers, pantomimists, of
one of whom, a young girl, it is said, CVIVS IN OCTAVA LASCIVIA
SVRGERE MESSE COEPERAT--a horrible circumstance to mention on her
tomb.

[751] Tertullian bases his apology for the Christians on the
blamelessness of their character, refutes the accusations against
them, and challenges proof. The unworthy members of the
community, he says, are only as moles or freckles on the body, or
as a fleecy cloud on a sunny sky, affecting not its general
character.--_Ad Nationes_, 5.

[752] Compare, in Propertius’ elegy on Cornelia, the line

Viximus insignes inter utramque facem.

“I lived spotless from the kindling of my marriage torch to that
which lit my funeral pyre.”

[753] The text and translation are as given by Burgon.

[754] Dr. Northcote indeed asserts that “there are actually more
instances of _alumni_ among the sepulchral inscriptions of
the Christians than among the infinitely more numerous sepulchral
inscriptions of the pagans.” (Page 136.) The accompanying Greek
examples are characteristic of the class: ΠΡΟΚΛΗ ΘΡΕΠΤΗ, “To
Procla, an adopted daughter;” ΠΕΤΡΟϹ ΘΡΕΠΤΟϹ ΓΛΥΚΥΤΑΤΟϹ ΕΝ ΘΕΩ,
“Peter, a most sweet adopted son, in God.”

The titles _mamma_ and _tata_, sometimes in their diminutive
forms _mamula_ and _tatula_, equivalent to our mamma and papa,
occur in Christian and pagan epitaphs.

[755] The expression _papasantimio_ was erroneously translated
“most holy Pope” by Paoli and Fea, but their mistake was long
since pointed out. Maitland, and Bishop Kip who followed him,
fell into the same error. De Rossi severely criticises the former
as “most ignorant of the whole controversy, known even to
blear-eyed and barbers.”--Totius controversiæ, vel lippis ac
tonsoribus notæ, ignarissimus.--_Inscrip. Antiq._, p. 177. The
translation above given is that of Dr. McCaul.

[756] This example and translation are from Maitland. It will be
observed that Domnina must have been married before her
fourteenth birthday. Several notices of early marriages occur, as
e.g.

VISCILIVS NICENI · COSTAE · SVAE QVAE FVIT ·
ANNOR · P · M · XXXI · EX QVIBVS DVRABIT · MECVM ANNOS XV--

“Viscilius to Nice, his rib, who was of thirty-one years (of age)
more or less, of which she passed with me fifteen years.” The use
of _costa_ for _uxor_ is doubtless an allusion to Genesis ii, 21.
We read also of Felicissima, QVAE VIXIT ANNVS LX · QVAE FECIT CVM
VIRO SVO ANNVS XLV--“Who lived sixty years, who passed with her
husband forty-five years;” and of Januaria, L · F · QVAE VIXIT PL
· M · ANN · XXVIII · C · MARITV · FEC ANN XV · M · XI · D · X--“A
praiseworthy woman, who lived twenty-eight years, more or less;
she passed with her husband fifteen years, eleven months, ten
days.” She was, therefore, married when about twelve years of
age. The earliest date of marriage we have noticed is the
following: CONSTANTIAE BENEMERENTI BERGINIVS CASTAE CONPARAE ·
CVM QVA · FECIT ANNIS VIII. QVE VICSIT (_sic_) ANNIS XVIII ·
MENSES VIIII · DIES XVII.--“Virginius, to the well-deserving
Constantia, his chaste consort, with whom he lived eight years,
who lived eighteen years, nine months, seventeen days.” She was
less than eleven years old when married. It must be borne in
mind, however, that marriage still occurs at a very early age in
these southern latitudes, as both sexes attain nubile years much
sooner than in northern climates. But this precocious maturity is
followed, especially in females, by a premature decline. Like the
brilliant flowers of their own fervid clime, they early bloom and
quickly fade.

[757] We have also illustrations of the fatal facility of divorce
under the Empire, and of the domestic strife and crime resulting
therefrom. In the following epitaph a discarded wife laments the
murder of her child by the usurper of her rights: MATER FILIO
PIISSIMO MISERA ET IN LVCTV ETERNALL VENEFICIO NOVERCAE--“To her
most affectionate son, the wretched mother, plunged in perpetual
grief by the poison of his step-mother, (raised this slab.)”
There is also a curious inscription, written jointly by two
living husbands to the same deceased wife, in which she is
designated, CONIVX BENE MERENTA (_sic_)--“A well-deserving
consort.” Another slab is dedicated to both the wife and the
concubine--VXORI ET CONCVBINAE--of a Roman lictor.

[758] In like manner, with more tender sentiment than we would
have expected in the stolid monarch, George II. was, in
accordance with his own request, laid in death beside his good
and gentle consort long deceased, and the partition between them
removed, “that their dust might blend together.”

[759] Several of these examples are translated from Kenrick.

[760] While yet alive, Domitian was called, Our Lord and
God--_Dominus et Deus noster_.

[761] A licentious poet, recognizing this moral corruption as the
cause of national decay, exclaims:

Hoc fonte derivata clades
In patriam populumque fluxit.

[762] Origen, _Contra Cels._, i, 67. Cf. Jus. Mar., _Apol._, ii,
61, and Tert. _Apol._, and _Ad. Nat._, passim.

[763] Tertul., _Apol._, 22.

[764] Fabri deorum vel parentes numinum.--Prudentius,
_Peristeph._, Hymn x, 293.

[765] Tertul., _De Idol._, vi.

[766] The martyr Lucian chose to die rather than to eat things
offered to idols.

[767] _Hist. of Eur. Morals_, ii, 34.

[768] The _Pædagogus_ of Clement of Alexandria was prepared
as a guide or “Instructor” to those who were striving to free
themselves from pagan customs, and to conform their lives to the
Christian character.

[769] _Apol._, c. 39.

[770] Nemo compellitur, sed sponte confert.--_Apol._, c. 39.

[771] _Ibid._, 42.

[772] _Ibid._, 14.

[773] _Pædag._, ii, 13.

[774] _Hom._ in 2 Tim.

[775] _Epitaph. Paulæ._

[776] Greg., _Dial._, iii.

[777] _Vita Cypr._

[778] Euseb., _H. E._, ix, 8.

[779] Apud nos inter pauperes et divites, servos et dominos,
interest nihil.--Lactant., _Div. Inst._, v. 14, 15.

[780] The arena, once crimson with human gore, is now consecrated
by the cross of Christ, and a Christian service is weekly
celebrated on the spot where a pagan emperor sought to crush the
infant church.

[781] Under Trajan, renowned for his clemency, ten thousand men
fought in the games which lasted one hundred and twenty-three
days. To stimulate the jaded minds of the spectators men were
impaled, crucified, and burned to death.

[782] The _De Spectaculis_ of Tertullian is an elaborate argument
concerning the idolatrous origin and character of the theatre. He
describes, in language applicable to much of the “sport” of
modern times, the human wild beasts, passion-blind, agitated by
bets, and out of themselves with excitement. “You have nobler
joys,” he says to the Christians. “Be startled at God’s signal,
roused at the angel’s trump, glory in the palms of martyrdom.
Would you have blood too? There is Christ’s,” (sec. 29.) “He
expatiates on the grandeur of the spectacle when the world, hoary
with age, shall be consumed; contrasts with the theatre the sight
of poets, players, philosophers, and kings in agonies and flames;
and exults in the triumph of Christ,” (sec. 30.)

[783] Tertul., _De Spectac._, sec. 26.

[784] _De Idol._, c. 19.

[785] Navigamus ... et militamus, et rusticamus, et
mercamur.--_Apol._ c. 42.

[786] Implevimus ... castra ipsa.--_Ibid._, c. 37. The story of
the Thundering Legion, composed entirely of Christians, is unable
to withstand the destructive criticism of modern times. The
following is the epitaph of a military commander: VITALIANVS
MAGISTER MILITVM, QVIESCIT IN DOMINO. We have already seen that
of an officer--DVX MILITVM--who suffered martyrdom under Adrian.

[787] Euseb., _H. E._, viii, 4. No one in either the civil
or military service of the emperor was eligible for ordination
even as a deacon.--Bingham, _Orig. Eccl._, iv, 3, sec. 1.

[788] Hostes Cæsarum, hostes populi Romani.--_Celsus_, lib.
viii.

[789] Christianus nullius est hostis, nedum imperatoris.--_Ad
Scapulum_, i.

[790] Nec ulla res aliena magis quam publica.--_Apol._, c. 38.

[791] Honores et purpuras despiciunt ipsi seminudi.--In _Munic.
Felix_, viii.

[792] Infructuosi in negotiis dicimur.--Tert., _Apol._, 42.

[793] _Ibid._

[794] Sat., vi, 20.

[795] Epig., vii, 6.

[796] Epist., cxi.

[797] The names of Penelope, Andromache, Alcestis, and Antigone
will be forever illustrious types of the domestic virtues.

[798] The Fathers frequently contrasted the few heathen vestal
virgins with the multitude of Christian celibates. The Christian
emperors and the early councils resolutely repressed harlotry,
drunkenness, wanton dancing, and immodest plays and books.

[799] Conc. Nic., 8; Ancyra, 19; Laodic., 1; Neo Caes., 3.

[800] Tertul., _Contr. Marc._, iv, 34, etc.

[801] Tertullian wrote a special treatise on the subject--_De
Monogamia_. The injunction that a bishop should be the husband of
_one_ wife was regarded as a prohibition of a second marriage.
Some of the Fathers, however, dissented from this view, as
Hermes, (_Pastor_, ii, 4); Augustine, (_De Bono Viduitatis_, 12).
On many pagan tombs occurs the word _univiræ_--“Once married.”
There are several examples of wives in the prime of their youth
and beauty devoting themselves to retirement on the death of
their husbands, as the wives of Pompey, of Drusus, and of Lucan.

[802] The beauty and dignity of Christian wedlock are nobly
expressed by Tertullian in the following passage, addressed to
his own wife: “How can I paint the happiness,” he exclaims, “of a
marriage which the church ratifies, the sacrament confirms, the
benediction seals, angels announce, and our heavenly Father
declares valid! What a union of two believers--one hope, one vow,
one discipline, one worship! They are brother and sister, two
fellow-servants, one spirit and one flesh. They pray together,
fast together, exhort and support one another. They go together
to the house of God, and to the table of the Lord. They share
each other’s trials, persecutions, and joys. Neither avoids nor
hides any thing from the other. They delight to visit the sick,
succour the needy, and daily to lay their offerings before the
altar without scruple or constraint. They do not need to keep the
sign of the cross hidden, nor to express secretly their Christian
joy, nor receive by stealth the eucharist. They join in psalms
and hymns, and strive who best can praise God. Christ rejoices at
the sight, and sends his peace upon them. Where two are in his
name he also is; and where he is, their evil cannot come”--_Ad
Uxorem_, ii, 8. He thus describes the difficulties which a
Christian woman married to an idolater must encounter in her
religious life: “At the time for worship the husband will appoint
the use of the bath; when a fast is to be observed he will invite
company to a feast. When she would bestow alms, both safe and
cellar are closed against her. What heathen will suffer his wife
to attend the nightly meetings of the church, the slandered
supper of the Lord, to visit the sick even in the poorest hovels,
to kiss the martyr’s chains in prison, to rise in the night for
prayer, to show hospitality to stranger brethren?”--_Ibid._

[803] Jungere cum infidelibus vinculum matrimonii prostituere
gentilibus membra Christi.

[804] _Ad Ux._, ii, 2-9. Jerome says that women married to
heathen become part of that body whose ribs they are.--_Cont.
Jovin._, i, 5.

[805] Secret marriages were forbidden, nor might this union take
place without the approbation of the earthly as well as of the
heavenly parent.--Tert., _Ad. Ux._, ii, 9.

[806] “Guard against drunkenness as against hemlock,” says
Clement of Alexandria, “for both drag down to death.”--_Pædag._,
i, 7.

[807] _De Cultu Feminarum_, ii, 3-13: “The wife should weave
her own apparel,” says Clement of Alexandria, referring to Prov.
xxxi, 10-31. This is also the etymological meaning of the English
word wife.

[808] _Pædag._, ii, 8.

[809] _Ep._ 54: “Polire faciem purpurisso” he exclaims, “et
cerusa ora depingere, ornare crinem, et alienis capillis turritam
verticem struere.” Cyprian suggests that the Almighty might not
recognize them at the resurrection. They should not dye their
hair or clothes, as violating the saying that “thou canst not
make one hair white or black;” and God had not made sheep scarlet
or purple.--_De habitu Virginum_, 14-16. “Nevertheless,” says
Clement, “they cannot with their bought and painted beauty avoid
wrinkles or evade death.” Tertullian denounces their
flame-coloured heads, “built up with pads and rolls, the slough
perhaps of some guilty wretch now in hell.”--_De Velendis
Virginibus_, ii, 17. “One delicate neck,” he says, “carries about
it forests and islands”--_saltus et insulæ_; that is, their
price.--_Ibid._, i, 9. At the court of the Eastern Empire,
effeminacy and oriental luxury still further degraded the
Christian character. Clement of Alexandria denounces with
indignation the extravagance and vice of the so-called Christian
community of that city. The wealth that should have been devoted
to the poor was expended in gilded litters and chariots, splendid
banquets and baths, in costly jewelry and dresses. Wealthy
ladies, instead of maintaining widows and orphans, wasted their
sympathies on monkeys, peacocks, and Maltese dogs.--_Pæd._, iii,
4. “Riches,” he adds, “is like a serpent which will bite unless
we know how to take it by the tail.”--_Ibid._, 6. He compares the
Alexandrian women to “an Egyptian temple, gorgeous without, but
enshrining only a cat or crocodile: so beneath their meretricious
adorning were concealed vile and loathsome passions.” The
sumptuary laws of the Theodosian code prohibited the use of gold
brocade or silken tissue, (x, tit. 20; xlv, 10.)

[810] See Fig. 90. See also _oranti_ in Fig. 82.

[811] This lapidary extravagance was censured, as seeming to
imply that the sepulchres were the receptacles of the souls
rather than of the bodies.--Ambr., _De Bono Mortis_.

[812] Cypr., _De Mortal._, 20. See also Augustine’s pathetic
account of the death of his mother, Monica--Premebam oculos ejus
et confluebat in præcordia moestitudo ingens,
etc.--_Conf._, ix, 12.

[813] Father Marchi found, along with some charred bones,
supposed to be relics of St. Hyacinth, some threads of gold
tissue, as if the martyr’s remains had been wrapped in this
costly material. He also perceived an aromatic odour on opening
some graves. Occasionally large lumps of lime have been found
bearing the marks of the linen in which they were wrapped. Its
caustic nature would hasten the destruction of animal tissue.

[814] An cadavera divitum nisi in serico putrescere
nesciunt.--_Vit. Pauli._ Arringhi has a chapter on the
subject, (lib. i, c. 23,) Cadavera unguentis et aromatibus
condiuntur.

[815] Non corpus odoribus honestatis.--Ap., _Minuc._, p. 35.
Jerome urges the substitution of the balsam of alms-deeds and
charity.

[816] Thura plane non emimus, etc.--_Apol._, 42. “You expect
your women will bury your body with ointments and spices,” said
the heathen judge to the martyr Tarachus; to prevent which he
condemned him to be burned.

[817] In later times similar rites were paid to the tomb. “We
will adorn the hidden bones,” sings Prudentius, “with violets and
many a bough; and on the epitaphs and the cold stones we will
sprinkle liquid odours.”--_Cathem._, x.

[818] See Euseb., _H. E._, vii, 16 and 22. They were often
denied the privilege.--_Ibid._, v, 1. Eutychianus, a Roman
Christian, is said to have buried three hundred and forty-two
martyrs with his own hands.

[819] Ψάλλοντες προπέμπετε αὐτοὺς, κ. τ. λ.--_Constit. Apos._,
vi, 30. Hymnos et Psalmos decantans, etc.--Hieron., _Vit. Pauli_.

[820] Chrys., _Hom._, 4, _in Hebr._ The following inscription
indicates that the corpse was sometimes brought to the Catacombs
some time before burial; probably immediately after death, as in
Italy it is now taken to the church. _Pecora dulcis anima benit
in cimitero Marturorum, vii, idus Jul. Dp. Postera die_--“Pecora,
a sweet soul, came (was brought) to the cemetery of the martyrs
on the 9th of July; was buried the following day.”

[821] The Christian emperors prohibited the branding of felons on
the forehead on the ground “that the human countenance, formed
after the image of heavenly beauty, should not be defaced.” They
also exempted widows and orphans from taxation, and contributed
to their support.