,,english ,,conferences ,,of ,,ernest ,,renan4 ,,rome ,,and ,,christianity4 ,,marcus ,,aurelius4 ,,translated ,,by ,,clara ,,erskine ,,clement4 ,illustration ,,boston3 ,,james ,r4 ,,osgood ,,and ,,company4 #ahhj4 ,copyright1 #ahhj1 ,by ,,james ,r4 ,,osgood ,,company4 ,franklin ,press3 ,stereotyped and ,printed by ,rand1 ,avery1 ,co41 ,boston4 ,,contents4 ,,page4 ,the ,hibbert ,conferences4 ,first ,conference4 ,the ,sense in which ,christianity is a ,roman ,work #i ,second ,conference4 ,the ,legend of the ,roman ,church4--,peter and ,paul #ci ,third ,conference4 ,rome1 the ,centre of the ,formation of ,ecclesiastical ,authority #gc ,fourth ,conference4 ,rome1 the ,capital of ,catholicism #ajc ,the ,royal ,institution ,conference4 ,marcus ,aurelius #aci ,,note4 ,the lectures contained in this volume were delivered by ,m4 ,ernest ,renan in ,london during ,april of the present year4 ,the first four1 upon ,rome and ,christianity1 were given under the auspices of ,the ,hibbert ,foundation1 in response to an invitation under which the distinguished author visited ,england4 ,the fifth1 ,marcus ,aurelius1 was incidental to the visit1 and was given before ,the ,royal ,institution4 ,the word ,conferences1 though somewhat new to ,english usage in its present sense1 has been retained as best expressing the author's original title1 ,conferences d',angleterre4 ,,rome ,,and ,,christianity4 ,,first ,,conference1 ,london1 ,april #f1 #ahhj4 ,,the ,,sense ,,in ,,which ,,christianity ,,is ,a ,,roman ,,work4 ,,first ,,conference4 ,,the ,,sense ,,in ,,which ,,christianity ,,is ,a ,,roman ,,work4 ,ladies and ,gentlemen1--,i was proud and happy to receive from the curators of this noble institution an invitation to continue here an instruction inaugurated by my illustrious confrre and friend1 ,max ,mller1 the usefulness of which will be more and more appreciated4 ,a broad and sincere thought always bears fruit4 ,it is thirty years since the venerable ,robert ,hibbert made a legacy for the purpose of aiding the progress of enlightened ,christianity1 inseparable1 according to his idea1 from the progress of science and reason4 ,wisely carried out1 this foundation has become1 in the hands of intelligent administrators1 the centre of conferences upon all the great chapters of the history of religion and humanity3 the promoters of this reform have asked1 with reason1 why the method which has proved good in all departments of intellectual culture should not also be good in the domain of religion8 why the pursuit of truth1 without regard to consequences1 should be dangerous in theology1 when it is approved of in the entire domain of social and natural science8 ,you believed the truth1 gentlemen1 and you were right4 ,there is but one truth2 and we are wanting in respect to its revelation1 if we allow that the critic ought to soften his severe processes when he treats of it4 ,no1 gentlemen1 the truth is able to dispense with compliments4 ,i come gladly at your call2 for ,i understand the duties towards the right exactly as you do4 ,with you1 ,i should believe that ,i injured a faith in admitting that it required to be treated with a certain softness4 ,i believe with you that the worship due from man to the ideal consists in independent scientific research1 without regard to results1 and that the true manner of rendering homage to the truth is to pursue it without ceasing1 with the firm resolution of sacrificing all to it4 ,you desire that these conferences shall present a great historic ensemble of the efforts which the human race has made to resolve the problems which surround it1 and affect its destiny4 ,in the present state of the human mind1 no one can hope to resolve these problems3 we suspect all dogmatism simply because it is dogmatism4 ,we grant willingly that a religious or philosophical system can1 indeed1 or that it ought to1 enclose a certain portion of truth2 but we deny to it1 without examination1 the possibility of enclosing the absolute truth4 ,what we love is history4 ,history well written is always good2 for1 even if it should prove that man in seeking to seize the infinite has pursued a chimera1 the history of these attempts1 more generous than successful1 will always be useful4 ,it proves1 that1 in reality1 man goes beyond the circle of his limited life through his aspirations4 ,it shows what energy he has expended for the sake of his love of the good and true2 it teaches us to estimate him1--this poor disinherited one1 who1 in addition to the sufferings which nature imposes upon him1 imposes still further upon himself the torture of the unknown1 the torture of doubt1 the severe resistances of virtue1 the abstinences of austerity1 the voluntary sufferings of the ascetic4 ,is all this a pure loss8 ,is this unceasing effort to attain the unattainable as vain as the course of the child who pursues the ever flying object of his desire8 ,it pains me to believe it2 and the faith which eludes me when ,i examine in detail each of the systems scattered throughout the world1 ,i find1 in a measure1 when ,i reflect upon all these systems together4 ,all religions may be defective and incomplete2 religion in humanity is nothing less than divine1 and a mark of superior destiny4 ,no1 they have not labored in vain--those grand founders1 those reformers1 those prophets of all ages--who have protested against the false evidences of gross materialism1 who have beaten themselves against the wall of the apparent fatality that encloses us2 who have employed their thought1 given their life1 for the accomplishment of a mission which the spirit of their age had imposed upon them4 ,if the fact of the existence of the martyrs does not prove the exclusive truth of this or that sect 7all sects can show a rich martyrology71 this fact in general proves that religious zeal responds to something mysterious4 ,all1--as many as we are1--we are sons of martyrs4 ,those who talk the most of scepticism are frequently the most satisfied and indifferent4 ,those who have founded among you religious and political liberty1 those who have founded in all ,europe liberty of thought and research1 those who have labored for the amelioration of the fate of men1 those who will doubtless find means for further amelioration1 have suffered1 or will suffer1 for their good work2 for no one is ever recompensed for what he does for the good of humanity4 ,nevertheless they will always have imitators4 ,there will always be some to carry on the work of the incorrigibles2 some1 possessed of the divine spirit1 who will sacrifice their personal interest to truth and justice4 ,be it so3 they have chosen the better part4 ,i know not what assures me that he who1 without knowing why1 through simple nobility of nature1 has chosen for himself in this world the essentially unproductive lot of doing good1 is the true sage1 and has discovered the legitimate use of life with more sagacity than the selfish man4 ,i4 ,you have asked me to retrace before you one of those pages of religious history which places the thoughts which ,i come to express in their fullest aspect4 ,the origins of ,christianity form the most heroic episode in the history of humanity4 ,man never drew from his heart more devotion1 more love of the ideal1 than in the one hundred and fifty years which elapsed from the sweet ,galilean vision1 under ,tiberius1 to the death of ,marcus ,aurelius4 ,the religious consciousness was never more eminently creative1 and never laid down with more authority the law of the future4 ,this extraordinary movement1 to which no other can be compared1 came forth from the bosom of ,judaism4 ,but it is doubtful if ,judaism alone would have conquered the world4 ,it was necessary that a young and bold school1 coming out of its midst1 should take the audacious part of renouncing the largest portion of the ,mosaic ritual4 ,it was necessary1 above all1 that the new movement should be transported into the midst of the ,greeks and ,latins1 while awaiting the ,barbarians1 and become like yeast in the bosom of those ,european races by which humanity accomplishes its destinies4 ,what a beautiful subject he will discourse upon who shall one day explain to you the part which ,greece took in that great common work6 ,you have commissioned me to show to you the part of ,rome4 ,the action of ,rome is the first in date4 ,it was scarcely until the beginning of the third century that the ,greek genius1 with ,clement of ,alexandria and ,origen1 really seized upon ,christianity4 ,i hope to show you1 that1 since the second century1 ,rome has exercised a decisive influence upon the ,church of ,jesus4 ,in one sense1 ,rome has diffused religion through the world1 as she has diffused civilization1 as she has founded the idea of a central government1 extending itself over a considerable part of the world4 ,but even as the civilization which ,rome has diffused has not been the small1 narrow1 austere culture of ancient ,latium1 but in fact the grand and large civilization which ,greece created1 so the religion to which she definitely lent her support was not the niggardly superstition which was sufficient to the rude and primitive inhabitants of the ,palatine3 it was ,judaism1 that is to say1 in fact1 the religion which ,rome scorned and hated most1 that which two or three times she believed herself to have finally vanquished to the profit of her own national worship4 ,this ancient religion of ,latium1 which contented a race endowed with narrow intellectual wants and morals1 among which customs and social rank almost held the place of a religion during some centuries1 was a sufficiently despicable thing4 ,as ,m4 ,boissier has perfectly proved1 a more false conception of the divinity was never seen4 ,in the ,roman worship1 as in most of the ancient ,italiote worships1 prayer was a magic formula1 acting by its own virtue1 independent of the moral dispositions of him who prayed4 ,people prayed only for a selfish end4 ,there exist some registers called indigitamenta1 containing lists of the gods who supply all the wants of men2 thus there was no need of being deceived4 ,if the god was not addressed by his true name1 by that under which it pleased him to be invoked1 he was capable of misapprehension1 or of interpreting capriciously4 ,now these gods1 who are in some degree the forces of the world1 are innumerable4 ,there was a little god who made the infant utter his first cry 7,vaticanus72 there was another who presided over his first word 7,fabulinus72 another who taught the baby to eat 7,educa72 another who taught him to drink 7,potina72 another who made him keep quiet in his cradle 7,cuba74 ,in truth1 the good wife of ,petronius was right1 when1 in speaking of the ,campagna1 she said1 ,this country is so peopled with divinities1 that it is easier to find a god than a man4 ,besides these1 there were unending series of allegories1 or deified abstractions1 ,fear1 the ,cough1 ,fever1 ,manly ,fortune1 ,patrician ,chastity1 ,plebeian ,chastity1 the ,security of the ,age1 the ,genius of the ,customs 7or of the octroi71 and above all 7listen1 that one who1 to say the truth1 was the great god of ,rome71 the ,safety of the ,roman ,people4 ,it was a civil religion in the full force of the term4 ,it was essentially the religion of the ,state4 ,there was no priesthood distinct from the functions of the ,state3 the ,state was the veritable god of ,rome4 ,the father had there the right of life and death over his son2 but if this son had the least function1 and the father met him in his path1 he descended from his horse1 and bent himself before him4 ,the consequence of this essentially political character was1 that the ,roman religion remained always an aristocratic religion4 ,a man became pontiff as he became prtor or consul4 ,when a man desired these religious functions1 he submitted to no examination2 he went into no retreat in a seminary2 he did not ask himself whether he had the ecclesiastical vocation3 he proved that he had served his country well1 and that he had been wounded in a certain battle4 ,there was no sacerdotal spirit4 ,these civil pontiffs remained cold1 practical men1 and had not the least idea that their functions should separate them from the world4 ,the religion of ,rome is1 in every respect1 the inversion of theocracy4 ,civil law rules acts3 it does not trouble itself with thoughts2 thus did the ,roman religion4 ,rome never had the least idea of dogma4 ,the exact observation of the rites commanded by the divinity1 in which it did not regard piety or the sentiments of the heart1 if the request was in form1 was all that was required4 ,even more1--devotion was a fault2 calmness1 order1 regularity1 only1 were necessary3 more than that was an excess 7superstitio74 ,cato absolutely forbade that a slave should be allowed to conceive any sentiment of piety4 ,know1 said he1 that it is the master who sacrifices for all the household4 ,it was not needful to neglect what was due to the gods2 but it was not needful to give them more than was due3 that was superstition1 of which the true ,roman had as much horror as of impiety4 ,was there ever1 ,i ask you1 a religion less capable of becoming the religion of the human race than that8 ,not only was the access to the priesthood for a long time forbidden to the plebeians1 but they were also excluded from the public worship4 ,in the great struggle for civil equality which fills the history of ,rome1 religion is the great argument with which the revolutionists are opposed4 ,how1 say they1 could you become a prtor or consul8 ,you have not the right to take the omens4 ,above all1 the people were very little attached to religion4 ,each popular victory was followed1 as one may say1 by an anti-clerical re-action3 on the contrary1 the aristocracy remained always faithful to a worship which gave a divine sanction to its privileges4 ,the matter became still more pressing when the ,roman people1 by their manly1 patriotic virtues1 had conquered all the nations upon the borders of the ,mediterranean4 ,what interest1 think you an ,african1 a ,gaul1 a ,syrian1 took in a worship which concerned only a small number of high and often tyrannical families8 ,the local religions were continued everywhere2 but ,augustus1 who was still more a religious organizer than a great politician1 made the ,roman idea to hover everywhere by the establishment of the ,roman worship4 ,the altars of ,rome and of ,augustus became the centre of a hierarchical organization of ,flamens and ,augustan ,sevirs1 who served to found1 more than one imagines1 the divisions of the dioceses and ecclesiastical provinces4 ,augustus admitted all the local gods as ,lares2 he allowed more than the number of ,lares in each house2 at each cross-road an additional ,lare was placed1--the ,genius of the ,emperor4 ,thanks to this fellowship1 all the local gods and all the special gods became ,augustan gods4 ,it was a great advance4 ,but this grand attempt of the worship of the ,roman ,state was notoriously insufficient to satisfy the religious needs of the heart4 ,there was elsewhere a god who could not accommodate himself in any way to this fraternity3 it was the ,god of the ,jews4 ,it was impossible to make ,jehovah pass for a ,lare1 and associate with the ,genius of the ,emperor4 ,it was evident that a conflict must be established between the ,roman ,state and this unchangeable and refractory ,god1 who did not bend to the complaisant transformations exacted by the politics of the times4 ,ah1 well6 behold the most extraordinary historical phenomenon1 the most intense irony of all history3 it is that the worship which ,rome has diffused through the world is not in the least the old worship of ,jupiter ,capitolinus1 or ,latiaris1 still less the worship of ,augustus and of the ,genius of the ,emperor3 it is1 in truth1 the worship of ,jehovah4 ,it is ,judaism in its ,christian form that ,rome has propagated1 without wishing it1 in so powerful a manner1 that1 from a certain epoch1 ,romanism and ,christianity have become almost synonymous words4 ,truly1 ,i repeat it1 it is more than doubtful if pure ,judaism--that which is developed under the ,talmudical form1 and which is still in our day so powerful--would have had this extraordinary fortune4 ,judaism propagates itself through ,christianity4 ,but one understands nothing of religious history 7some one1 ,i hope1 will demonstrate it to you some day71 unless it is fixed as a fundamental principle that ,christianity had its origin in ,judaism itself1--,judaism with its fruitful principles of alms and charity1 with its absolute confidence in the future of humanity1 with that joy of the heart of which it has always had the secret1--only ,judaism freed from some observances and distinctive traits which had been invented to characterize the special religion of the children of ,israel4 ,,ii4 ,if one studies in fact the progress of the primitive ,christian missions1 he remarks that they are all directed towards the ,west3 in other words1 they take the ,roman ,empire as their theatre and limit4 ,if one excepts some small portions of the vassal territory of the ,arsacid1 lying between the ,euphrates and the ,tigris1 the empire of the ,parthians received no ,christian missions during the first century4 ,the ,tigris was an eastern boundary which ,christianity did not pass under the ,sassanid4 ,two great causes--the ,mediterranean and the ,roman ,empire--determined this capital fact4 ,the ,mediterranean had been1 during a thousand years1 the great route on which all civilizations and all ideas had passed each other4 ,the ,romans1 having freed it from piracy1 had made it an unequalled way of communication4 ,it was in a sense the railroad of that time4 ,a numerous marine of coasting-vessels rendered the voyages along the borders of this great lake very easy4 ,the relative security which the routes of the empire afforded1 the sure guaranties found in the public powers1 the scattering of the ,jews over all the coasts of the ,mediterranean1 the use of the ,greek tongue in the eastern portion of this sea1 the unity of civilization which the ,greeks first1 and then the ,romans1 had created1 made the map of the empire also the map of the countries reserved to the ,christian missions and destined to become ,christian4 ,the ,roman orbis became the ,christian orbis in the sense in which it may be said that the founders of the empire were the founders of the ,christian monarchy1 or1 at least1 that they have drawn its outlines4 ,every province conquered by the ,roman ,empire became a province conquered by ,christianity4 ,let the figures of the apostles be imagined in the presence of ,asia ,minor1 of ,greece1 of ,italy divided into a hundred little republics1 of ,gaul1 of ,spain1 of ,africa1 of ,egypt1 with its old national institutions1 and their success can no more be thought of1 or rather it would seem that their project could never have had birth4 ,the union of the empire was the necessary preliminary condition of all great religious propagandism1 placing it above nationalities4 ,the empire recognized this in the fourth century4 ,it became ,christian4 ,it saw that ,christianity was the religion which it had accepted without knowing it1--the religion limited by its frontiers1 identified with it1 capable of bringing it a second life4 ,the ,church1 on its side1 made itself entirely ,roman1 and has remained to this day a fragment of the empire4 ,during the middle ages the ,church was the old ,rome1 seizing again its authority over the barbarians1 imposing on them its decretals1 as formerly it had imposed its laws1 governing them by its cardinals1 as it had before governed through its imperial legates and proconsuls4 ,in creating its vast empire1 ,rome imposed1 then1 the material condition of the propagation of ,christianity4 ,she raised up1 above all1 the moral state which served as an atmosphere and a medium for the new doctrine4 ,while destroying politics everywhere1 it created what may be called socialism and religion4 ,at the close of the frightful wars which for some centuries had rent the world1 the empire had an era of prosperity and of welfare such as it had never known3 we may even be permitted to add 7without a paradox7 liberty4 ,liberty of thought1 at least1 increased under this new rgime4 ,this liberty is often more prosperous under a king or a prince than under the jealous and narrow-minded plebeian4 ,the ancient republics did not have it4 ,the ,greeks did great things without it1 thanks to the incomparable power of their genius2 but it must not be forgotten that ,athens had a fine and noble ,inquisition4 ,the king ,archon was the inquisitor2 the royal ,portico was the holy office in which the accusations of impiety were adjudged4 ,these were the cases in which the ,attic orators were most frequently engaged4 ,not only philosophical crimes1 such as the denial of ,god or of a ,providence1 but the lightest attaint of the municipal worship1 the preaching of strange religions1 the most puerile infractions of the scrupulous legislation of the mysteries1 were crimes guilty of death4 ,the gods whom ,aristophanes mocked on the stage sometimes destroyed4 ,they destroyed ,socrates2 they failed to kill ,alcibiades4 ,anaxagoras1 ,protagoras1 ,diagoras of ,melas1 ,prodicus of ,ceos1 ,stilpo1 ,aristotle1 ,theophrastus1 ,aspasia1 ,euripides1 were more or less seriously disturbed4 ,liberty of thought was1 in truth1 the fruit of the royalties resulting from the ,macedonian conquest4 ,it was the ,attali1 the ,ptolemies1 who first gave to men of thought the freedom which no one of the old republics had ever offered them4 ,the ,roman ,empire held to the same traditions4 ,there was under the empire more than one arbitrary law against the philosophers2 but these always resulted from their meddling with political affairs4 ,in the laws of the ,romans1 before the time of ,constantine1 no clause is found against the liberty of thought2 in the history of the emperors1 no process of abstract doctrine4 ,no savant was disturbed in his researches4 ,men whom the middle ages would have burned1 such as ,galen1 ,lucian1 ,plotinus1 lived tranquilly1 protected by law4 ,the empire inaugurated a period of liberty in the sense that it destroyed the absolute sovereignty of the family1 the city1 the tribe1 and replaced or modified these sovereignties by those of the ,state4 ,now1 an absolute power is as much more vexatious as the circle in which it is exercised is more narrow4 ,the ancient republics1 the feudalities1 tyrannized over the individual much more than did the ,state4 ,unquestionably the ,roman ,empire persecuted ,christianity severely at times2 but at least it did not destroy it4 ,now the republics would have rendered it impossible4 ,judaism1 if it had not been under the ,roman authority1 would have stifled it4 ,it was the ,roman magistrates who hindered the ,pharisees from killing ,christianity4 ,some lofty ideas of universal brotherhood--results1 in the main1 of stoicism1--a sort of general sentiment of humanity1 were the fruit of the least narrow rgime and of the least exclusive education to which the individual was submitted4 ,the people dreamed of a new era and new worlds4 ,the public riches were great2 and1 in spite of the imperfection of the economical doctrines of the time1 there was general comfort4 ,general customs were not such as are often imagined4 ,it is true1 that1 in ,rome1 all the vices were publicly displayed with a revolting cynicism3 the spectacles1 above all1 had introduced a frightful corruption4 ,certain countries1 as ,egypt1 had descended to the lowest baseness4 ,but there existed in most of the provinces a middle class1 in which goodness1 conjugal fidelity1 the domestic virtues1 and uprightness were commonly practised4 ,does there anywhere exist1 in a world of honest people in small villages1 an ideal of family life more charming than that which ,plutarch has left us8 ,what good fellowship6 ,what sweetness of manners6 ,what chaste and attractive simplicity6 ,chronea was evidently not the only place where life was so pure and so innocent4 ,the customs1 even outside of ,rome1 were still somewhat cruel1 either through the remaining spirit of ancient manners1 everywhere sanguinary1 or through the special influence of ,roman harshness4 ,but there was progress during this period4 ,what sweet and pure sentiment1 what feeling of melancholy tenderness1 has not found expression by the pen of ,virgil or of ,tibullus8 ,the world unbent1 lost its ancient severity1 and acquired some softness and tenderness4 ,some maxims for humanity were spread abroad4 ,equality and the abstract idea of the rights of man were boldly preached by stoicism4 ,woman became more and more the mistress of herself4 ,the precepts for the treatment of slaves were improved4 ,the slave was no longer that necessarily grotesque and wicked being which the ,latin comedy introduced in order to provoke bursts of laughter1 and whom ,cato recommended to be treated as a beast of burden4 ,now1 times are much changed4 ,the slave is morally equal to his master3 it is admitted that he is capable of virtue1 of fidelity1 of devotion1 and he gives proofs of it4 ,the prejudices concerning noble birth grow less4 ,some very humane and just laws are made1 even under the worst emperors4 ,tiberius was a skilful financier3 he founded upon an excellent basis an establishment of crdit foncier4 ,nero inaugurated in the system of taxation1 until then unjust and barbarous1 some improvements which shame even our own time4 ,legislation was considerably advanced1 while the punishment of death was stupidly prodigal4 ,love of the poor1 sympathy for all1 and almsgiving1 came to be considered virtues4 ,,iii4 ,unquestionably ,i understand and share the indignation of sincere liberals against a government which diffused a frightful despotism over the world4 ,but is it our fault that the wants of humanity are diverse1 its aspirations manifold1 its aims contradictory8 ,politics is not every thing here below4 ,what the world desired1 after those frightful butcheries of the earlier centuries1 was gentleness1 humanity4 ,they had enough of heroism3 those vigorous goddesses1 eternally brandishing their spears on the height of the ,acropolis1 inspired sentiment no longer4 ,the earth1 as in the time of ,cadmus1 had swallowed her most noble sons4 ,the proud ,grecian races had killed each other4 ,the ,peloponessus was a desert4 ,the sweet voice of ,virgil gently took up the cry of humanity1 peace1 pity6 ,the establishment of ,christianity responded to this cry of all tender and weary souls4 ,christianity could only have had birth and expansion in a time when there were no longer free cities4 ,if there was any thing totally lacking in the founders of the ,church1 it was patriotism4 ,they were not cosmopolites1 for the entire planet was to them a place of exile3 they were idealists in the most absolute sense4 ,a country is a composition of soul and body4 ,the soul is the souvenirs1 the legends1 the customs1 the misfortunes1 the hopes1 the common sorrows3 the body is the soil1 the race1 the language1 the mountains1 the rivers1 the characteristic productions4 ,now1 was a people ever more wanting in all this than the first ,christians8 ,they did not cling to ,juda2 after a few years they had forgotten ,galilee2 the glory of ,greece and ,rome was indifferent to them4 ,the countries in which ,christianity was first established--,syria1 ,cyprus1 and ,asia ,minor--no longer remembered the time when they were free4 ,greece and ,rome1 it is true1 still had a grand national sentiment4 ,at ,rome1 patriotism survived in a few families2 in ,greece1 ,christianity flourished only at ,corinth1--a city which1 since its destruction by ,mummius1 and its reconstruction by ,csar1 was the resort of men of all races4 ,the true ,greek countries1 then1 as to-day1 very jealous1 very much absorbed in the memories of their past1 gave little countenance to the new doctrines3 they were always lukewarm ,christians4 ,on the contrary1 those gay1 indolent1 voluptuous countries of ,asia and ,syria1 countries of pleasure1 of free manners1 de laisser aller1 accustomed to receive life and government from others1 had nothing to resign in the way of pride and traditions4 ,the most ancient capitals of ,christianity--,antioch1 ,ephesus1 ,thessalonica1 ,corinth1 and ,rome--were common cities1 so to speak1 cities of the modern type of ,alexandria1 in which all races met1 where that marriage between man and the soil1 which constitutes a nation1 was absolutely broken4 ,the importance given to social questions is always the inverse of political pre-occupations4 ,socialism takes the lead when patriotism grows weak4 ,christianity exploded the social and religious ideas1 as was inevitable1 since ,augustus had put an end to political struggles4 ,christianity1 if a universal worship1 would1 like ,islamism1 in reality be the enemy of nationalities4 ,only centuries1 only schisms1 could form national churches from a religion which was from the beginning a denial of all terrestrial countries1 which had its birth at an epoch in which there were no longer in the world either cities or citizens1 and which the old and powerful republics of ,italy and of ,greece would surely have expelled as a mortal poison to the ,state4 ,and here was one of the causes of the grandeur of the new religion4 ,humanity is a multiform1 changeable thing1 tormented by conflicting desires4 ,la patrie is grand1 and the heroes of ,marathon and ,thermopyl are saints4 ,but one's country is not all here below3 one is a man and a son of ,god1 before he is a ,frenchman1 or a ,german4 ,the kingdom of ,god1 an eternal dream which is never destroyed in the heart of man1 is a protestation against a too exclusive patriotism4 ,the thought of an organization of humanity1 in view of its greatest happiness and its moral amelioration1 is legitimate4 ,the ,state knows1 and can only know1 one thing1--to organize a collective egoism4 ,this is not indifference1 because egoism is the most powerful and seizable of human motives1 but is not sufficient4 ,the governments which have rested upon the supposition that man is composed of covetous instincts only1 have deceived themselves4 ,devotion is as natural as egoism to a true-born man4 ,the organization of devotion is religion3 let no one hope1 then1 to dispense with religion1 or religious associations4 ,each progression of modern society will render this want more imperious4 ,a great exaltation of religious sentiment was1 then1 the consequence of the ,roman peace established by ,augustus4 ,augustus realized it4 ,but ,i ask1 ,what satisfaction could the institutions which ,rome dared to believe eternal present to the religious wants which were arising8 ,surely almost nothing4 ,all the old worships1 of very different origin1 had one common trait4 ,they shared equally the impossibility of reaching a theological teaching1 a practical morality1 an edifying preaching1 a pastoral ministry truly fruitful for the people4 ,the ,pagan temple1 in its best time1 was the same thing as the synagogue and the church3 ,i wish to say the common house1 the school1 the inn1 the hospital1 the shelter in which the poor sought an asylum1 it was a cold cella1 into which one seldom entered1 where one learned nothing4 ,the affectation which led the ,roman patricians to distinguish the religion1 that is to say1 their own worship1 from the superstition1 that is to say1 the worship of strangers1 appears to us puerile4 ,all the ,pagan worships were essentially superstitious4 ,the peasant who in our day places a sou in the box of a miraculous chapel1 who invokes some saint on account of his oxen1 or his horses1 who drinks certain waters for certain maladies1 is in these acts a ,pagan4 ,indeed1 nearly all our superstitions are the remains of a religion anterior to ,christianity1 which that has not been able to entirely uproot4 ,if one would find the image of ,paganism in our day1 it must be sought in some obscure village in the depth of some out-of-the-way country4 ,having as guardians a popular1 vacillating tradition1 and selfish sacristans1 the ,pagan religion could but degenerate in worship4 ,augustus1 although with a certain reserve1 accepted the adoration of his subjects in the provinces4 ,tiberius allowed1 under his own eyes1 that ignoble concourse of the cities of ,asia to dispute the honor of raising a temple to him4 ,the extravagant impieties of ,caligula produced no re-action3 outside of ,judaism there was not found a single priest to resist such follies4 ,coming forth1 for the most part1 from a primitive worship of natural forces ten times transformed by minglings of all sorts1 and by the imagination of the peoples1 the ,pagan worships were limited by their past4 ,one could never draw from them what had never existed in them1--,deism or instruction4 ,the fathers of the church amuse us when they bring to notice the misdeeds of ,saturn as the father of a family1 and of ,jupiter as a husband4 ,but without doubt1 it was still more ridiculous to set up ,jupiter 7that is to say1 the atmosphere7 as a moral god who commands1 defends1 rewards1 and punishes4 ,in a world which aspires to possess a catechism1 what could one do with a worship like that of ,venus1 which arose from an old social necessity of the first ,phoenician navigation in the ,mediterranean1 but became in time an outrage to that which one regards more and more as the essence of religion8 ,here is the explanation of that singular attraction1 which1 towards the commencement of our era1 drew the populations of the ,old ,world towards the worships of the ,east4 ,these worships had something more profound than the ,greek and ,latin worships3 they appealed1 moreover1 to the religious sentiment4 ,almost all were relative to the state of the soul in another life1 and they were believed to contain some pledges of immortality4 ,from this arose that favor which the ,thracian and ,sabasian mysteries enjoyed1 the worshippers of ,bacchus1 and brotherhoods of all sorts4 ,there was less of coldness in these little circles1 in which one pressed against another1 than in the great glacial world elsewhere4 ,some minor religions1 like that of ,psyche1 destined solely to console for death1 had immense popularity4 ,those noble ,egyptian worships which concealed the emptiness within by grand splendor of ceremonies counted their devotees throughout the empire4 ,isis and ,serapis had their altars at the extremities of the world4 ,in visiting the ruins of ,pompeii1 one would be tempted to believe that the worship of ,isis was the principal one practised there4 ,those little ,egyptian temples had some assiduous devotees1 among whom were counted a large number of persons of the class of the friends of ,catullus and ,tibullus4 ,there was a service each morning1--a sort of mass1 celebrated by a tonsured and beardless priest2 there were some sprinklings of holy water1 and perhaps an evening service3 it occupied1 amused1 and quieted4 ,what more is necessary8 ,but1 more than all others1 the ,mithraic worship enjoyed in the second and third centuries an extraordinary popularity4 ,i sometimes allow myself to say1 that1 had not ,christianity taken the lead1 ,mithraicism would have become the religion of the world4 ,mithraicism had mysterious re-unions1 and chapels which strongly resembled little churches4 ,it established a very solid bond of brotherhood between its votaries2 it had the ,eucharist1 the ,lord's ,supper1 and bore such a resemblance to the ,christian mysteries1 that the good ,justin the ,apologist saw only one explanation of these resemblances3 it is that ,satan1 in order to deceive the human race1 sought to mimic the ,christian ceremonies1 and committed this plagiarism4 ,the ,mithraic tomb of the ,catacombs of ,rome is as edifying and deeply mysterious as the ,christian tombs4 ,there were some devoted ,mithraists1 who1 even after the triumph of ,christianity1 defended the sincerity of their faith with courage4 ,the people grouped themselves around these foreign gods3 around the ,greek and ,italiote gods there were no gatherings4 ,we must say a good word for it3 it is only the small sects that lay the foundation and build up4 ,it is so sweet to believe one's self a little aristocracy of truth1 to imagine1 that1 in common with a very few1 one owns the repository of truth6 ,such a foolish sect in our own time gives to its adherents more consolation than a more healthy philosophy4 ,in his day1 ,abracadabra secured some joyous followers1 and1 by means of a little good-will1 a sublime theology has been found in him4 99 99 99 99 99 ,we shall see1 however1 in our next conference1 that the religious reign of the future belonged neither to ,serapis1 nor to ,mithra4 ,the predestined religion grew imperceptibly in ,juda4 ,this would have greatly astonished the most sagacious ,romans1 if it had been announced to them4 ,it would have been shocking to them in the highest degree4 ,but so often in history have improbable predictions become true1 so often has wisdom been mistaken1 that it is not best to rely too much upon the likes and dislikes of enlightened men1 of bons esprits as we say1 when they undertake to predict the future4 ,,second ,,conference1 ,london1 ,april #i1 #ahhj4 ,,the ,,legend ,,of ,,the ,,roman ,,church4--,,peter ,,and ,,paul4 ,,second ,,conference4 ,,peter ,,and ,,paul4 ,ladies and ,gentlemen1--,at our last meeting we attempted to show the situation of the ,roman ,empire in regard to religious questions during the first century4 ,there was in the vast gathering of populations which composed the empire a pressing want of religion1 a true moral progress1 which called for a pure worship without superstitious practices or bloody sacrifices2 a tendency to ,monotheism1 which made the old mythological recitals appear ridiculous2 a general sentiment of sympathy and of charity1 which inspired the desire of association1 of assembling together for prayer1 for support1 for consolation1 for the assurance that after death one would be interred by his brethren1 who would also make a little feast in his memory4 ,asia ,minor1 ,greece1 ,syria1 and ,egypt contained masses of the poor1--very honest men1 after their manner1 humble1 and without distinction2 but revolted at the spectacle which the ,roman aristocracy made1 full of horror at those hideous representations in the theatres1 in which ,rome made a diversion of suffering4 ,the moral conscience of the human race sent up an immense protestation1 and there was no priest to interpret it1 no pitying ,god to reply to the sighs of poor suffering humanity4 ,slavery1 in spite of the protestations of the sages1 remained very cruel4 ,claudius thought to do a grand and humane act in making a law that the master who should drive from his house an old and sick slave should lose his right in that slave1 if he were cured4 ,how could gods without compassion1 and born of joy and the primitive imagination1 be expected to console for such evils8 ,a ,father in heaven was required1 who kept a record of the efforts of man1 and promised him a recompense4 ,a future of justice was desired1 in which the earth belonged to the feeble and the poor4 ,the assurance was necessary1 that1 when a man suffered1 it was not an entire loss1 and that beyond those sad horizons1 veiled by tears1 there were happy fields in which one day he should console himself for his sorrows4 ,judaism indeed had all that4 ,by the institution of the synagogues 7do not forget1 gentlemen1 that it is from the synagogue that the church comes71 it established association in the most powerful form in which it had ever been realized4 ,in appearance1 at least1 the worship was pure ,deism2 no images1 only scorn and sarcasm for idols4 ,but that which above all characterized the ,jew was his confidence in a brilliant and happy future for humanity4 ,having no idea based upon the immortality of the soul1 nor upon the remunerations and punishments beyond the tomb1 the ,jew1 disciple of the ancient prophet1 was as if intoxicated with the sentiment of justice3 he wished justice now upon earth4 ,having little confidence in the assurances of the eternity which made the ,christians so easily resigned1 the ,jew grumbled at ,jehovah1 reproached him with his ignorance1 and demanded how he could leave the earth so long in the power of the impious4 ,as for himself1 he did not doubt that the earth would one day be his1 and that his law would make love and justice to reign therein4 ,in this struggle1 gentlemen1 the ,jew will be victorious4 ,hope1 that which the ,jew calls the ,tiqva1 that assurance of something which nothing proves1 but to which one attaches himself with so much the more frenzy because it is not sure1 is the soul of the ,jew4 ,his psalms were like the continuous sound of a harp1 filling life with harmony and a melancholy faith3 his prophets held the words of eternity4 ,for example1 that second ,isaiah1 the prophet of the captivity1 pictured the future with more dazzling colors than man had ever seen in his dreams4 ,the ,thora1 besides that1 gives the recipe for being happy 7for being happy here below1 ,i mean71 by observing the moral law1 the spirit of the family1 and the spirit of duty4 ,i4 ,the establishment of the ,jews at ,rome dated nearly sixty years before ,jesus ,christ4 ,they multiplied rapidly4 ,cicero represented it as an act of courage to dare to oppose them4 ,csar favored them1 and found them faithful4 ,the people detested them1 thought them malevolent1 accused them of forming a secret society whose members were advanced at any price1 to the detriment of others4 ,but all did not approve these superficial judgments4 ,the ,jews had as many friends as detractors3 something superior was noticeable in them4 ,the poor ,jewish colporter of the ,trastevere often in the evening returned home rich with the charities received from a pious hand4 ,women1 above all1 were attracted by these missionaries in rags4 ,juvenal counts the weakness towards the ,jewish religion among the vices of the ladies of his time4 ,the word of ,zachariah was verified to the letter3 the world seized upon the garments of the ,jews1 and said1 ,lead us to ,jerusalem4 ,the principal ,jewish quarter of ,rome was situated beyond the ,tiber1 that is to say1 in the poorest and dirtiest part of the city1 probably near the present ,porta ,portese4 ,there1 or rather opposite to the foot of the ,aventine1 the gate of ,rome was formerly situated1 where the merchandise brought from ,ostia in barges was discharged4 ,it was a quarter of ,jews and ,syrians1--nations born for servitude1 as ,cicero said4 ,the nucleus of the ,jewish population at ,rome was formed1 in truth1 of freedmen1 descended1 for the most part1 from those prisoners whom ,pompey had carried there4 ,they had passed through slavery1 without changing their religious customs in the least4 ,that which is admirable in ,judaism is that simplicity of faith which makes the ,jew1 transported a thousand leagues from his country1 at the end of several generations1 always a very ,jew4 ,the intercourse between the synagogues of ,rome and ,jerusalem was continual4 ,the first colony had been re-enforced with numerous emigrants4 ,these poor men disembarked by hundreds at the ,ripa1 and lived together in the adjacent quarter of the ,trastevere1 serving as street-porters1 engaged in small affairs1 exchanging matches for broken glasses1 and showing to the proud ,italiote populations a type which later became too familiar to them1--that of the beggar accomplished in his art4 ,a ,roman who respected himself never placed his foot in these abject quarters4 ,it was as a suburb given up to despised classes and to infectious employments3 the tanneries1 the gut-works1 the rotting vats were banished there4 ,these unhappy people lived tranquilly enough in this remote corner1 in the midst of bales of merchandise1 low inns1 and porters of manure 7,syri71 who had there their general headquarters4 ,the police only entered there when affrays were bloody1 or occurred too often4 ,few quarters of ,rome were so free3 politics had nothing to do there4 ,worship was not only practised there in ordinary times without obstacles1 but its propagation was also accomplished with great facility4 ,protected by the disdain which they inspired1 caring little1 moreover1 for the railleries of the men of the world1 the ,jews of the ,trastevere led a very active religious and social life4 ,they had some schools of hakamin3 nowhere was the ritual and ceremonial of the law observed more scrupulously3 the organization of the synagogue was the most complete ever known4 ,the titles of father and mother of the synagogues were much prized4 ,some rich converts took biblical names2 they brought their slaves into the church with them1 they had the ,scriptures explained by the doctors1 built places of prayer1 and manifested their pride of the consideration which they enjoyed in this little world4 ,the poor ,jew found the means1 while begging with a trembling voice1 to whisper in the ear of the great ,roman lady some words of the law1 and frequently won over the matron who opened to him her hand full of small coin4 ,to observe the sabbath and the ,jewish feasts was to ,horace the trait which classed a man in the crowd of weak minds4 ,the universal benevolence1 the happiness of reposing with the just1 the assistance of the poor1 the purity of manners1 the gentle acceptance of death considered as a sleep1 are some of the sentiments which are found in the ,jewish inscriptions1 with that particular accent of touching unction1 of certain hope1 which characterizes the ,christian inscriptions4 ,there have been many rich and powerful ,jews in the world1 such as ,tiberius ,alexander1 who arrived at the greatest honors of the empire1 who exercised two or three times the strongest influence upon public affairs1 and even had1 to the great grief of the ,romans1 his statue in the ,forum2 but those were not good ,jews4 ,the ,herods1 though practising their worship at ,rome with much show1 were also far from being true ,israelites1 even if their only sins were their relations with the ,pagans4 ,a world of ideas was thus set in motion on the vulgar quay where the merchandise of the whole world was piled up2 but all that would be lost in a great city like ,paris4 ,undoubtedly the proud patricians1 who1 in their promenades on the ,aventine1 cast their eyes upon the other side of the ,tiber1 did not imagine the future that was forming itself in that little cluster of poor houses at the foot of ,janiculum4 ,near the port was a sort of lodging-house well known to the people and the soldiers under the name of ,taberna ,meritoria4 ,in order to attract the loungers1 a pretended spring of oil coming out of a rock was shown there4 ,from a very early time this spring of oil was considered by the ,christians as symbolic3 it was pretended that its appearance was coincident with the birth of ,jesus4 ,it seems that later the ,taberna became a church4 ,under ,alexander ,severus we find the ,christians and the inn-keepers in a contest over a place which formerly had been public3 that good emperor gave it to the ,christians4 ,this is probably the origin of the ,church of the ,santa ,maria of the ,trastevere4 ,it is natural that the capital should have fully accepted the name of ,jesus before the intermediate countries could be evangelized1 as a high summit is lighted up while the valleys between it and the sun are still obscure4 ,rome was the rendezvous for all the ,oriental worships1--the point upon the coast of the ,mediterranean with which the ,syrians had the most intercourse4 ,they arrived there in enormous bands4 ,like all the poor populations rising for the assault of the great cities to which they come to seek their fortunes1 they were serviceable and humble4 ,all the world spoke ,greek4 ,the ancient ,roman plebeians1 attached to the old customs1 lost ground each day1 drowned as they were in this wave of strangers4 ,we admit then1 that towards the year #ej of our era1 some ,syrian ,jews1 already ,christians1 entered the capital of the empire1 and communicated the faith which rendered them happy to their companions4 ,at this time no one suspected that the founder of a second empire was in ,rome1--a second ,romulus1 lodging at the port in a bed of straw4 ,a little band was formed4 ,these ancestors of the ,roman prelates were poor1 dirty1 common people1 without distinction1 without manners1 clothed with fetid garments1 having the bad breath of men who are badly fed4 ,their dwellings had that odor of misery which is exhaled from persons grossly clothed and nourished1 and huddled together in narrow rooms4 ,we know the names of two ,jews who were the most prominent in these movements4 ,they were ,aquila1 a ,jew1 originally from ,pontus1 who was like ,st4 ,paul an upholsterer1 and ,priscilla his wife1--a pious couple4 ,banished from ,rome they took refuge at ,corinth1 where they soon became the intimate friends of ,st4 ,paul1 and zealous workers with him4 ,thus ,aquila and ,priscilla are the most ancient known members of the ,church of ,rome4 ,there is scarcely a souvenir of them there4 ,tradition1 always unjust1 because it is always ruled by political motives1 has expelled these two obscure workmen from the ,christian ,pantheon in order to attribute the honor of the foundation of the ,church of ,rome to a name more in keeping with its proud pretensions4 ,we do not see the original point of the origin of ,occidental ,christianity in the theatrical ,basilica consecrated to ,st4 ,peter3 it is at that ancient ,ghetto1 the ,porta ,portese4 ,it is in tracing these poor vagabond ,jews1 who bore with them the religion of the world1--these suffering men1 dreaming in their misery of the kingdom of ,god1--that we shall find it again4 ,we do not dispute with ,rome its essential title4 ,rome was probably the first point in the ,western ,world1 and even in ,europe1 where ,christianity was established4 ,but1 instead of these lofty basilicas1 in place of these insulting devices1--,christus vincit1 ,christus regnat1 ,christus imperat1--it would be better to raise a poor chapel to these good ,jews who first pronounced on the quay of ,rome the name of ,jesus4 ,a capital trait1 which it is important to note in any case1 is1 that the ,church of ,rome was not1 like the churches of ,asia ,minor1 ,macedonia1 and ,greece1 a foundation of the school of ,paul4 ,it was fundamentally ,judan-,christian1 re-attaching itself directly to the ,church of ,jerusalem4 ,paul here will never be on his own ground3 he will find in this great church many weaknesses which he will treat with indulgence1 but which will wound his exalted idealism4 ,attached to circumcision and outward observances1 ,ebionite through its taste for abstinences1 and by its doctrine concerning the person and death of ,jesus more ,jewish than ,christian1 leaning strongly towards ,millenarianism1 the ,roman ,church showed1 since its first days1 the essential traits which will distinguish it through its long history4 ,own daughter of ,jerusalem1 the ,roman ,church will always have an ascetic1 sacerdotal character1 opposed to the ,protestant tendencies of ,paul4 ,peter will be its veritable head2 then1 the political and hierarchical spirit of old ,rome penetrating it1 it will indeed become the new ,jerusalem1 the city of the ,pontificate1 of the hieratic and solemn religion1 of the material sacraments which justify of themselves1 the city of the ascetics of the manner of ,jacques ,ohliam with his callous knees and his plate of gold upon his brow4 ,it will be the authoritative church4 ,if we can believe it1 the only mark of the apostolic mission will be to show a letter signed by the apostles1 to produce a certificate of orthodoxy4 ,the good and the evil which the ,church of ,jerusalem did in giving birth to ,christianity1 the ,church of ,rome will do for the ,universal ,church4 ,it is in vain that ,paul will address to it his beautiful epistle to explain the mystery of the cross of ,jesus and of salvation by faith alone4 ,the ,church of ,rome will scarcely comprehend it2 but ,luther four and a half centuries later will comprehend it1 and will open a new era in a secular series of the alternate triumphs of ,peter and ,paul4 ,,ii4 ,an important event in the history of the world took place in the year #fa4 ,paul was led a prisoner to ,rome in order to follow up the appeal which he had made to the tribunal of the emperor4 ,a sort of profound instinct had always made ,paul desire this journey4 ,his arrival at ,rome was almost as marked an event in his life as his conversion4 ,he believed that he had attained the summit of his apostolic life2 and doubtless he recalled the dream in which1 after one of his days of struggle1 ,christ had appeared to him1 and said1 ,be of good cheer1 ,paul2 for as thou hast testified of me in ,jerusalem1 so must thou bear witness also at ,rome4 ,you will not forget the wide divisions which separated the disciples of ,jesus during the first century from the foundation of ,christianity1--divisions so broad1 that all the differences which to-day separate the orthodox1 the heretics1 and the schismatics of the whole world1 are nothing beside the dissensions of ,peter and ,paul4 ,the ,church of ,jerusalem1 obstinately attached to ,judaism1 refused all intercourse with the uncircumcised1 however pious they might be4 ,paul1 on the contrary1 thought that to maintain the ancient law was an injury to ,jesus1 since thus it might be supposed1 that1 outside the merits of ,jesus1 such or such a work could serve for the justification of the faithful4 ,however strange it may appear1 it is certain that the ,judan-,christians of ,jerusalem1 with ,james at their head1 organized some active contra-missions in order to combat the effect of the missions of ,paul1 and that the emissaries of these ardent conservatives followed in some sort the lead of the apostle of the ,gentiles4 ,peter belonged to the party at ,jerusalem1 but showed in his conduct that sort of timid moderation which seems to have been the foundation of his character4 ,did ,peter also come to ,rome8 ,formerly1 gentlemen1 this question was one of the most exciting which could be agitated4 ,formerly the history of religion was written1 not to recount it1 but in order to prove it3 religious history was an annex of theology4 ,during the grand revolt1 so full of courage and of ardent conviction1 which1 during the sixteenth century1 placed one-half of ,europe in opposition to ,rome1 the negation of the sojourn of ,peter at ,rome became a sort of dogma4 ,the ,bishop of ,rome is the successor of ,st4 ,peter1 said the ,catholics1 and as such the head of ,christendom4 ,how could that reasoning be more strongly refuted than by maintaining that ,peter never placed his foot in ,rome8 ,as for us1 we are permitted to regard this question with the most perfect disinterestedness4 ,we do not believe1 in any sense1 that ,jesus intended to give any head whatever to his church2 and above all1 it is doubtful whether the idea of such a church as developed later had existed in the mind of the founder of ,christianity4 ,the word ecclesia occurs only in the ,gospel of ,st4 ,matthew4 ,the idea of the episcopos1 as it existed in the second century1 had no place in the mind of ,jesus4 ,he himself was the living episcopos during his brief ,galilean appearance3 from that time it is the ,spirit who inspires each one until he may return4 ,in any case1 if it had been possible that ,jesus should have had any idea whatever of the ecclesia and episcopos1 it is absolutely beyond doubt1 that ,jesus never thought of giving the future episcopos of the city of ,rome to be the head of his church1--that impious city1 the centre of all the impurities of the earth1 of whose existence he perhaps knew scarcely any thing1 and of which he should have entertained the gloomy opinions which all the ,jews professed4 ,if there is any thing in the world which was not instituted by ,jesus1 it is the ,papacy1 that is to say1 the idea that the ,church is a monarchy4 ,we are1 then1 perfectly at liberty to discuss the question of ,peter's coming to ,rome4 ,this question is absolutely without consequence for us2 and from our solution the only result will be to say whether ,leo ,,xiii4 is or is not the head of the ,christian conscience4 ,whether ,peter was or was not in ,rome1 it has for us no political nor moral bearing4 ,it is a curious question of history3 it is useless to pursue it further4 ,first1 let us say1 that the ,catholics have laid themselves open to the peremptory objections of their adversaries by their unfortunate reckoning of the coming of ,peter to ,rome in the year #db1--;a reckoning borrowed from ,eusebius and ,st4 ,jerome1 which extends the duration of the pontificate of ,peter to twenty-three or twenty-four years4 ,there is nothing more inadmissible4 ,in order to leave no doubt in regard to this1 it is sufficient to consider that the persecution of ,peter at ,jerusalem by ,herod ,agrippa occurred in the year #dd4 ,it would be superfluous to oppose longer a thesis which can have no one reasonable defence4 ,it is possible1 in fact1 to go much further1 and to affirm that ,peter had not yet come to ,rome when ,paul was taken there1 that is to say1 in the year #fa4 ,the ,epistle of ,paul to the ,romans1 written about the year #eh1 is a very considerable argument here4 ,one can scarcely imagine ,st4 ,paul writing to the faithful1 of whom ,st4 ,peter was the head1 without making the least mention of the latter4 ,the last chapter of the ,acts of the ,apostles is still more demonstrative4 ,this chapter1 especially from the seventeenth to the twenty-ninth verse1 cannot be explained1 if ,peter was at ,rome when ,paul arrived there4 ,let us1 then1 consider it absolutely certain that ,peter did not come to ,rome before ,paul1 that is to say1 before or about the year #fa4 ,but did he not come there after ,paul8 ,this has never been positively proved2 this late journey of ,peter's to ,rome was not only probable1 but there are strong arguments in its favor4 ,besides the testimony of the ,fathers of the second and third centuries1 there are three reasons which do not appear to me unworthy3-- #ast1 ,it is indisputably certain that ,peter suffered a martyr's death4 ,the testimony of the fourth evangelist1 of ,clement ,romanus1 of the fragment which is called the ,canon de ,muratori1 of ,denis of ,corinth1 of ,caius1 of ,tertullian1 leave no doubt in this respect4 ,let the fourth ,gospel be apocryphal1 allow that chapter xxi4 has been added in later times1 it makes no difference4 ,it is clear1 that1 in the verses in which ,jesus announces to ,peter that he shall die by the same suffering as his own1 we have the expression of an opinion established in the ,church about #abj or #acj1 to which allusions are made as to a fact known to all4 ,now1 it is not possible to imagine that ,peter died a martyr outside of ,rome4 ,it was only at ,rome1 in fact1 that the persecution of ,nero was violent4 ,at ,jerusalem1 at ,antioch1 the martyrdom of ,peter would have been much less probable4 #b;d1 ,the second reason is found in the ,epistle attributed to ,st4 ,peter 7v4 #ac73 ,the church that is at ,babylon 444 saluteth you4 ,babylon1 in this passage1 evidently indicates ,rome4 ,if the ,epistle is authentic1 the passage is decisive3 if it is apocryphal1 the conclusion to be drawn from the text is not weakened4 ,the author1 in short1 whoever he may be1 wishes it to be regarded as the work of ,peter4 ,he was consequently forced1 in order to give an appearance of truth to his fraud1 to arrange the circumstances which he related1 according to what he knew1 or believed was known in his time1 of the life of ,peter4 ,if1 in such a spirit1 he dated the letter at ,rome1 it shows1 that1 in his day1 it was the general opinion that ,peter had resided at ,rome4 ,but1 in any case1 the ,first ,epistle of ,peter is a very ancient work1 and had very early a high authority4 #c;d1 ,the theory which is founded upon the ,ebionite ,acts of ,st4 ,peter is also worthy of much consideration4 ,this theory represents ,st4 ,peter as following ,simon the ,magician everywhere 7according to ,st4 ,paul71 in order to dispute his false doctrines4 ,m4 ,lipsius has shown an admirable critical sagacity in his analysis of this legend4 ,he has shown that the base of all the different versions of it which have come to us was written about the year #acj4 ,it seems improbable that an ,ebionite author of such early date could have given so much importance to ,peter's journey to ,rome1 if this journey had not taken place in reality4 ,the theory of the ,ebionite legend must contain some truth at the bottom1 in spite of the fables which are mingled with it4 ,it is quite admissible that ,st4 ,peter might have come to ,rome1 as he went to ,antioch1 following ,st4 ,paul1 and in part to neutralize his influence4 ,the missions of ,st4 ,paul1 and the facility which the ,jews had acquired in their voyages had made long expeditions quite the custom4 ,the apostle ,philip is even represented by an ancient and persistent tradition as having settled himself in ,hierapolis1 in ,asia ,minor4 ,i regard1 then1 as probable1 the tradition of the sojourn of ,peter at ,rome2 but ,i believe that this sojourn was short1 and that ,peter suffered martyrdom soon after his arrival in the ,eternal ,city4 ,,iii4 ,you know the mystery which hovers above the history of primitive ,christianity1 which we might desire to know more in detail4 ,the death of the apostles ,peter and ,paul remains enveloped in a veil which will never be penetrated4 ,that which appears the most probable is1 that they both disappeared in the great massacre of ,christians commanded by ,nero4 ,on the #aith of ,july1 in the year #fd1 a violent fire burst out at ,rome4 ,it originated in that portion of the great ,circus near to the ,palatine and ,coelian ,hills4 ,in this quarter there were many little shops1 filled with inflammable matter1 in which the flames spread with prodigious rapidity4 ,thence it made the turn of the ,palatine1 ravaged the ,velabra1 the ,forum1 the ,carin1 ascended the hills1 greatly injured the ,palatine1 descended again to the valleys1 devouring compact quarters1 and piercing tortuous streets1 continuing six days and seven nights4 ,an enormous pile of houses which were torn down near the foot of the ,esquiline1 arrested its progress for a time2 then it again broke out1 and endured three days more4 ,a considerable number of people perished4 ,of the fourteen portions which composed the city1 three were entirely destroyed2 of seven1 only blackened walls remained4 ,rome was an extremely compact city1 and the population very dense4 ,this disaster was frightful1 and the like of it had never before been seen4 ,when the fire broke out1 ,nero was at ,antium4 ,he returned to the city about the time when it approached his transitory house4 ,it was not possible to arrest the flames4 ,the imperial houses of the ,palatine1 the transitory house itself with its dependencies1 and the whole surrounding quarter1 were destroyed4 ,nero did not seem much to regret the loss of his house4 ,the sublime horror of the spectacle transported him4 ,later it was said that he had watched the fire from a tower1 where1 in a theatrical costume1 with a lyre in his hand1 he chanted the ruin of ,ilion to the rhythm of an ancient elegy4 ,this was a legend1 the fruit of a period of successive exaggerations2 but one point upon which the universal opinion was decisive from the first was1 that ,nero had commanded this fire1 or at least had revived it when it seemed about to die out4 ,these suspicions were confirmed by the fact1 that1 after the fire1 ,nero1 under pretext of removing the ruins at his own cost1 in order to leave the place free to the proprietors1 undertook to clear away the dbris2 and the people were not allowed to approach4 ,this seemed worse when it was seen that he drew from the ruins what belonged to the country1 when the new palace1 that golden house which had been the plaything of his delirious imagination1 was seen rising upon the site of the ancient provisory residence1 enlarged by the spaces which the fire had cleared4 ,it was believed that he had desired to prepare the place for his new palace1 to justify the reconstruction which he had long contemplated1 to procure money by appropriating the wreck of the fire1 in short1 to satisfy his mad vanity1 which led him to desire to rebuild the whole of ,rome1 so that it might date from him1 and be called ,neropolis4 ,all the honest men of the city were outraged4 ,the most precious antiquities of ,rome1 the houses of the ancient leaders1 decorated with triumphal spoils1 the most holy objects1 the trophies1 the ancient ex-votos1 the most revered temples1 all the belongings of the old worship of the ,romans1 had disappeared4 ,it was as if they mourned the souvenirs and the traditions of the whole country4 ,they celebrated expiatory services2 they consulted the books of the ,sibyl3 the ladies especially observed various piacula4 ,but the secret consciousness of a crime and infamy still remained4 ,then an infernal idea took possession of the mind of ,nero4 ,he cast about to see if he could find anywhere some miserable wretches1 still more detested by the ,roman plebeians than himself1 upon whom he could rest the odium of the incendiarism4 ,he thought of the ,christians4 ,the horror which they testified towards the temples and the most venerated edifices of the ,romans made the idea plausible1 that they should have been the authors of this fire1 the result of which was the destruction of these sanctuaries4 ,their air of sadness in regarding the monuments appeared like an injury to the nation4 ,rome was a very religious city1 and whoever protested against the national worship was at once remarked4 ,it should be remembered that certain rigorous ,jews went so far as to refuse to touch money which bore an effigy3 they even saw a great crime in bearing or looking at an image1 unless engaged in the occupation of carving4 ,others refused to pass beneath a city gate surmounted by a statue4 ,all this excited the ridicule and ill-will of the people4 ,perhaps the idea that the ,christians were incendiaries gained force from their manner of talking about the final conflagration1 their sinister prophecies1 their love of reiterating that the world would soon be ended1 and ended by fire4 ,it is even admissible that some of the faithful might have committed imprudences1 and that there were pretexts for accusing them of having wished1 by anticipating the celestial flames1 to justify their oracles1 at any price4 ,four and a half years later the ,apocalypse was to present a chant upon the burning of ,rome1 for which the event of #fd probably furnished more than one feature4 ,the destruction of ,rome by fire had been a ,christian and ,jewish dream2 and it was not merely a dream3 the pious sectaries were pleased to see in spirit the saints and angels applauding from the heights of heaven what they regarded as a just expiation4 ,a certain number of persons suspected of belonging to the new sect were arrested1 and thrown into prison1 which was of itself a punishment4 ,the first arrests were followed by many others4 ,the people were surprised at the multitude of converts who had accepted these gloomy doctrines3 it was only spoken of with alarm4 ,all sensible men considered the accusation of having caused the fire as extremely weak4 ,their true crime1 said they1 is hatred of the human race4 ,although persuaded that the burning was the crime of ,nero1 many serious ,romans saw in this work of the police a mode of delivering the city from a dreadful nuisance4 ,tacitus1 in spite of his pity1 was of this opinion4 ,and ,suetonius counted the sufferings which ,nero heaped upon the partisans of the new and mischievous superstitions as among his laudable measures4 ,these sufferings were something frightful4 ,such refinements of cruelty had never been seen4 ,almost all those arrested were of the humiliores 7the poorest classes74 ,the sentence of these unfortunates1 when it concerned high treason or sacrilege1 was to be thrown to the beasts1 or to be burned alive in the amphitheatre4 ,one of the most hideous traits of ,roman manners was that of making a fte1 a public amusement1 of these tortures4 ,the amphitheatres had become places of execution3 the tribunals furnished the victims4 ,the condemned of the entire world were forwarded to ,rome for the provisionment of the circus and the amusement of the people4 ,at this time derision was added to the barbarism of these tortures4 ,the victims were kept for a feast day1 to which was given1 without doubt1 an expiatory character4 ,the morning spectacle1 consecrated to the combats of animals1 presented an appearance hitherto unknown4 ,the condemned1 covered with the tawny skins of beasts1 were hurried into the arena1 where they were torn by dogs4 ,some were crucified3 others1 reclothed with tunics steeped in oil1 wax1 or resin1 were bound to posts1 and reserved to light up the evening ftes4 ,when the day lowered1 these living torches were ignited4 ,for this spectacle1 ,nero offered his magnificent gardens beyond the ,tiber1 which occupied the site of the present ,borgo1 the ,square1 and the ,church of ,st4 ,peter4 ,near by was a circus commenced by ,caligula1 in which the middle of the ,spina was marked by an obelisk brought from ,heliopolis 7the same one which in our day stands in the centre of the ,square of ,st4 ,peter74 ,this place had already been the scene of massacres by the light of torches4 ,caligula1 in one of his walks1 decapitated a certain number of consular personages1 senators1 and ,roman ladies1 by the light of torches4 ,the idea of replacing lanterns by human bodies impregnated with inflammable substances had occurred to the ingenious ,nero4 ,burning alive was not a new mode of suffering2 it was the ordinary penance of incendiaries3 but it had never been made a system of illumination4 ,by the light of these hideous torches1 ,nero1 who had established the custom of evening entertainments1 showed himself in the arena1 sometimes mingling with the people in the dress of a charioteer1 sometimes conducting his chariot and seeking applause4 ,women and young girls were involved in these horrible games3 a fte was made of the nameless indignities which they suffered4 ,under ,nero1 the custom was established of compelling the condemned to play in the amphitheatre some mythological part entailing the death of the actor4 ,these hideous operas1 where mechanical science attained to prodigious effects1 were very popular4 ,the miserable wretch was introduced into the arena1 richly costumed as god or hero devoted to death4 ,he then represented by his suffering some tragic scene of the fables consecrated by sculptors and poets4 ,sometimes it was the furious ,hercules burned on ,mount ,,oeta1 tearing the waxed tunic from his skin2 sometimes ,orpheus torn in pieces by a bear2 ,ddalus thrown from heaven1 and devoured by beasts2 ,pasiph struggling in the embraces of the bull2 ,attys murdered4 ,sometimes there were horrible masquerades1 in which the men were dressed like priests of ,saturn with a red cloak1 the women as priestesses of ,ceres with fillets on the brow2 finally1 at other times1 some dramatic work of the time1 in which the hero was really condemned to death as ,laureolus2 or the representations were those of such tragic acts as that of ,mucius ,scvola4 ,at the end of these hideous spectacles1 ,mercury1 with a red-hot iron wand1 touched each corpse to see if it moved4 ,some masked valets1 dressed like ,pluto or ,orcus1 dragged away the dead by the feet1 killing with hammers all who still breathed4 ,the ,christian ladies of the highest respectability even suffered these monstrosities4 ,some played the rle of the ,danades1 others that of ,dirce4 ,it is difficult to say what fable furnishes a more bloody picture than that of the ,danades4 ,the suffering which all mythological tradition attributes to these guilty women was not cruel enough to suffice for the pleasure of ,nero and the habitus of his amphitheatre4 ,sometimes they were led out bearing urns1 and received the fatal blow from an actor figuring as ,lynceus4 ,sometimes these unhappy beings went through the series of the sufferings of ,tartarus before the spectators1 and only died after hours of torments4 ,the representations of ,hell were quite la mode4 ,some years previous 7the year #da71 some ,egyptians and ,nubians came to ,rome1 and made a great success in giving evening performances1 in which they displayed in order the horrors of the subterranean world1 conforming to the paintings of the burial-places of ,thebes1 notably those of the tomb of ,seti ,i4 ,as for the sufferings of the ,dirces1 there was no doubt about them4 ,people know the colossal group now in the ,museum of ,naples1 called the ,toro ,farnese1--,amphion and ,zethus attaching ,dirce to the horns of an unmanageable bull1 which is to drag her over the rocks and briers of ,cithron4 ,this mediocre ,rhodian marble1 brought to ,rome in the time of ,augustus1 was the object of universal admiration4 ,how could there be a finer subject for the hideous art which the cruelty of the time had made in vogue1 and which consisted in reproducing the celebrated statues in living tableaux8 ,an inscription and a fresco of ,pompeii seem to prove that this terrible scene was frequently repeated in the arenas1 when a woman was the sufferer4 ,naked1 attached by the hair to the horns of a furious bull1 these poor wretches glutted the eyes of a ferocious people4 ,some of the ,christians immolated in this way were feeble in body3 their courage was superhuman4 ,but the infamous crowd had eyes alone for their torn bowels and lacerated bosoms4 ,after the day when ,jesus expired in ,golgotha1 the fte day in the ,gardens of ,nero 7it may be fixed about the first of ,august1 #fd7 was the most solemn in the history of ,christianity4 ,the solidity of any construction is in proportion to the sum of virtue1 of sacrifices1 and of devotion which has been laid down at its base4 ,only fanatics lay foundations4 ,judaism endures still on account of the intense frenzy of its zealots2 ,christianity1 on account of its first witnesses4 ,the orgy of ,nero was the grand baptism of blood which set ,rome apart as the city of martyrs in order to play a distinct rle in the history of ,christianity and to be the second ,holy ,city4 ,it was the taking possession of the ,vatican ,hill by conquerors hitherto unknown there4 ,the odious1 hair-brained man who governed the world did not perceive that he was the founder of a new order1 and that he signed a charter for the future1 the effects of which would be claimed after eighteen hundred years4 ,,iv4 ,as we have said1 it is allowable1 without improbability1 to connect the deaths of the apostles ,peter and ,paul with the account which we have just given4 ,the only historical incident known1 by which the martyrdom of ,peter can be explained1 is the episode recounted by ,tacitus4 ,some solid reasons also lead us to believe that ,paul suffered the death of a martyr at ,rome4 ,it is then natural to suppose that he also died in the massacre of ,july and ,august1 #fd4 ,as to the manner of death of the two apostles1 we know with certainty that ,peter was crucified4 ,according to some ancient writings1 his wife was executed with him1 and he saw her led to the sacrifice4 ,one accepted account of the third century says1 that1 too humble to equal ,jesus1 he suffered with his head down4 ,the characteristic trait of the butchery of #fd having been the search for odious rarities in torture1 it is possible that in truth ,peter was shown to the crowd in this hideous attitude4 ,seneca mentions some cases in which tyrants have been known to turn the heads of the crucified towards the earth4 ,christian piety has seen a mystical refinement in that which was indeed an odd caprice of the executioner4 ,perhaps this extract from the ,fourth ,gospel--,thou shalt stretch forth thy hands1 and another shall gird thee1 and carry thee whither thou wouldest not--includes some allusion to a peculiarity in the suffering of ,peter4 ,paul1 in his quality of honestior1 had his head cut off4 ,it is also probable that he was judged regularly1 and that he was not included in the summary condemnations of the victims in the fte of ,nero4 ,all that1 ,i repeat1 is doubtful1 and of little importance4 ,true or not1 the legend is believed4 ,at the commencement of the third century1 near ,rome1 there were already seen two monuments bearing the names of ,peter and ,paul4 ,one was situated at the foot of the ,vatican ,hill1 that of ,st4 ,peter3 the other1 in the way to ,ostia1 was that of ,st4 ,paul4 ,they were called in oratorial style the trophies of the apostles4 ,in the fourth century two basilicas were raised above these trophies4 ,one of them is the present basilica of ,st4 ,peter3 the other1 ,st4 ,paul-without-the-,walls1 has retained its essential features until our own century4 ,did the trophies which the ,christians venerated about the year #bjj designate the spots upon which these apostles suffered8 ,it is possible4 ,it is not unlikely that ,paul1 toward the end of his life1 dwelt in the suburb which extended beyond the ,lavernal gate as far as the pine of the ,salvian springs in the way to ,ostia4 ,the shade of ,peter1 on the other hand1 wanders always1 according to the ,christian legend1 towards the turpentine-tree of the ,vatican1 not far from the gardens of the ,circus of ,nero1 and especially about the obelisk4 ,it may be that the ancient place of the obelisk in the sacristy of ,st4 ,peter1 now indicated by an inscription1 is nearer to the place where ,st4 ,peter upon the cross of his frightful agony surfeited the eyes of a populace greedy to see him suffer4 ,however1 that is a secondary question4 ,if the basilica of the ,vatican does not really cover the tomb of ,st4 ,peter1 it points out not the less for our remembrance one of the spots most truly hallowed by ,christianity4 ,the place which the seventeenth century surrounded with a theatrical colonnade was a second ,calvary2 and1 even supposing that ,peter was not crucified there1 at least we cannot doubt the sufferings of the ,danades and the ,dirces4 99 99 99 99 99 ,we shall show in our next assembly how tradition disposes of all these doubts1 and how the ,church consummates reconciliation between ,peter and ,paul1 which death perhaps began4 ,this was the price of success4 ,the ,judan-,christianity of ,peter and the ,hellenism of ,paul1 apparently irreconcilable1 were equally necessary to the success of the future work4 ,the ,judan-,christianity represented the conservative spirit without which nothing is solid2 ,hellenism1 advance and progress1 without which nothing truly exists4 ,life is the result of a conflict between two contrary forces4 ,the absence of all revolutionary spirit is as fatal as the excess of revolution4 ,,third ,,conference1 ,london1 ,april #ac1 #ahhj4 ,,rome1 ,,the ,,centre ,,of ,,the ,,formation ,,of ,,ecclesiastical ,,authority4 ,,third ,,conference4 ,,rome ,,the ,,centre ,,of ,,the ,,formation ,,of ,,ecclesiastical ,,authority4 ,i4 ,almost always the nations created to play a part in universal civilization1 like ,juda1 ,greece1 and the ,italy of the renaissance1 exercise their full action upon the world1 only after becoming victims to their own grandeur4 ,they must first die2 then the world lives on them1 assimilates to itself that which they have created at the price of their fever and their sufferings4 ,nations ought to choose in fact between the long1 tranquil1 obscure destiny of that which lives for itself1 and the troubled1 stormy career of that which lives for humanity4 ,the nation which works out social and religious problems in its own bosom is almost always weak politically4 ,every country which dreams of a kingdom of ,god1 which lives for general ideas1 which pursues a work of universal interest1 sacrifices through the same its individual destiny1 enfeebles and destroys its rle as a terrestrial country4 ,one can never set himself on fire with impunity4 ,since ,juda made the religious conquest of the world1 it was necessary that she should disappear as a nation4 ,a revolution of extreme violence broke out in this country in the year #ff4 ,during four years1 this strange race1 which seemed created to defy equally that which blessed and that which cursed it1 was in a convulsion before which the historian should pause with respect as he would before all mystery4 ,the causes of this crisis were very old1 and the crisis itself was inevitable4 ,the ,mosaic law1 a work of exalted ,utopians possessed of a powerful socialist ideal1--the least politic of men1--was1 like the ,islam1 exclusive of a civil society parallel with a religious society4 ,this law1 which appears to have been drawn up1 as we now read it1 in the seventh century before ,jesus ,christ1 would have been the means of destroying the little kingdom of the descendants of ,david1 even without the ,assyrian conquest4 ,since the preponderance assumed by the prophetic element1 the kingdom of ,judah--embroiled with all its neighbors1 seized with a permanent rage against ,tyre1 hating ,edom1 ,moab1 and ,ammon--could no longer survive4 ,i repeat1 a nation which devotes itself to social and religious problems neglects its politics4 ,the day in which ,israel became a peculiar people of ,god1 a kingdom of priests1 a holy nation1 it was written that she should no longer be a nation as other nations4 ,contrary destinies cannot be united3 an exaltation is always expiated by an abasement4 ,the ,achemenidean kingdom gave ,israel little repose4 ,this grand feudality1 tolerant towards all provincial differences1 almost analogous to the ,califat of ,bagdad and to the ,ottoman ,empire1 was the rule under which the ,jews found themselves most at ease4 ,the ,ptolemaic rule in the third century before ,jesus ,christ seemed equally sympathetic to them3 there were even no ,seleucid4 ,antioch had become an active centre of ,hellenic propagandism4 ,antiochus ,epiphanus felt it necessary to set up everywhere the image of ,jupiter ,olympus as the sign of his power4 ,then broke out the first great ,jewish revolt against profane civilization4 ,israel had patiently supported the disappearance of its political existence since ,nebuchadnezzar4 ,it retained no measure in which it saw a danger to its religious institutions4 ,a race1 in general not military1 was seized with an access of heroism2 without a regular army1 without generals1 without tactics1 it conquered the ,seleucid1 maintained its revealed rights1 and created a second period of autonomy4 ,the ,asmonean royalty1 nevertheless1 was always distracted by profound interior vices4 ,it endured but one century4 ,the destiny of the ,jewish people was not to constitute a separate nationality4 ,that people dreamed always of something international4 ,its ideal was not the city1 it was the synagogue1 the free congregation4 ,the same is true of the ,islam1 which has created an immense empire1 but has destroyed all nationality1 in the sense in which we understand it1 among the peoples which it has subjugated1 and leaves them no other country than the mosque and the ,zaouia4 ,the name of theocracy is often applied to such a social condition1 and rightly so1 if we mean by it that the profound idea of the ,semitic religions1 and of the empires which came out from them1 is the kingdom of ,god considered as the master of the world1 and universal suzerain4 ,but theocracy with these nations was not synonymous with the domination of priests4 ,the priest1 properly speaking1 plays an unimportant rle in the history of ,judaism and ,islamism4 ,the power belongs to the representative of ,god1--to him whom ,god inspires1 to the prophet1 to the holy man1 to him who has received his mission from ,heaven1 and who proves his mission by a miracle1 that is to say1 by success4 ,in default of a prophet1 the power belongs to the author of apocalypses1 and of apocryphal books attributed to the ancient prophets1 or1 better1 to the doctor who interprets the divine law1 to the head of the synagogue1 and1 still more1 to the head of the family who guards the depository of the law1 and transmits it to his children4 ,a civil power1 a royalty1 has little to do with such social organization4 ,this organization never works better than among spread-out peoples1 under the rights of tolerated foreigners1 in a grand empire where uniformity does not rule4 ,it is the nature of ,judaism to be politically subordinate1 since it cannot draw from its own bosom a principle of military power4 ,its animus has been to form communities with their own laws and their own magistrates in the midst of other states1 until modern liberalism introduced the principle of the equality of all before the law4 ,the ,roman rule1 established in ,juda sixty-three years before ,christ by the armies of ,pompey1 seemed at first to realize some of the conditions of ,jewish life4 ,rome at this epoch did not pursue the policy of assimilating the countries which she annexed to her vast empire4 ,she robbed them of the right of peace and war1 and arrogated to herself only the arbitration in great political questions4 ,under the degenerated remains of the ,asmonean dynasty and under the ,herods1 the ,jewish nation preserved a half independence1 in which its religious state was respected4 ,but the interior feeling of the people was too strong4 ,beyond a certain degree of religious fanaticism1 man is ungovernable4 ,it should be said that ,rome strove without ceasing to render her power in the ,east more effective4 ,the little vassal kingdoms which she had at first preserved1 disappeared day by day1 and the provinces made returns to the empire pure and simple4 ,the administrative customs of the ,romans1 even in their most reasonable aspects1 were odious to the ,jews4 ,in general1 the ,romans showed the greatest condescension to the fastidious scruples of the nation2 but that was not sufficient3 things had come to a point where nothing could be done without touching upon a canonical question4 ,these absolute religions1 like ,islamism and ,judaism1 allow no participation3 if they do not reign1 they call themselves persecuted4 ,if they feel themselves protected1 they become exacting1 and seek to render life impossible to other worships about them4 ,i should depart from my plan if ,i recounted to you that strange struggle of which ,josephus tells us1--the terror in ,jerusalem1 ,simon ,bar-,gioras1 commandant in the city1 ,john of ,giscala with his assassins1 master of the temple4 ,fanatical movements are far from excluding hate1 jealousy1 and defiance1 from those who take part in them4 ,very decided and passionate men associated together ordinarily suspect each other1 and in this there is a force2 for reciprocal suspicion establishes terror among them1 binds them as with an iron chain1 hinders defections and moments of weakness4 ,interest creates the coterie4 ,absolute principles create division1 and inspire the temptation to decimate1 to expel1 to kill enemies4 ,those who judge human affairs superficially believe that a revolution is quelled when the revolutionists eat one another1 as it is expressed4 ,it is1 on the contrary1 a proof that the revolution has all its energy1 that an impersonal ardor presides over it4 ,this is nowhere more clearly seen than in the terrible drama at ,jerusalem4 ,the actors seem to have entered into the compact of death like some infernal rounds1 in which1 according to the belief of the middle ages1 ,satan was seen forming a chain to draw into a fantastic gulf numbers of men1 dancing1 and holding each other by the hand4 ,so revolution allows no one to escape from the dance which it leads4 ,terror is behind the lukewarm4 ,turn by turn1 exalting some1 and exalted by others1 they rush into the abyss4 ,none can recede2 for behind each one is a concealed sword1 which1 at the moment that he wishes to draw back1 forces him to advance4 ,the strangest thing of all is that these madmen were not wholly wrong4 ,the fanatics of ,jerusalem1 who affirmed that ,jerusalem was eternal even while it was burning1 were nearer the truth than those who regarded them as mere assassins4 ,they deceived themselves upon the military question1 but not upon the distant religious result4 ,these troubled days point out1 in fact1 the moment when ,jerusalem became the spiritual capital of the world4 ,the ,apocalypse1 a burning expression of the love which she inspired1 has taken its place among the religious writings of humanity1 and has there consecrated the image of the beloved city4 ,ah1 how important it is never to predict the future of a saint or a villain1 a fool or a sage6 ,jerusalem1 a city of common people1 would have pursued indefinitely its uninteresting history4 ,it is because it had the incomparable honor of being the cradle of ,christianity1 that it was the victim of the ,johns of ,giscala1 of the ,bar-,gioras1--in appearance the scourges of their country1 in reality the instruments of its apotheosis4 ,these zealots1 whom ,josephus treats as brigands and assassins1 were politicians of the highest order1 but unskilful soldiers3 still they lost heroically a country which could not be saved4 ,they lost a material city3 they established the spiritual reign of ,jerusalem1 sitting in her desolation far more glorious than she was in the days of ,herod and of ,solomon4 ,what did these conservatives1 these ,sadducees1 really desire8 ,they wished something mean1--the continuation of a city of priests like ,emesa1 ,tyane1 ,comane4 ,assuredly they did not deceive themselves when they declared that the surging enthusiasm was the ruin of the nation4 ,revolution and ,messianism destroyed the national existence of the ,jewish people2 but revolution and ,messianism were the true vocation of this people1--that by which they contributed to the universal civilization4 ,,ii4 ,the victory of ,rome was complete4 ,a captain of our race1 of our blood1 a man like us1 at the head of legions in whose roll1 if we could read it1 we should meet many of our ancestors1 had come to crush the fortress of ,semitism1 to inflict upon the revealed1 accepted law the greatest injury which it had received4 ,it was the triumph of ,roman right1 or rather rational right1 a creation utterly philosophical1 presupposing no revelation1 above the ,jewish ,thora1 the fruit of a revelation4 ,this right1 whose roots were partly ,greek1 but in which the practical genius of the ,latins made so fine a part1 was the excellent gift which ,rome brought to the vanquished in return for their independence4 ,each victory for ,rome was a victory for right4 ,rome bore into the world a better principle in several respects than that of the ,jews3 ,i mean the profane state1 reposing on a purely civil conception of society4 ,the triumph of ,titus was then legitimate in many ways1 and still there never was a more useless triumph4 ,the deplorable religious nothingness of ,rome rendered its victory unfruitful4 ,this victory did not retard the progress of ,judaism a single day3 it did not give the religion of the empire an added chance to struggle against this redoubtable rival4 ,the national existence of the ,jewish people was lost forever2 but that was a blessing4 ,the true glory of ,judaism was ,christianity1 about to be born4 ,the ruin of ,jerusalem and the temple was an unequalled good for ,christianity4 ,if the reasoning of ,titus according to ,tacitus is correctly reported1 the victorious general believed that the destruction of the temple would be the ruin of ,christianity as well as that of ,judaism4 ,no one was ever more completely deceived4 ,the ,romans imagined1 that1 in tearing up the root1 they should eradicate the shoot at the same time2 but the shoot was already a shrub that lived its own life4 ,if the temple had survived1 ,christianity would certainly have been arrested in its development4 ,the surviving temple would have continued to be the centre of all ,judaic works4 ,it would always have been regarded as the most holy place of the world3 pilgrims would have come there1 and would there have brought their tributes4 ,the ,church of ,jerusalem1 grouped around by consecrated parvises1 would have continued1 by the strength of its primacy1 to receive the homage of all the world1 to persecute the ,christians of the ,church of ,paul1 to exact1 that1 in order to have the right to call one's self the disciple of ,jesus1 one should practise the circumcision1 and observe the ,mosaic code4 ,all effectual propagandism would have been interdicted3 letters of obedience signed at ,jerusalem would have been exacted from the missionary4 ,a centre of irrefragable authority1 a patriarchate composed of a sort of college of cardinals under the presidency of men like ,james1 pure ,jews belonging to the family of ,jesus1 would have been established1 and would have constituted an immense danger for the new-born ,church4 ,when one sees ,st4 ,paul after so many mishaps remaining always attached to the ,church of ,jerusalem1 one understands what difficulties a rupture with these holy personages would have presented4 ,such a schism would have been considered as an enormity4 ,the separation from ,judaism would have been impossible2 and this separation was the indispensable condition of the existence of the new religion4 ,the mother was about to kill the child4 ,the temple1 on the contrary1 once destroyed1 the ,christians thought no more of it3 very soon1 indeed1 they will consider it a profane place3 ,jesus will be every thing to them4 ,the ,christian ,church of ,jerusalem was by the same stroke reduced to a secondary importance4 ,it was re-organized around the element which made its force1 the desposyni1 the members of the family of ,jesus1 the sons of ,clopas2 but it will reign no more4 ,this centre of hate and exclusion once destroyed1 the reconciliation of the opposing parties in the ,church of ,jesus will become easy4 ,peter and ,paul will be brought into accord1 and the terrible duality of the new-born ,christianity will cease to be a mortal sore4 ,lost in the depth of the interior of the ,batana and the ,hauran1 the little group which attached itself to ,james and ,clopas becomes the ,ebionite sect1 and slowly dies4 ,these relatives of ,jesus were pious1 tranquil1 mild1 modest1 hard-working men1 faithful to the severest precepts of ,jesus concerning poverty1 but at the same time very exact ,jews1 considering the title of ,child of ,israel before every other advantage4 ,from the year #gj to about the year #aaj1 they really governed the churches beyond the ,jordan1 and formed a sort of ,christian senate4 ,there is no need to demonstrate the immense danger which these pre-occupations1 with genealogies1 were to the new-born ,christianity4 ,a sort of nobility of ,christianity was about to be formed4 ,in the political order the nobility is almost a necessity to the state4 ,politics having elements of gross struggles which render it more material than ideal1 a state is very strong only when a certain number of families has1 by tradition and privilege1 the duty and interest of guarding its welfare1 representing and defending it4 ,but1 in the order of the ideal government1 birth is nothing3 each one is valued in proportion to the truth he shows1 and the good he does4 ,the institutions which have a religious1 literary1 moral end1 are lost1 when considerations of family1 caste1 heredity1 prevail in them4 ,the nephews and cousins of ,jesus would have ruined ,christianity1 if the churches of ,paul had not already been strong enough to act as a counterpoise to this aristocracy1 the tendency of which would have been to proclaim itself alone respectable1 and to treat all converts as intruders4 ,some pretensions analogous to those of the ,alides in ,islam were established4 ,islamism would certainly have perished under the embarrassment caused by the family of the prophet1 if the result of the struggles of the first century of the ,hegira had not been to reject1 upon second thought1 all those who were too near the person of the prophet4 ,the true heirs of a great man are those who continue his work1 and not his relatives by blood4 ,considering the tradition of ,jesus as his own possession1 the little coterie of the ,nazarenes1 as they are called1 would certainly have stifled it4 ,happily this narrow circle disappeared in good season3 the relatives of ,jesus were soon forgotten in the interior of the ,hauran4 ,they lost all importance1 and left ,jesus to his true family1 the only one which he has recognized1--those of whom he said1 ,they hear the word of ,god1 and keep it4 ,,iii4 ,according as the ,church of ,jerusalem sank1 the ,church of ,rome rose1 or1 rather1 a phenomenon was evidently manifested in the years which followed the victory of ,titus4 ,it was that the ,church of ,rome became more and more the inheritor and the substitute of the ,church of ,jerusalem4 ,the spirit of the two churches was the same3 what was a danger at ,jerusalem became an advantage at ,rome4 ,the taste for tradition and the hierarchy1 and the respect for authority1 were in some sort transplanted from the parvises of the temple to the ,occident4 ,james1 the brother of the ,lord1 had been a sort of pope at ,jerusalem4 ,rome is about to take up the part of ,james4 ,we shall have the pope at ,rome4 ,without ,titus1 we should have had the pope in ,jerusalem1 but with this great difference1 that the pope at ,jerusalem would have extinguished ,christianity in about one or two hundred years1 while the ,pope of ,rome has made it the religion of the universe4 ,here appears a very important person1 who seems to have been the head of the ,roman ,church in the early years of the first century1 concerning whom ,i am happy to find myself in accord with one of your most scholarly and enlightened critics1 ,mr4 ,lightfoot4 ,i speak of ,clement ,romanus4 ,in the penumbra in which he remains1 enveloped and almost lost in the luminous dust of a beautiful far-off history1 ,clement is one of the grand figures of early ,christianity3 one would say that it was the head of an old effaced fresco of ,giotto's1 recognizable still from his golden aureola1 and some dim features of striking purity and sweetness4 ,one thing is beyond doubt3 it is the high rank which he held in the utterly spiritual hierarchy of the church of his time1 and the unequalled credit with which he sustained it4 ,his approval made the law4 ,all parties clung to him1 and wished to shield themselves under his authority4 ,it is probable that he was one of the most energetic agents of the grand work that was about to be accomplished3 ,i mean the posthumous reconciliation of ,peter and ,paul1 without which union the work of ,christ could only have perished4 ,his high personality1 aggrandized by tradition1 was1 after that of ,peter1 the most holy figure of the primitive ,christian ,rome4 ,already the idea of a certain primacy in the ,church of ,rome began to show itself4 ,the right of advising the other churches and of settling their differences was accorded to this church4 ,it is believed that like privileges had been allowed to ,peter among the disciples4 ,now a still closer bond was established between ,peter and ,rome4 ,in the time of ,clement1 great dissensions divided the ,church at ,corinth4 ,the ,roman ,church1 being applied to in these troubles1 replied by an epistle1 which has been preserved to us4 ,the epistle is anonymous2 but a very ancient tradition teaches that ,clement was the author of it4 ,the ,church at ,corinth had changed but little since ,st4 ,paul4 ,it had the same proud1 disputant1 feeble spirit4 ,it is evident that the principal opposition to the hierarchy was found in this ,greek spirit1 always mobile1 because it was always full of life1 undisciplined 7and for my part ,i like it71 not knowing how to form a flock from a crowd4 ,the women and the children were in full revolt4 ,some superior doctors imagined that they possessed a profound sense in every thing1 and mystic secrets analogous to the gift of tongues and the discernment of spirits4 ,those who were honored with these supernatural gifts scorned the ancients1 and aspired to replace them4 ,corinth had a respectable presbytery1 which1 however1 did not receive the highest mysticism4 ,the advanced pretenders cast it in the shade1 and put themselves in its place4 ,some of the presbyteri were even dismissed4 ,the struggle between the established hierarchy and personal revelations began1 and this struggle fills the history of the ,church2 the privileged soul complaining1 that1 in spite of the favors with which it is honored1 a gross clergy1 wanting in spiritual life1 dominates it officially4 ,we see that this was the heresy of individual mysticism1 maintaining the rights of the spirit against authority1 pretending to rise above common mortals and the ordinary clergy by right of its direct intercourse with divinity4 ,the ,roman ,church was always the church of order1 of subordination1 and of rule4 ,its fundamental principle was that humility and submission were of more value than the most sublime gifts4 ,its epistle is the first manifestation in the ,christian ,church of the principle of authority4 ,a few years since1 there was much surprise when a ,french archbishop1 then a senator1 said in the ,tribune1 ,my clergy is my regiment4 ,clement had said this before him4 ,order and obedience were the supreme laws of the family and the church4 ,let us consider the soldiers who serve under our sovereigns4 ,with what order1 what punctuality1 what submission1 they obey their commands3 all are not prefects1 nor tribunes1 nor centurions2 but each one in his rank executes the orders of the emperor and of his chiefs4 ,the great cannot exist without the small1 nor the small without the great4 ,in every thing there is a mingling of diverse elements1 and by this mingling all advances4 ,let us take1 for example1 our bodies4 ,the head is nothing without the feet2 the feet are nothing without the head4 ,the smallest of our organs are necessary1 and serve the whole body3 all conspire1 and obey the same principle of subordination for the preservation of the whole4 ,the history of the ecclesiastical hierarchy is the history of a triple abdication2 the community of the faithful first placing all its powers in the hands of the ancients1 or presbyteri2 the presbyteral body at length delegating its authority to one person who was the episcopos2 then the episcopi of the ,latin ,church recognized as their head one of themselves1 who became the pope4 ,this last progress1 if we may call it so1 was not accomplished until our time4 ,the creation of the episcopate1 on the contrary1 was the work of the second century4 ,the absorption of the church by the presbyteri was accomplished before the year #ajj4 ,in the ,epistle of ,clement ,romanus it is not yet with the episcopate1 but with the presbytery1 that he deals4 ,we find there no trace of a presbyteros superior to the others1 and entitled to dethrone them2 but the author proclaims positively that the presbytery and the clergy are above the people4 ,the apostles1 in establishing churches1 chose through the inspiration of the ,spirit the bishops and the deacons of the future believers4 ,the power emanating from the apostles has been transmitted by regular succession4 ,no church has then the right to dethrone its seniors4 ,the privilege of the rich is nothing in the church4 ,accordingly1 those who are favored with mystic gifts1 instead of believing themselves above the hierarchy1 should be the more submissive4 ,this involves the great problem1 ,who exists in the church8 ,is it the people8 ,is it the clergy8 ,is it inspiration8 ,this problem was already given in the time of ,st4 ,paul1 who resolved it in the true manner by mutual charity4 ,one epistle trenches upon the question in the sense of pure ,catholicism4 ,the apostolic title is every thing3 the right of the people is reduced to nothing4 ,we may then safely assert that ,catholicism had its origin at ,rome1 since the ,church of ,rome laid down its first rules4 ,prescience pertains to spiritual gifts1 to science and distinction3 it belongs to the hierarchy1 to the powers transmitted through the medium of the canonical ordination1 which attaches itself to the apostles by an unbroken chain4 ,the free church as ,christ conceived it1 and as ,st4 ,paul also regarded it1 was a ,utopia which held nothing for the future4 ,evangelical liberty had destroyed it2 and it was not realized1 that1 with the hierarchy uniformity and death would come in time4 ,,iv4 ,clement had probably not seen either ,peter or ,paul4 ,his great practical sense showed him that the salvation of the ,christian ,church demanded the reconciliation of the two founders4 ,did he influence the author of the ,acts which represent to us this reconciliation as accomplished1 and with whom he seems to have had some intercourse1 or did these two pious souls spontaneously fall into accord on account of the bias which he had given to ,christian opinion8 ,we are ignorant for want of proofs4 ,one thing is sure1 the reconciliation of ,peter and ,paul was a ,roman work4 ,rome had two churches1--one coming from ,peter1 the other from ,paul4 ,those numerous converts who came to ,jesus--some through the school of ,peter1 and some through that of ,paul--were tempted to exclaim1 ,what6 ,are there1 then1 two ,christs8 ,it was necessary to be able to reply1 ,no3 ,peter and ,paul understand each other perfectly3 the ,christianity of one is the ,christianity of the other4 ,perhaps 7this is an ingenious hypothesis of ,m4 ,strauss7 a light cloud was introduced for this purpose into the evangelical legend of the miraculous fishing4 ,according to the recital of ,luke1 the nets of ,peter would not contain the multitudes of fish which could easily have been taken2 ,peter was obliged to make a sign to his co-workers to come to his aid4 ,a second bark 7,paul and his friends7 was filled as the first1 and the fishing of the kingdom of ,god was superabundant4 ,the life of the apostles begins to become obscure4 ,all those who have seen them have disappeared3 most of them left no writings4 ,one had entire liberty to embroider on this virgin canvas still4 ,friends and enemies profited by the unknown to set up arguments in support of their theses1 and to satisfy their hates4 ,towards the year #acj1 that is to say about sixty-six years after the death of the apostles1 a vast ,ebionite legend was produced at ,rome1 and designated by the title of the preaching1 or the travels1 of ,peter4 ,the missions of the chief of the apostles were recounted there1 principally those along the coast of ,phoenicia2 the conversions which he had made2 above all1 his struggles against the great anti-,christ1 ,simon the ,magician1 who was at this epoch the spectre of the ,christian conscience4 ,but frequently under this abhorred name another person was concealed3 it was the false apostle ,paul1 the enemy of the law1 the veritable destroyer of the ,church4 ,the true ,church was that at ,jerusalem1 presided over by ,james1 the brother of the ,lord4 ,no apostolate was of any value1 if it could not show letters emanating from this central college4 ,paul had none3 therefore he was an intruder4 ,he was the man enemy1 who came behind to sow the tares in the steps of the true sower4 ,with what fury ,peter gave the denial to his impostures1 to his false allegations of personal revelations1 his ascension to the third heaven1 his1 pretension of knowing about ,jesus some things which the hearers of the gospel had not understood1 the exaggerated manner in which he and his disciples interpreted the divinity of ,jesus6 ,these strange ideas of half ignorant sectaries would have been without consequences outside of ,rome2 but every thing which related to ,peter assumed importance in the capital of the world4 ,in spite of its heresies1 ,the ,preachings of ,peter had much interest for the orthodox4 ,the primacy of ,peter was there proclaimed4 ,st4 ,paul was thus injured2 but a few retouches extenuated what was shocking in these attacks4 ,several attempts were made to diminish the peculiarities of the new book1 and adapt it to the ,catholics4 ,this mode of re-modelling books to suit the sect to which one belonged was the order of the day4 ,little by little the force of things was understood3 all sensible men saw that there was safety for the work of ,jesus only in the perfect reconciliation of the two heads of the ,christian doctrine4 ,paul had1 even in the sixth century1 some bitter enemies3 he had always some enthusiastic followers like ,marcion4 ,outside of these obstinate men of the right and left1 there was a union of the moderate masses1 who1 before their ,christianism in one of the schools1 fully recognized the right of the other to be called ,christian4 ,james1 the partisan of absolute ,judaism1 was sacrificed1 although he had been the true chief of the circumcision4 ,peter1 who was much less objectionable to the disciples of ,paul1 was preferred before him4 ,james retained no devoted partisans outside of the ,judan-,christians4 ,it is difficult to say who gained the most in this reconciliation4 ,the concessions came principally from the side of ,paul3 all ,paul's disciples received the others without difficulty1 while those of ,peter repulsed the followers of ,paul4 ,but concessions usually come from the strong4 ,in truth1 each day confirmed ,paul's victory4 ,each ,gentile convert weighted the balance on his side4 ,outside of ,syria1 the ,judan-,christians were swallowed up by the wave of new converts4 ,the churches of ,paul prospered3 they had good judgment1 solidity of mind1 and some pecuniary resources which the others had not4 ,the ,ebionite churches1 on the contrary1 grew poorer each day4 ,the money of the churches of ,paul was spent in the support of some glorious poor men1 who were unable to earn any thing1 but who possessed the traditional life of the primitive spirit4 ,the elevated piety and severe manners of these last were admired by the ,christian communities of ,pagan origin1 who imitated and assimilated themselves to these customs4 ,it soon happened that no distinction was manifest3 the sweet and conciliatory spirit of ,st4 ,luke and ,clement ,romanus prevailed4 ,the compact of peace was sealed4 ,it was agreed that ,peter had converted the first-fruits of the ,gentiles1 that he had first absolved them from the yoke of the law4 ,it was admitted that ,peter and ,paul had been the two heads1 the founders of the ,church of ,rome2 ,peter and ,paul became the halves of an inseparable couple1--two luminaries1 like the sun and moon4 ,what one taught1 the other taught also4 ,they had always been in accord3 they had opposed the same enemies1 had been victims of ,simon the ,magician4 ,at ,rome they lived like brothers2 the ,church of ,rome was their common work4 ,the supremacy of this church was established for ages4 ,thus1 from the reconciliation of these parties1 the settlement of these primitive struggles1 there came forth a grand unity1--the ,catholic ,church1 the ,church of ,peter and of ,paul1 a stranger to the rivalries which had marked the first century4 ,it was1 above all1 the death of the two apostles which pre-occupied the parties1 and gave an opportunity for the most diverse combinations4 ,the tissue of tradition grew in this respect1 by an instinctive travail1 almost as imperious as that which had presided at the construction of the legend of ,jesus4 ,the end of the life of ,peter and of ,paul was commanded priori4 ,it was maintained that ,christ had predicted the martyrdom of ,peter1 as he had announced the death of the sons of ,zebedee4 ,the need was felt of associating in death the two persons who had been reconciled by force4 ,it was hoped1 and perhaps this was not far from right1 that they died together1 or at least as the consequence of the same event4 ,the places which were believed to have been sanctified by this bloody drama were early fixed upon1 and consecrated by memori4 ,in each case1 whatever the people desired came in the end to be true4 ,tradition makes history1 retrospectively1 as it ought to have been1 and as it never is4 ,not long ago the portraits of ,victor ,emmanuel and ,pius ,,ix4 hung side by side in every frequented place in ,italy2 and the people desired that these two men1 who represented principles whose reconciliation was generally considered necessary to ,italy1 should be in reality completely united4 ,if1 in our time1 such views impose themselves on history1 it will one day appear1 in documents reputed to be serious1 that ,victor ,emmanuel and ,pius ,,ix4 7probably ,garibaldi will be added7 met each other secretly1 understood and loved each other4 ,during the middle ages1 at different times1 similar attempts were made to appease the hatreds of the ,dominicans and ,franciscans2 to prove that the founders of these two orders were two brothers living together in the most affectionate intercourse2 that at first their rules were the same2 and that ,st4 ,dominic girded himself with the cord of ,st4 ,francis4 ,concerning ,peter and ,paul1 the increase of the legend was rich and rapid4 ,rome and all its environs1 above all the way to ,ostia1 were full of souvenirs which were pretended to be connected with the last days of the two apostles4 ,a crowd of touching circumstances2 the flight of ,peter2 the vision of ,jesus bearing his cross1 iterum crucifigi2 the final adieu of ,peter and ,paul2 the meeting of ,peter with his wife2 ,paul at the ,salvian waters2 ,plautilla sending the handkerchief which bound her hair to bandage the eyes of ,paul1--all this presented a beautiful ensemble1 to which was only wanting an ingenuous and skilful writer4 ,it was too late2 the vein of the first ,christian literature was spent2 the serenity of the narrator of the ,acts was lost2 his voice was raised no more in story or in romance4 ,it is impossible to choose between a crowd of equally apocryphal writings3 in vain one seeks to shield these recitals with the most venerable names 7pseudo-,linus1 pseudo-,marcellus72 the ,roman legend of ,peter and ,paul remains always in a sporadic state4 ,it was more often recounted by the pious guides than seriously read4 ,it was a local affair3 no text concerning it has been consecrated and made authoritative for reading in the churches4 99 99 99 99 99 ,many among you1 ladies and gentlemen1 will go to ,rome1 or will return there4 ,ah1 well6 if you preserve any good remembrance of these conferences1 go1 in memory of me1 to the ,salvian waters1 alle tre fontane1 to ,st4 ,paul-without-the-,walls4 ,it is one of the most beautiful parts of the ,roman ,campagna1--deserted1 damp1 green1 and sad4 ,there1 in a deep depression in the soil1 crowned by those grand horizontal lines1 disturbed by no living detail1--there are some clear and cold springs4 ,the fever and mouldiness of the tomb are inhaled there4 ,some ,trappists are there established1 conscientiously practising their religious suicide4 ,when you are there1 sit down a moment1 not too long 7one quickly catches the fever there71 and1 while the ,trappists give you to drink the water which gushes from the three bounds which the head of ,paul made1 think of him who came here to talk of these legends with you1 and to whom you have listened with so much courtesy and kind attention4 ,,fourth ,,conference1 ,london1 ,april #ad1 #ahhj4 ,,rome1 ,,the ,,capital ,,of ,,catholicism4 ,,fourth ,,conference4 ,,rome1 ,,the ,,capital ,,of ,,catholicism4 ,ladies and ,gentlemen1--,it is plain that the importance of the churches in the primitive ,christian community was in proportion to their apostolic nobility4 ,the guaranty of orthodoxy was in the succession of the bishops1 by which the great churches were linked to the apostles4 ,a direct line appeared to afford a very strong assurance of conformity of doctrine1 and it was jealously maintained4 ,now1 what can be said of a church founded by both ,peter and ,paul8 ,it is clear that such a church ought to endure in order to have a veritable superiority over others4 ,the chef-d'oeuvre of the competency of the ,roman ,church was the establishment of this superiority4 ,that once assured1 the ecclesiastical destiny of ,rome was established4 ,when this city should have cast off her secular character1 she would have another1--a sacred capacity1 corresponding to that of ,jerusalem4 ,she would know how to confiscate to her profit this ,christianity which she had so cruelly combated1--so much had humanity suffered1 to escape from those whom fate had designed for this great secular task1 regere imperio populos6 ,under ,antonine and ,marcus ,aurelius1 ,rome reached its highest grandeur2 its rule of the whole world seemed to be undisputed2 no cloud could be seen upon its horizon4 ,the emigration from the provinces1 above all from the ,orient1 was augmented rather than lessened4 ,the ,greek-speaking population was larger than it had ever been4 ,all who desired a place in the world aspired to come to ,rome3 nothing was sanctioned until it had received the stamp of this universal exposition of the products of the entire universe4 ,the centre of a future catholic orthodoxy was evidently there4 ,the well-developed germ of the ,papacy existed under ,antonine4 ,the ,church of ,rome showed itself more and more indifferent to those crude ,gnostic speculations which occupied some minds filled with the intellectual activity of the ,greeks1 but tainted with the reveries of the ,orient4 ,the organization of ,christian society was the principal labor at ,rome4 ,this extraordinary city applied to this object the energetic moral strength and the practical genius which she has employed in the most diverse causes4 ,careless of speculation1 decidedly hostile to dogmatic innovations1 she presided there1--a mistress already trained by all the changes which had been brought about in discipline and in the hierarchy4 ,i4 ,from the year #abj to #acj the ,episcopate was elaborated in the ,christian ,church1 and the creation of the ,episcopate was eminently a ,roman work4 ,all ecclesi imply a little hierarchy1--a bureau as it is called to-day1--a president1 some assessors1 and a small staff of men in its service4 ,democratic associations are careful that these functions shall be limited as far as possible as to power and duration2 but from this arises that precarious something which has prevented any democratic association from outlasting the circumstances which have created it4 ,the ,jewish synagogues have had more continuity1 although the synagogical body has never come to be a clergy4 ,this is the result of the subordinate place which ,judaism has held during several centuries3 the pressure from without has counteracted the effects of internal divisions4 ,if the ,christian ,church had been left with the same absence of directorship1 it would doubtless have missed its destiny4 ,if its ecclesiastical powers had continued to be regarded as emanating from the ,church itself1 it would have lost all its hieratic and theocratic character4 ,it was written1 on the contrary1 that a clergy should monopolize the ,christian ,church1 and substitute themselves for it4 ,acting as its spokesman1 presenting itself as having the sole power of attorney in every thing1 this clergy will be its strength1 and at the same time its gnawing worm1--the principal cause of its future falls4 ,i repeat1 that history has no example of a more complete transformation than that which occurred in the government of the ,christian ,church about the time of ,hadrian and ,antonine4 ,what happened in the ,christian ,church will happen in any association in which the subordinates could resign in favor of the bureau1 and that again in favor of the president2 so that afterwards the subordinates and the seniors would have no deliberative voice nor influence1 nor any control in the management of the funds1 and the president would be able to say1 ,i alone1 ,i1 am the association4 ,the presbyteri 7seniors7 or episcopi 7superintending officers7 became very soon the only representatives of the ,church2 and almost immediately another still more important revolution took place4 ,among the presbyteri or episcopi1 there had been one1 who1 through the habit of occupying the principal seat1 absorbed the power of the others1 and became pre-eminently the episcopos or the presbyteros4 ,the form of worship contributed powerfully to the establishment of this unity4 ,the eucharistic act could only be celebrated by one person1 and gave to the celebrant an extreme importance4 ,that episcopos1 with a surprising rapidity1 became the head of the presbytery1 and1 consequently1 the entire ,church4 ,his cathedra was placed apart1 and1 having the form of an arm-chair1 became the seat of honor1 the symbol of primacy4 ,from this time1 each church has but one chief presbyteros1 who is thus called to the exclusion of the other episcopi4 ,beside this bishop1 there were deacons1 widows1 and a council of presbyteri3 but the great step has been taken2 the bishop is the sole successor of the prophets1 his associates have disappeared4 ,apostolic authority1 reputed as transmitted by the laying-on of hands1 suppressed the authority of the community4 ,the bishops of the various churches soon placed themselves in communication with the others1 and formed of the ,universal ,church a sort of oligarchy1 which held assemblies1 censured its members1 decided questions of faith1 and was in itself a true sovereign power4 ,on one side1 the shepherds2 on the other1 the flock4 ,primitive equality no longer existed3 in fact1 it had endured but a single day4 ,the ,church1 however1 was only an instrument in the hands of those who guided her2 and these held their power1 not from the community1 but from the spiritual inheritance of a transmission claiming to date back to the apostles in a continuous line4 ,it is evident that the representative system will never be in any degree whatever the law of the ,christian ,church4 ,it was the ,episcopate1 without the intervention of civil power1 with no support from the tribunals1 which thus established order above liberty in a society originally founded upon individual inspiration4 ,this is why the ,ebionites1 who had no ,episcopate1 had also no idea of ,catholicity4 ,at first sight1 the work of ,jesus was not made to last4 ,founded upon a belief in the destruction of the world1 which1 as years rolled on1 was proved an error1 it seemed that his congregation could only dissolve in anarchy4 ,the prophetic book1 the charismes1 the speaking of tongues1 individual inspiration1 were no more than were necessary to bring all again into the proportions of a common chapel4 ,individual inspiration created1 but immediately destroyed what it created4 ,after liberty1 law is necessary4 ,the work of ,jesus might be considered as saved the day in which it was admitted that the ,church has a direct power1 a power representing that of ,jesus4 ,since then the ,church dominates the individual1 drawing him to her bosom through his need4 ,inspiration passes from the individual to the community4 ,the clergy is the dispenser of all pardons1 the intermediary between ,god and the faithful4 ,obedience1 first to the ,church1 then to the bishop1 becomes the highest duty4 ,innovation is the sign of error3 schism1 henceforth1 will be for the ,christian the worst of crimes4 ,in a certain regard one may say that this was a decadence1 a diminution of that spontaneity which had been eminently creative until now4 ,it was evident that ecclesiastical forms were about to absorb1 to stifle1 the work of ,jesus1 that all free manifestations of ,christian life would soon be arrested4 ,under the censure of the ,episcopate1 the speaking of tongues1 prophecy1 the creation of legends1 the making of new sacred books1 would soon become withered powers1 the charismes would be reduced to official sacraments4 ,in another sense1 however1 such a transformation was the essential condition of the strength of humanity4 ,and1 moreover1 the centralization of powers became necessary when churches were more numerous3 intercourse between these little pious societies would be impossible1 unless they had representatives appointed to act for them4 ,it is undeniable1 moreover1 that1 without the ,episcopate1 the churches1 re-united for a time by the souvenirs of ,jesus1 would gradually have been dispersed4 ,the divergences of opinion1 the difference in the turn of imagination1 and1 above all1 the rivalries1 and the unsatisfied amours-propres1 would have operated by their infinite effects of disunion and disintegration4 ,christianity would have expired at the end of three or four centuries1 like ,mithraicism and so many other sects which were not allowed to endure4 ,democracy is sometimes eminently creative2 but it is upon the condition that the democracy comes forth from conservative institutions which prevent the revolutionary fever from prolonging itself indefinitely4 ,here was the greatest miracle of the new ,christianity4 ,it drew order1 hierarchy1 authority1 and obedience from the free subjection of desires3 it organized the crowd2 it disciplined anarchy4 ,what does this miracle accomplish other than to strike at the pretended derogations to the laws of physical nature8 ,the spirit of ,jesus strongly inoculated in his disciples that spirit of sweetness1 of abnegation1 of forgetfulness of the present2 that unique pursuit of interior joys which kills ambition2 that strong preference given to childhood2 those words repeated without ceasing1 as from ,jesus1 ,whoever is first among you1 let him be the servant of all4 ,the influence of the apostles was not less in that direction4 ,the apostles lived and ruled after their death4 ,the idea that the head of the ,church held his command under the members of the ,church who had elected him never once occurs in the literature of this time4 ,the ,church thus escaped through the supernatural origin of its power1 that element of decay which exists in delegated authority4 ,a legislative and executive authority may come from the people2 but sacraments and dispensations of celestial pardons have nothing in common with universal suffrage4 ,such privileges come from heaven1 or1 according to the ,christian formula1 from ,jesus ,christ1 the source of all pardon and of all good4 ,the religion of ,jesus thus became something solid and consistent4 ,the great danger of ,gnosticism1 which was to divide ,christianity into numberless sects1 was exorcised4 ,the word ,catholic ,church resounded everywhere1 as the name of that great body which would thenceforth survive the ages unbroken4 ,the character of this catholicity is already seen4 ,the ,montanists are regarded as sectarian2 the ,marcionites are convinced of the falseness of the apostolic doctrine2 the different ,gnostic schools are more and more driven from the bosom of the general church4 ,something had arisen which was neither ,montanism1 nor ,marcionism1 nor ,gnosticism2 which was ,christianity1 not sectarian1--the ,christianity of the majority of bishops1 resisting sects1 and using them all1 having1 if you will1 only negative characters1 but preserved by these negative characters from the pietist aberrations1 and from dissolving rationalism4 ,christianity1 like all parties who wish to live1 disciplines itself1 and restrains its own excesses4 ,it unites to mystical exaltation a fund of good sense and moderation which will kill ,millenarism1 ,charisms1 ,glossolaly1 and all the primitive phenomenal spirits4 ,a handful of excited men1 like the ,montanists1 running into martyrdom1 discouraging penitence1 condemning marriage1 are not the ,church4 ,the juste milieu triumphs4 ,radicals of any sort will never be allowed to destroy the work of ,jesus4 ,the ,church is always of a medium opinion3 it belongs to all the world1 and is not the privilege of an aristocracy4 ,the pietist aristocracy of the ,phrygian sects and the speculative aristocracy of the ,gnostics are equally stripped of their pretensions4 ,in the midst of the enormous variety of opinions which fill the first ,christian age1 the ,catholic opinion constitutes a sort of standard4 ,it was not necessary to reason with the heretic in order to convince him4 ,it was sufficient to show him that he was not in communion with the ,catholic ,church1 with the grand churches which trace the succession of their bishops to the apostles4 ,quod semper1 quod ubique became the absolute rule of truth4 ,the argument of prescription to which ,tertullian gave such eloquent force reviews all the ,catholic controversy4 ,to prove to any one that he was an innovator1 a disturber1 was to prove that he was wrong1--an insufficient rule1 since1 by a singular irony of fate1 the doctor himself who developed this method of refutation in so imperious a manner1 ,tertullian1 died a heretic4 ,correspondence between the churches was an early custom4 ,circular letters from the heads of the great churches1 read on ,sunday in the re-unions of the faithful1 were a sort of continuation of the apostolic literature4 ,the ecclesiastical province1 questioning the precedency of the great churches1 appeared in germ4 ,the ,church1 like the synagogue and the mosque1 is essentially a citadel4 ,christianity1 like ,judaism and ,islamism1 is a religion of cities4 ,the countryman1 the paganus1 will be the last resistance which ,christianity will encounter4 ,the few rural ,christians came to the church of the neighboring city4 ,the ,roman municipality thus enclosed the church4 ,among the cities1 the civitas1 the grand city1 was alone a veritable church1 with an episcopos4 ,the small city was in ecclesiastical dependence on the great city4 ,this primacy of the great cities was an important fact4 ,the great city once converted1 the small city and the country followed the movement4 ,the diocese was thus the unity of the conglomerate ,christians4 ,as for the ecclesiastical province1 it corresponded to the ,roman province3 the divisions of worship of ,rome and ,augustus were the secret law which ruled all4 ,those cities which had a flamen1 or archiereus1 are those which later had an archbishop3 the flamen civitatis became the bishop4 ,after the third century1 the flamen held the rank in the city which was later that of the bishop in the diocese4 ,thus it happened that the ecclesiastical geography of a country was very nearly the geography of the same country in the ,roman epoch4 ,the picture of the bishops and the archbishops is that of the ancient civitates1 according to their line of subordination4 ,the empire was as the mould in which the new religion was formed4 ,the interior framework1 the outlines1 the hierarchical divisions1 were those of the empire4 ,the ancient archives of the ,roman administration1 and the church-registers of the middle ages1 and even those of our own day1 are nearly the same thing4 ,thus the grand organisms which have become so essential a part of the moral and political life of ,european nations were all created by those nave and sincere ,christians1 whose faith has become inseparable from the moral culture of humanity4 ,the ,episcopate under ,marcus ,aurelius was fully ripe3 the ,papacy existed in germ4 ,,oecumenical councils were impossible4 ,the ,christian ,empire alone could authorize great assemblies2 but the provincial synod was used in the affairs of the ,montanists and of the ,passover4 ,the bishop of the capital of the province was allowed to preside without contest4 ,,ii4 ,rome was the place in which the grand idea of ,catholicity was conceived4 ,rome became each day more and more the capital of ,christianity1 and replaced ,jerusalem as the religious centre of humanity4 ,its church had a generally recognized precedence over others4 ,all doubtful questions which disturbed the ,christian conscience demanded an arbitration1 if not a solution1 at ,rome4 ,this very defective reasoning was used1--that1 since ,christ had made ,cephas the corner-stone of his church1 this privilege ought to extend to his successors4 ,by an unequalled stroke1 the ,church of ,rome had succeeded in making itself at the same time the ,church of ,peter and the ,church of ,paul1 a new mythical duality1 replacing that of ,romulus and ,remus4 ,the ,bishop of ,rome became the bishop of bishops1 the one who admonished others4 ,rome proclaims its right 7a dangerous right7 to excommunicate those who do not entirely agree with her4 ,the poor ,artemonites 7a sort of anticipated ,arians7 had much to complain of in the injustice of the fate which made them heretics2 while1 even until ,victor1 all the ,church of ,rome thought with them2 but they were not heard4 ,from this point1 the ,church of ,rome placed itself above history4 ,the spirit which in #ahgj could proclaim the infallibility of the ,pope might see itself reflected at the end of the second century by certain clear indications4 ,the writing made at ,rome about #ahj1 of which the ,roman fragment known as the ,canon de ,muratori makes a part1 shows us ,rome already regulating the canon of the churches1 making the passion of ,peter the basis of ,catholicity1 and repulsing equally ,montanism and ,gnosticism4 ,irenus refutes all heresies by the faith of this church1 the grandest1 the most ancient1 the most illustrious1 which possesses by continuous succession the true tradition of the apostles ,peter and ,paul2 to which1 on account of its primacy1 all the rest of the ,church should have recourse4 ,one material cause contributed much to that pre-eminence which most of the churches recognized in the ,church of ,rome4 ,this ,church was extremely rich3 its goods1 skilfully administered1 served to succor and propagate other churches4 ,the heretics condemned to the mines received a subsidy from it3 the common treasury was in a certain sense at ,rome4 ,the ,sunday collection1 practised continually in the ,roman ,church1 was probably already established4 ,a marvellous spirit of tradition animated this little community1 in which ,juda1 ,greece1 and ,latium seemed to have confounded their very different gifts1 in view of a prodigious future4 ,while the ,jewish ,monotheism furnished the immovable base of the new formation1 while ,greece continued through ,gnosticism its work of free speculation1 ,rome attached itself with an astonishing readiness to the work of the government4 ,all its authorities and artifices served well for that4 ,politics recoils not before fraud4 ,now1 politics had already taken up its home in the most secret councils of the ,church of ,rome4 ,some veins of apocryphal literature1 constantly refilled1 sometimes under the name of the apostles1 sometimes under that of apostolic personages1 such as ,clement and ,hermas1 were received with confidence to the limits of the ,christian world on account of the guaranty of ,rome4 ,this precedence of the ,church of ,rome continued to increase up to the third century4 ,the bishops of ,rome showed a rare competency1 evading theological questions1 but always in the first rank in matters of organization and administration4 ,the tradition of the ,roman ,church passes for the most ancient of all4 ,pope ,cornelius took the lead in the matter of substitution4 ,this was particularly seen in the dismissal of the bishops of ,italy1 and the appointment of their successors4 ,rome was also the central authority of the churches of ,africa4 ,this authority was already excessive1 and showed itself above all in the affair of the ,passover4 ,this question was much more important than it appears to us4 ,in the early times all ,christians continued to make the ,jewish ,passover their principal feast4 ,they celebrated this feast on the same day as the ,jews1--on the #adth of ,nisan1 upon whatever day of the week it happened to fall4 ,persuaded1 according to the account of all the old gospels1 that ,jesus1 the evening before his death1 had eaten the ,passover with his disciples1 they regarded such a solemnity as a commemoration of the last supper1 rather than as a memorial of the resurrection4 ,as ,christianity became more and more separated from ,judaism1 such a manner of regarding it was very much questioned4 ,at first a new tradition was promulgated1--that ,jesus1 being about to die1 had not eaten the ,passover1 but had died the very day of the ,jewish feast1 thus constituting himself the ,pascal ,lamb4 ,moreover1 this purely ,jewish feast wounded the ,christian conscience1 especially in the churches of ,paul4 ,the great feast of the ,christians1 the resurrection of ,jesus1 occurred in any case the ,sunday after the ,jewish ,passover4 ,according to this idea1 the feast was celebrated the ,sunday which followed the ,friday after the #adth of ,nisan4 ,in ,rome this custom prevailed1 at least since the pontificates of ,xystus and ,telesphorus 7about #abj74 ,in ,asia there were great divisions4 ,the conservatives1 like ,polycarp1 ,meliton1 and all the ancient school1 believed that the old ,jewish custom conformed to the first ,gospels and to the usage of the apostles ,john and ,philip4 ,this was the object of the voyage to ,rome which ,polycarp undertook about the year #aed1 under the ,pope ,anicetus4 ,the interview between ,polycarp and ,anicetus was very cordial4 ,the discussion of certain points appears to have been sharp1 but they understood each other4 ,polycarp was not able to persuade ,anicetus to renounce a practice which had been that of the bishops of ,rome before his time4 ,anicetus1 on the other hand1 hesitated when ,polycarp told him that he governed himself according to the rule of ,john and the other apostles1 with whom he had lived on a familiar footing4 ,the two religious leaders remained in full communion with each other2 and ,anicetus showed ,polycarp an almost unprecedented honor4 ,in fact he desired that ,polycarp1 in the ,assembly of the ,faithful at ,rome1 should pronounce1 in his stead and in his presence1 the words of the eucharistic consecration4 ,these ardent men were full of too lofty a sentiment to rest the unity of their souls upon the uniformity of rites and exterior observances4 ,later1 unhappily1 ,rome took the stand of insisting upon its right4 ,about the year #aif the question was more exciting than ever4 ,the churches of ,asia persisted in their old usage4 ,rome1 always enthusiastic for unity1 wished to coerce them4 ,upon the invitation of ,pope ,victor1 convocations of bishops were held3 a vast correspondence was exchanged4 ,but the bishops of ,asia1 strong in the tradition of two apostles and of so many illustrious men1 would not submit4 ,the old ,polycrates1 ,bishop of ,ephesus1 wrote in their name a very sharp letter to ,victor and to the ,church of ,rome4 ,the incredible design which ,victor conceived on account of the acrimony of this letter proves that the ,papacy was already born1 and well born4 ,he pretended to excommunicate1 to separate from the ,universal ,church1 the most illustrious province1 because it had not bent its traditions before the ,roman discipline4 ,he published a decree by virtue of which ,asia was placed under the ban of the ,christian community4 ,but the other bishops opposed this violent measure1 and recalled ,victor to charity4 ,st4 ,irenus1 in particular1 who1 through the necessity of the country in which he lived1 had accepted for himself and his churches in ,gaul the ,occidental custom1 could not support the thought that the mother-churches of ,asia1 to which he felt himself bound in the depths of his soul1 should be separated from the body of the ,universal ,church4 ,he energetically persuaded ,victor from the excommunication of the churches which held to the traditions of their fathers1 and recalled to him the examples of his more tolerant predecessors4 ,this act of rare good sense prevented the schism of the ,orient and the ,occident from occurring in the second century4 ,irenus wrote to the bishops on all sides1 and the question remained open to the churches of ,asia4 ,in one sense1 the process which brought about the debate was of more importance than the debate itself4 ,by reason of this difference1 the ,church was brought to a clearer idea of its organization4 ,and first it was evident that the laity were no longer any thing4 ,the bishops alone handled questions1 and promulgated their opinions4 ,the bishops collected together in provincial synods1 over which the bishop of the capital of the province presided 7the archbishop of the future71 or1 at times1 the oldest bishop4 ,the synodal assembly came out with a letter1 which was sent to other churches4 ,this was then like an attempt at federative organization1--an attempt to resolve questions by means of provincial assemblies1 presided over by bishops agreeing among themselves4 ,later1 questions concerning the presiding over synods and the hierarchy of the ,church sought solution in the documents of this great debate4 ,among all the churches1 that of ,rome appeared to have a particular initiative right4 ,but that initiative was far from being synonymous with infallibility2 for ,eusebius declares that he read the letters in which the bishops severely blamed the conduct of ,victor4 ,,iii4 ,authority1 gentlemen1 loves authority4 ,the authoritaires1 as we say to-day1 in the most diverse ranks1 extend the hand to each other4 ,men as conservative as the leaders of the ,church of ,rome must be strongly tempted to favor public force1 the effect of which is often for good1 as they must admit4 ,this tendency had been manifest since the first days of ,christianity4 ,jesus had laid down the rule4 ,the image of the money was for him the supreme criterion of its lawfulness1 beyond which there was nothing to seek4 ,in the height of the reign of ,nero1 ,st4 ,paul wrote1 ,let every soul be subject unto the higher powers4 ,for there is no power but of ,god3 the powers that be are ordained of ,god4 ,whosoever1 therefore1 resisteth the power1 resisteth the ordinance of ,god4 ,some years later1 ,peter1 or the person who wrote in his name the ,epistle known as the ,first of ,peter1 expresses himself in an identical manner4 ,clement was an equally devoted subject of the ,roman ,empire4 ,in fine1 one of the traits of ,st4 ,luke 7according to my idea there was a bond between ,st4 ,luke and the spirit of the church at ,rome7 is his respect of the imperial authority1 and the precautions which he took not to injure it4 ,the author of the ,acts evaded every thing which would present the ,romans as the enemies of ,christ4 ,on the contrary1 he seeks to show1 that1 under many circumstances1 they defended ,st4 ,paul and the ,christians against the ,jews4 ,never a disparaging word against the civil magistrates4 ,luke loved to show how the ,roman functionaries were favorable to the new religion1 sometimes even embracing it2 and how ,roman justice was equitable1 and superior to the passions of the local powers4 ,he insists upon the advantages which ,paul owed to his title of ,roman citizen4 ,if he ends his recital with the arrival of ,paul at ,rome1 it is perhaps in order not to recount the monstrosities of ,nero4 ,without doubt1 there were in other parts of the empire devoted ,christians who sympathized entirely with the anger of the ,jews1 and dreamed only of the destruction of the idolatrous city which they identified with ,babylon4 ,such were the authors of apocalypses and sibylline writings4 ,but the faithful of the great churches were of quite a different way of thinking4 ,in #gj1 the ,church of ,jerusalem1 with a sentiment more ,christian than patriotic1 left the revolutionary city1 and sought peace beyond the ,jordan4 ,in the revolt of ,barkokbas1 the division was still more pronounced4 ,not a single ,christian was willing to take part in this attempt of blind despair4 ,st4 ,justin in his ,apologies never combats the principle of empire4 ,he desired that the empire should examine the ,christian doctrine1 approve and countersign it in some way1 and condemn those who calumniated it4 ,the most learned doctor of the time of ,marcus ,aurelius1 ,meliton1 ,bishop of ,sardis1 made still more decided advances1 and undertook to show that there is always in ,christianity something to recommend it to a true ,roman4 ,in his ,treaty upon ,truth1 preserved in ,syriac1 ,meliton expresses himself in the same way as a bishop of the fourth century1 explaining to one ,theodosius that his first duty is to establish by his authority the triumph of truth 7without telling us1 alas6 by what sign one recognizes truth74 ,let the empire become ,christian1 and the persecuted of to-day would find that the interference of the state in the domain of conscience is perfectly legitimate4 ,the system of the apologists1 so warmly sustained by ,tertullian1 according to which the good emperors favored ,christianity1 and the bad ones persecuted it1 was already full blown4 ,born together1 said they1 ,christianity and the empire have grown up together1 and prospered together4 ,their interests1 their sufferings1 their fortunes1 their future1--all was in common4 ,the apologists were advocates2 and advocates in all orders resemble each other4 ,they have arguments for every situation and all tastes4 ,nearly a hundred and fifty years rolled on before these sweet and half sincere invitations were understood4 ,but the only impression they made in the time of ,marcus ,aurelius upon the mind of one of the most enlightened leaders of the ,church was as a prognostic of the future4 ,christianity and the empire will become reconciled4 ,they are made for each other4 ,the shade of ,meliton will tremble with joy when the empire becomes ,christian1 and the emperor takes in hand the cause of truth4 ,thus the ,church already took more than one step toward empire4 ,through politeness1 without doubt1 but only as a very legitimate consequence of his principles1 ,meliton does not allow that an emperor can give an unjust order4 ,it was easy to believe that certain emperors had not been absolutely opposed to ,christianity4 ,it is pleasant to relate that ,tiberius had proposed to place ,jesus in the rank of the gods3 it was the senate which objected4 ,the decided preference of ,christianity for power where it hopes for favors is already very transparent4 ,it is shown1 contrary to all truth1 that ,hadrian and ,antonine sought to repair the evil done by ,nero and ,domitian4 ,tertullian and his generation say the same thing of ,marcus ,aurelius4 ,tertullian doubted1 it is true1 whether one could be at the same time a ,csar and a ,christian2 but this incompatibility a century later struck no one1 and ,constantine proved that ,meliton of ,sardis was a very sagacious man when he discerned so well--a century and a half in advance1 seeing through the proconsular persecutions--the possibility of a ,christian ,empire4 ,the hatred of ,christianity and of the empire was that of men who must one day love them4 ,under the ,severi1 the language of the ,church remained plaintive and tender1 as it had been under the ,antonines4 ,the apologists affixed a species of legitimism1 a pretension that the ,church had always from the first saluted the emperor4 ,there were never among us1 said ,tertullian1 partisans of ,cassius1 partisans of ,albinus1 partisans of ,niger4 ,foolish illusion6 ,certainly the revolt of ,avidius ,cassius against ,marcus ,aurelius was a political crime1 and the ,christians did well not to be involved in it4 ,as for ,severus1 ,albinus1 and ,niger1 it was success that decided between them2 and the ,church had no other merit in attaching itself to ,severus than that of seeing clearly who would be the strongest4 ,this pretended worship of legitimacy was in truth only the worship of a fixed fact4 ,the principle of ,st4 ,paul bore fruit3 ,all power comes from ,god3 he who holds the sword holds it from ,god for good4 ,this correct attitude in regard to power clung to exterior necessities as much as to the principles which the ,church had received from its founders4 ,the ,church was already a powerful association4 ,it was essentially conservative4 ,it needed order and legal guaranties4 ,this was admirably shown in the act of ,paul of ,samos1 ,bishop of ,antioch1 under ,aurelian4 ,the ,bishop of ,antioch had become a powerful personage at this epoch4 ,the goods of the ,church were in his keeping3 a crowd of men lived on his favors4 ,paul was a brilliant man1 somewhat mystical1 worldly1 a great secular lord1 seeking to render ,christianity acceptable to men of the world and authority4 ,the ,pietists1 as might be expected1 considered him heretical1 and dismissed him4 ,paul resisted1 and refused to quit the ,episcopal house4 ,see into what the most exalted sects are led6 ,they were in possession1 and who could decide a question of proprietorship and possession1 if not the civil authority4 ,aurelian1 about this time1 passed on his way towards ,antioch2 and the question was referred to him4 ,here was seen this original spectacle of an infidel sovereign and persecutor deputed to decide which was the true bishop4 ,aurelian showed under these circumstances remarkably good sense for a layman4 ,he examined the correspondence of the two bishops1 took note as to which was in relation with ,rome and ,italy1 and decided that he was the true ,bishop of ,antioch4 ,aurelian made some objections to the theological reasoning used on this occasion2 but one fact was evident3 it was1 that ,christianity could not live without the empire1 and that the empire1 on the other hand1 could not do better than adopt ,christianity as its religion4 ,the world desired a religion of congregations1 of churches1 or of synagogues and chapels1--a religion in which the essence of the worship should be re-union1 association1 and fraternity4 ,christianity answered to all these conditions4 ,its admirable worship1 its well-organized clergy1 assured its future4 ,several times in the third century this historical necessity fell short of realization4 ,this is seen most plainly under those ,syrian emperors whom their quality of foreigners and base origin placed beyond prejudices1 and who1 in spite of their vices1 inaugurated a largeness of ideas and a tolerance hitherto unknown4 ,those ,syrian women of ,emesa1--,julia ,domna1 ,julia ,msa1 ,julia ,mamma1 ,julia ,soemia1--beautiful1 intelligent1 perfectly fearless1 and held by no tradition or social law1 hesitated at nothing4 ,they did what ,roman women would never have dared4 ,they entered the ,senate1 deliberated there1 and governed the empire effectively1 dreaming of ,semiramis and ,nitocris4 ,the ,roman worship seemed cold and insignificant to them4 ,not being bound by any family reasons1 and their imagination being more in harmony with ,christianity than with ,italian ,paganism1 these women amused themselves with the recitals of the deed of the gods upon earth4 ,philostratus enchanted them with his ,life of ,apollonius ,tyane4 ,perhaps they had more than one secret affinity with ,christianity4 ,certainly ,heliogabalus was mad2 and yet his chimera of a central1 ,monotheistic worship1 established at ,rome1 and absorbing all the other worships1 proved that the narrow circle of ideas of the ,antonines was broken4 ,alexander ,severus went still farther4 ,he was sympathetic with the ,christians3 not content with according them liberty1 he placed ,jesus in his lararium with a touching eclecticism4 ,peace seemed to be made1 not1 as under ,constantine1 by the defection of one of the parties1 but by a large reconciliation4 ,the same thing was seen again under ,philip the ,arab1 in the ,east under ,zenobia1 and generally under those emperors whose foreign origin placed them beyond ,roman patriotism4 ,the struggle redoubled in rage when those grand reformers1 ,diocletian and ,maximian1 animated by the ancient spirit1 believed themselves able to give new life for the empire by holding it to the narrow circle of ,roman ideas4 ,the ,church triumphed through its martyrs4 ,roman pride was humbled4 ,constantine saw the interior strength of the ,church4 ,the population of ,asia ,minor1 ,syria1 ,thrace1 and ,macedonia1 in a word the eastern part of the empire1 was already more than half ,christian4 ,his mother1 who had been a servant in an inn at ,nicomedia1 dazzled his eyes with the picture of an ,eastern empire having its centre near ,nica or ,nicomedia1 whose nerves should be the bishops and those multitudes of poor matriculates of the ,church who controlled opinion in large cities4 ,constantine made the empire ,christian4 ,from the ,occidental point of view1 that was astonishing2 for the ,christians were still but a feeble minority in the ,west3 in the ,orient1 the politics of ,constantine was not only natural1 but commanded4 ,wonderful thing6 ,the city of ,rome received from that politics the heaviest blow it had ever suffered4 ,christianity was successful under ,constantine2 but it was ,oriental ,christianity4 ,in building a new ,rome on the ,bosphorus1 ,constantine made the old ,rome the capital of the ,west alone4 ,the cataclysms which followed1 the invasions of the barbarians who spared ,constantinople1 and fell upon ,rome with all their weight1 reduced the ancient capital of the world to a limited and often humble condition4 ,that ecclesiastical primacy of ,rome which burst with so much effect upon the second and third centuries flourished no longer when the ,orient had an existence and a separate capital4 ,constantine was the real author of the schism of the ,latin ,church and the ,church of the ,orient4 ,rome took its revenge1 principally by the seriousness and depth of its spirit of organization4 ,what men were ,st4 ,sylvester1 ,st4 ,damasus1 and ,gregory the ,great6 ,with an admirable courage they labored for the conversion of the barbarians1 attached them to themselves1 and made them their friends and subjects4 ,the master-work of its politics was its alliance with the ,carlovingian house1 and the bold stroke by which it re-established in that house the empire which had been dead three hundred years4 ,the ,church of ,rome rose again more powerful than ever1 and became again the centre of all the grand affairs of the ,occident during eight centuries4 99 99 99 99 99 ,here my task is ended1 gentlemen4 ,you will confide to others the care of recounting the prodigious history of the feudal church1 its grandeurs and its abuses4 ,another still will show you the re-action against these abuses1--,protestantism returning to the primitive idea of ,christianity1 and dividing1 in its turn1 the ,latin ,church4 ,each one of these grand historical pages will have its charm and its instruction4 ,what ,i have recounted to you is full of grandeur4 ,one is impartial only to the dead4 ,since ,catholicism was an inimical power1 a danger to the liberty of the human mind1 it was right to oppose it4 ,our age is the age of history1 because it is the age of doubt upon dogmatic matters3 it is the age in which1 without entering into the discussion of systems1 an enlightened mind says to itself1 ,if1 since right exists1 and so many thousand symbols have made the pretension of presenting the complete truth1 and if this pretension is always found vain1 is it indeed probable that ,i shall be more happy than so many others1 and that the truth has awaited my coming here below in order to make its definite revelation8 ,there is no definite revelation4 ,it is the touching effort of man to render his destiny supportable4 ,but its reward is not disdain1 it is gratitude4 ,whoever believes that he has something to teach us concerning our destiny and our end should be welcome4 ,recall the account in your old histories of the judicious and discreet words of the ,saxon chief of ,northumbria1 in the assembly where the question was discussed concerning the adoption of the doctrine of the ,roman missionaries4 ,perhaps thou rememberest1 ,o king6 something which happens sometimes in the winter days1 when thou art seated at table with thy captains and thy men-at-arms2 that a good fire is lighted1 that thy chamber is very warm1 while it rains1 snows1 and blows without4 ,there comes a little bird1 which crosses the chamber on the wing1 entering at one door1 and going out by the other4 ,the moment of this passage is full of sweetness for him3 he no more feels the rain nor the storm4 ,the bird is gone in an instant1 and from the winter he passes again into the winter4 ,such seems to me the life of men on this earth1 and its course of a moment1 compared to the length of time which precedes and follows it4 ,the time before birth and after death is gloomy4 ,it torments us by its impossibility of comprehension3 if1 then1 the new doctrine can teach us any thing a little certain1 it deserves to be considered4 ,alas6 the ,roman missionaries did not bear this minimum of certainty1 with which the old ,northumbrian chief1 sage as he was1 declared himself content4 ,life always appears to us a short passage between two long nights4 ,happy those who can sleep in the empty noise of menaces which trouble at times the human conscience1 and should no more than cradle it6 ,one thing is certain3 it is the paternal smile which at certain hours pierces nature1 attesting that one eye regards us1 and one heart follows us4 ,let us guard ourselves from all absolute formula which might become one day an obstacle to the free expansion of our spirits4 ,there is no religious communion which does not still possess some gifts of life and pardon2 but it is on the condition only that an humble docility succeeds sympathetic adhesion4 ,the comparison of the regiment1 invented by ,clement ,romanus1 and since so many times repeated1 ought to be utterly abandoned4 ,you wished that ,i should recall to you the grandeurs of ,catholicism in its finest epoch4 ,i thank you for it4 ,some associations of childhood1 the most profound of all1 attach me to ,catholicism2 and1 although ,i am separated from it1 ,i am often tempted to say1 as ,job said 7at least in our ,latin version71 ,etiam si occideret me1 in ipso sperabo4 ,this great ,catholic family is too numerous not to have still a grand future4 ,the strange excesses which it has supported during fifty years1 this unequalled pontificate of ,pius ,,ix41 the most astonishing in history1 cannot be terminated in any ordinary way4 ,there will be thunders and lightnings such as accompany all the great judgment-days of ,god4 ,and will she have much to do in order to still remain acceptable to those who love her1--this old mother1 who will not die so soon8 ,perhaps she will find1 in order to arrest the arms of her conqueror1 which is modern reason1 some magician's arts1 some words such as ,balder murmured4 ,the ,catholic ,church is a woman3 let us distrust the charming words of her agony4 ,let us imagine that she says to us1 ,my children1 every thing here below is but a symbol and a dream4 ,in this world there is only one little ray of light which pierces the darkness1 and seems to be the reflection of a benevolent will4 ,come into my bosom1 where one finds forgetfulness4 ,for those who wish fetishes1 ,i have them2 to those who wish works1 ,i offer them2 for those who wish intoxication of heart1 ,i have the milk of my breast1 which will make drunk2 for those who desire love1 ,i have an abundance2 to those who crave irony1 ,i pour out freely4 ,come all3 the time of dogmatic sadness is past4 ,i have music and incense for your funerals1 flowers for your marriages1 the joyous welcome of bells for your new-born ones4 ,ah1 well6 if she should say that1 our embarrassment would be extreme4 ,but she never will4 ,your great and glorious ,england has resolved1 gentlemen1 the practical part of the question4 ,it is as easy to trace the line of conduct which the state and individuals should follow in the same matter1 as it is impossible to arrive at a theoretic solution of the religious problem4 ,all this may be conveyed in a single word1 gentlemen1--liberty4 ,what could be more simple8 ,faith does not control itself4 ,we believe what we believe true4 ,no one is bound to believe what he thinks false1 whether it is false or not4 ,to deny liberty of thought is a sort of contradiction4 ,from liberty of thought to the right to express one's thought1 there is but one step2 for right is the same for all4 ,i have no right to prevent a person from expressing his mind2 but no one has the right to prevent me from expressing mine4 ,here is a theory which will appear very humble to the learned doctors who believe themselves to be in possession of absolute truth4 ,we have a great advantage over them1 gentlemen4 ,they are obliged to be persecutors in order to be consistent2 to us it is permitted to be tolerant1--tolerant for all1 even for those1 who1 if they could1 would not be so to us4 ,yes1 let us even make this paradox3 liberty is the best weapon against the enemies of liberty4 ,some fanatics say to us with sincerity1 ,we take your liberty1 because you owe it to us according to your principles2 but you shall not have ours1 because we do not owe it to you4 ,ah1 well6 let us give them liberty all the same1 and we do not imagine that in this exchange we shall be duped4 ,no3 liberty is the great dissolvent of all fanaticisms4 ,in giving back liberty to my enemy1 who would suppress me if he had the power1 ,i shall really make him the worst gift4 ,i oblige him to drink a strong beverage which shall turn his head1 while ,i shall keep my own4 ,science supports the strange rgime of liberty3 fanaticism and superstition do not support it4 ,we do more harm to dogmatism by treating it with an implacable sweetness than by persecuting it4 ,by this sweetness we even inculcate the principle which destroys all dogmatism at its root1 by understanding that all metaphysical controversy is sterile1 and that1 for this reason1 the truth for each one is as he believes it4 ,the essential1 then1 is not to silence dangerous teaching1 and hush the discordant voice3 the essential is to place the human mind in a state in which the mass can see the uselessness of its rage4 ,when this spirit becomes the atmosphere of society1 the fanatic can no longer live4 ,he is conquered by a pervading gentleness4 ,if1 instead of conducting ,polyeuctus to punishment1 the ,roman magistrate had dismissed him smiling1 and taken him amicably by the hand1 ,polyeuctus would not have continued3 perhaps even in his old age he would have laughed at his escapade1 and would have become a man of good sense4 ,,conference1 ,royal ,academy1 ,london1 ,april #af1 #ahhj4 ,,marcus ,,aurelius4 ,,conference ,,at ,,the ,,royal ,,institution4 ,,marcus ,,aurelius4 ,ladies and ,gentlemen1--,i have accepted with great pleasure the invitation to address you in this illustrious institution devoted to the noblest researches of science and of true philosophy4 ,i have dreamed since my childhood of this island1 where ,i have so many friends1 and which ,i visit so tardily4 ,i am a ,briton of ,france4 ,in our old books1 ,england is always called the ,island of the ,saints2 and1 in truth1 all our saints of ,armorican ,brittany1 those saints of doubtful orthodoxy1 who1 if they were again alive1 would be more in harmony with us than with the ,jesuits1 came from the ,island of ,britain4 ,i have seen in their chapel the trough of stone in which they crossed the sea4 ,of all races1 the ,britain race is that which has ever taken religion the most seriously4 ,even when the progress of reflection has shown us that some articles among the catalogues of things which we have always regarded as fixed should be modified1 we never break away from the symbol under which we have from the first approved the ideal4 ,for our faith is not contained in obscure metaphysical propositions3 it is in the affirmations of the heart4 ,i have therefore chosen for my discourse to you1 not one of those subtleties which divide1 but one of those themes1 dear to the soul1 which bring nearer1 and reconcile4 ,i shall speak to you of that book resplendent with the divine spirit1 that manual of submissive life which the most godly of men has left us1--the ,csar1 ,marcus ,aurelius ,antonine4 ,it is the glory of sovereigns that the most irreproachable model of virtue may be found in their ranks1 and that the most beautiful lessons of patience and of self-control may come from a condition which one naturally believes to be subject to all the seductions of pleasure and of vanity4 ,i4 ,the inheritance of wisdom with a throne is always rare3 ,i find in history but two striking examples of it1--in ,india1 the succession of the three ,mongol emperors1 ,bber1 ,hoomyoon1 and ,akbar2 at ,rome1 at the head of the greatest empire that ever existed1 the two admirable reigns of ,antonine the ,pious and ,marcus ,aurelius4 ,of the last two1 ,i consider ,antonine the greatest4 ,his goodness did not lead him into faults3 he was not tormented with that internal trouble which disturbed without ceasing the heart of his adopted son4 ,this strange malady1 this restless study of himself1 this demon of scrupulousness1 this fever of perfection1 are signs of a less strong and distinguished nature4 ,as the finest thoughts are those which are not written1 ,antonine had in this respect also a superiority over ,marcus ,aurelius4 ,but let us add that we should be ignorant of ,antonine1 if ,marcus ,aurelius had not transmitted to us that exquisite portrait of his adopted father1 in which he seems to have applied himself1 through humility1 to painting the picture of a better man than himself4 ,it is he who has sketched in the first book of his ,thoughts1--that admirable background where the noble and pure forms of his father1 mother1 grandfather1 and tutors1 move in a celestial light4 ,thanks to ,marcus ,aurelius1 we are able to understand how these old ,roman families1 who had seen the reign of the wicked emperors1 still retained honesty1 dignity1 justice1 the civil1 and1 if ,i may dare to say it1 the republican spirit4 ,they lived there in admiration of ,cato1 of ,brutus1 of ,thrasea1 and of the great stoics whose souls had never bowed under tyranny4 ,the reign of ,domitian was abhorred by them4 ,the sages who had endured it without submission were honored as heroes4 ,the accession of the ,antonines was only the coming to power of the society of sages1 of whose just anger ,tacitus has informed us1--a society of wise men formed by the league of all those who had revolted against the despotism of the first ,csars4 ,the salutary principle of adoption made the imperial court of the second century a true cradle of virtue4 ,the noble and learned ,nerva1 in establishing this principle1 assured the happiness of the human race during almost a hundred years1 and gave to the world the best century of progress of which any knowledge has been preserved4 ,the sovereignty thus possessed in common by a group of choice men who delegated it or shared it1 according to the needs of the moment1 lost a part of that attraction which renders it so dangerous4 ,men came to the throne without seeking it1 but also without the right of birth1 or in any sense the divine right3 men came there understanding themselves1 experienced1 having been long prepared4 ,the empire was a civil burden which each accepted in his turn1 without dreaming of hastening the hour4 ,marcus ,aurelius was made emperor so young1 that the idea of ruling had scarcely occurred to him1 and had not for a moment exercised its charm upon his mind4 ,at eight years1 when he was already prsul of the ,salian priests1 ,hadrian remarked this sad child1 and loved him for his good-nature1 his docility1 and his incapability of falsehood4 ,at eighteen years the empire was assured to him4 ,he awaited it patiently for twenty-two years4 ,the evening when ,antonine1 feeling himself about to die1 after having given to the tribune the watchword1 quanimitas1 commanded the golden statue of ,fortune1 which was always in the apartment of the emperor1 to be borne into that of his adopted son1 he experienced neither surprise nor joy4 ,he had long been sated with all joys1 without having tasted them3 he had seen the absolute vanity of them by the profoundness of his philosophy4 ,the great inconvenience of practical life1 and that which renders it insupportable to a superior man1 is1 that1 if one carries into it the principles of the ideal1 talents become defects2 so that very often the accomplished man is less successful in it than one who is fitted by egotism or ordinary routine4 ,three or four times the virtue of ,marcus ,aurelius came near being his ruin4 ,the first fault into which it led him was that of sharing the empire with ,lucius ,verus1 to whom he was under no obligation4 ,verus was a frivolous and worthless man4 ,prodigies of goodness and delicacy were necessary in order to prevent his committing disastrous follies4 ,the wise emperor1 earnest and industrious1 took with him in his lectica 7sedan7 the senseless colleague whom he had given himself4 ,he persisted in treating him seriously3 he never once revolted against this sorry companionship4 ,like all well-bred men1 ,marcus ,aurelius discommoded himself continually3 his manners came from a general habit of firmness and dignity4 ,souls of this kind1 either from respect for human nature1 or in order not to wound others1 resign themselves to the appearance of seeing no evil4 ,their life is a perpetual dissimulation4 ,according to some1 he even deceived himself1 since1 in his intimate intercourse with the gods1 on the borders of the ,granicus1 speaking of his unworthy wife1 he thanked them for having given him a wife so amiable1 so affectionate1 so pure4 ,i have shown elsewhere that the patience1 or1 if one chooses1 the weakness1 on this point1 of ,marcus ,aurelius1 has been somewhat exaggerated4 ,faustina had faults3 the greatest one was that she disliked the friends of her husband2 and1 as these friends wrote history1 she has paid the penalty before posterity4 ,but a discriminating critic has no trouble in showing the exaggerations of the legend4 ,every thing indicates that ,faustina at first found happiness and love in that villa at ,lorium1 or in that beautiful retreat at ,lanuvium upon the highest points of the ,alban mount1 which ,marcus ,aurelius described to his tutor ,fronto as an abode full of the purest joys4 ,then she became weary of too much wisdom4 ,let us tell all3 the beautiful sentences of ,marcus ,aurelius1 his austere virtue1 his perpetual melancholy1 might have become tiresome to a young and capricious woman possessed of an ardent temperament and marvellous beauty4 ,he understood it1 suffered it1 and spoke not4 ,faustina remained always his very good and very faithful wife4 ,no one succeeded1 even after her death1 in persuading him to give up this pious lie4 ,in a bas-relief which is still seen in the ,museum of the ,capitol at ,rome1 while ,faustina is borne to heaven by a messenger of the gods1 the excellent emperor regards her with a look full of love4 ,it seems that at last he had deceived himself1 and forgotten all4 ,but through what a struggle he must have passed in order to do this6 ,during long years1 a sickness at heart slowly consumed him4 ,the desperate effort which was the essence of his philosophy1 this frenzy of renunciation1 carried sometimes even to sophism1 concealed an immense wound at the bottom4 ,how necessary it must have been to bid adieu to happiness in order to reach such an excess6 ,no one will ever understand all that this poor wounded heart suffered1 the bitterness which that pale face concealed1 always calm1 always smiling4 ,it is true that the farewell to happiness is the beginning of wisdom and the surest means of finding peace4 ,there is nothing so sweet as the return of joy which follows the renunciation of joy2 nothing so keen1 so profound1 so charming1 as the enchantment of the disenchanted4 ,some historians1 more or less imbued with that policy which believes itself to be superior1 because it is not suspected of any philosophy1 have naturally sought to prove that so accomplished a man was a bad administrator and a mediocre sovereign4 ,it appears1 in fact1 that ,marcus ,aurelius sinned more than once by too much lenity4 ,but never was there a reign more fruitful in reforms and progress4 ,the public charity founded by ,nerva and ,trajan was admirably developed by him4 ,new schools were established for poor children2 the superintendents of provisions became functionaries of the first rank1 and were chosen with extreme care2 while the wants of poor young girls were cared for by the ,institute of ,jeunes ,faustiniennes4 ,the principle that the state has duties in some degree paternal towards its members 7a principle which should be remembered with gratitude1 even when it has been dispensed with71--this principle1 ,i say1 was proclaimed for the first time in the world by ,trajan and his successors4 ,neither the puerile pomp of ,oriental kingdoms1 founded on the baseness and stupidity of men1 nor the pedantic pride of the kingdoms of the middle ages1 founded on an exaggerated sentiment for hereditary succession1 and on a simple faith in the rights of blood1 could give an idea of the utterly republican sovereignty of ,nerva1 ,trajan1 ,hadrian1 ,antonine1 and ,marcus ,aurelius4 ,nothing of the prince by hereditary or divine right1 nothing of the military chieftain3 it was a sort of grand civil magistracy1 without resembling a court in any way1 or depriving the emperor of his private character4 ,marcus ,aurelius1 in particular1 was neither much nor little a king in the true sense of the word4 ,his fortune was immense1 but all employed for good3 his aversion for the ,csars1 whom he considered as a species of ,sardanapali1 magnificent1 debauched1 and cruel1 burst out at each instant4 ,the civility of his manners was extreme4 ,he gave to the ,senate all its ancient importance3 when he was at ,rome1 he never missed a session1 and left his place only when the ,consul had pronounced the formula1 ,nihil vos moramar1 patres conscripti4 ,almost every year of his reign he made war1 and he made it well1 although he found in it only ennui4 ,his listless campaigns against the ,quadi and ,marcomanni were very well conducted3 the disgust which he felt for them did not prevent his most conscientious attention to them4 ,it was in the course of one of these expeditions1 that1 encamped on the banks of the ,granicus1 in the midst of the monotonous plains of ,hungary1 he wrote the most beautiful pages of the exquisite book which has revealed his whole soul to us4 ,it is probable1 that1 when very young1 he kept a journal of his secret thoughts4 ,he inscribed there the maxims to which he had recourse in order to fortify himself1 the reminiscences of his favorite authors1 the passages of the moralists which appealed most to him1 the principles which had sustained him through the day1 sometimes the reproaches which his scrupulous conscience addressed to him4 ,one seeks for himself solitary retreats1 rustic cottages1 sea-shore1 or mountains3 like others1 thou lovest to dream of these good things4 ,to what end1 since it is permitted to thee to retire within thy soul each hour8 ,man has nowhere a more tranquil retreat1 above all1 if he has within himself those things1 the contemplation of which will calm him4 ,learn1 then1 how to enjoy this retreat1 and there renew thy strength4 ,let there be those short fundamental maxims1 which above all will give again serenity to thy soul1 and restore thee to a state in which to support with resignation the world to which thou shouldest return4 ,during the sad winters of the ,north1 this consolation became still more necessary to him4 ,he was nearly sixty years old3 old age was premature with him4 ,one evening all the pictures of his pious youth returned to his remembrance1 and he passed some delicious hours in calculating how much he owed to each one of the virtuous beings who had surrounded him4 ,examples of my grandfather ,verus1--sweetness of manners1 unchangeable patience4 ,qualities which one valued in my father1 the souvenir which he has left me1--modesty1 manly character4 ,to imitate the piety of my mother1 her benevolence2 to abstain1 like her1 not only from doing evil1 but from conceiving the thought of it2 to lead her frugal life1 which so little resembled the habitual luxury of the rich4 ,then appeared to him1 in turn1 ,diagnotus1 who had inspired him with a taste for philosophy1 and made agreeable to his eyes the pallet1 the covering made of a simple skin1 and all the apparel of ,hellenic discipline2 ,junius ,rusticus1 who taught him to avoid all affectation of elegance in style1 and loaned him the ,conversations of ,epictetus2 ,apollonius of ,chalcis1 who realized the ,stoic ideal of extreme firmness and perfect sweetness2 ,sextus of ,chaeroneia1 so grave and so good2 ,alexander the grammarian1 who censured with such refined politeness2 ,fronto1 who taught him the envy1 duplicity1 and hypocrisy of a tyrant1 and the hardness which may exist in the heart of a patrician2 his brother ,severus1 who made him understand ,thrasia1 ,helvidius1 ,cato1 ,brutus1 who gave him the idea of what a free government is1 where the rule is the natural equality of the citizens and the equality of their rights2 of a royalty which places before all else the respect for the liberty of the citizens2 and1 rising above all others in his immaculate grandeur1 ,antonine1 his father by adoption1 whose picture he traces for us with redoubled gratitude and love4 ,i thank the gods1 said he finally1 for having given me good ancestors1 good parents1 a good sister1 good teachers1 and in my surroundings1 in my relations1 in my friends1 men almost all filled with goodness4 ,i never allowed myself to be wanting in deference towards them3 from my natural disposition1 ,i could sometimes have shown irreverence2 but the benevolence of the gods never permitted the occasion to present itself4 ,i am also indebted to the gods1 who preserved pure the flower of my youth1 for having been reared under the rule of a prince1 and a father who strove to free my soul from all trace of pride1 to make me understand that it is possible1 while living in a palace1 to dispense with guards1 with splendid clothes1 with torches1 with statues1 to teach me1 in short1 that a prince can almost contract his life within the limits of that of a simple citizen1 without1 on that account1 showing less nobility and vigor when he comes to be an emperor1 and transact the affairs of state4 ,they gave me a brother1 whose manners were a continual exhortation to watch over myself1 while his deference and attachment should have made the joy of my heart4 ,thanks to the gods again1 that ,i have made haste to raise those who have cared for my education1 to the honors which they seemed to desire4 ,they have enabled me to understand ,apollonius1 ,rusticus1 ,maximus1 and have held out to me1 surrounded with brilliant light1 the picture of a life conformed to nature4 ,i have fallen short of it in the end1 it is true2 but it is my fault4 ,if my body has long supported the rude life which ,i lead2 if1 in spite of my frequent neglect of ,rusticus1 ,i have never overstepped the bounds1 or done any thing of which ,i should repent2 if my mother1 who died young1 was able1 nevertheless1 to pass her last years near me2 if1 whenever ,i have wished to succor the poor or afflicted1 money has never been wanting2 if ,i have never needed to accept any thing from others2 if ,i have a wife of an amiable1 affectionate1 and pure character2 if ,i have found many capable men for the education of my children2 if1 at the beginning of my passion for philosophy1 ,i did not become the prey of a sophist1--it is to the gods that ,i owe it all4 ,yes1 so many blessings could only be the result of the aid of the gods and a happy fortune4 ,this divine candor breathes in every page4 ,no one has ever written more simply than did he for the sole purpose of unburdening his heart to ,god1 his only witness4 ,there is not a shadow of system in it4 ,marcus ,aurelius1 to speak exactly1 had no philosophy3 although he owed almost every thing to stoicism transformed by the ,roman spirit1 it is of no school4 ,according to our idea1 he has too little curiosity2 for he knows not all that a contemporary of ,ptolemy and ,galen should know3 he has some opinions on the system of the world1 which were not up to the highest science of his time4 ,but his moral thought1 thus detached from all alliance with a system1 reaches a singular height4 ,the author of the book1 ,the ,imitation1 himself1 although free from the quarrels of the schools1 does not rise to this1 for his manner of feeling is essentially ,christian4 ,take away his ,christian dogmas1 and his book retains only a portion of its charm4 ,the book of ,marcus ,aurelius1 having no dogmatic base1 preserves its freshness eternally4 ,every one1 from the atheist1 or he who believes himself one1 to the man who is the most devoted to the especial creeds of each worship1 can find in it some fruits of edification4 ,it is the most purely human book which exists4 ,it deals with no question of controversy4 ,in theology1 ,marcus ,aurelius floats between pure ,deism1 ,polytheism interpreted in a physical sense according to the manner of the ,stoics1 and a sort of cosmic ,pantheism4 ,he holds not much more firmly to one hypothesis than to the other1 and he uses indiscriminately the three vocabularies of the ,deist1 ,polytheist1 and ,pantheist4 ,his considerations have always two sides1 according as ,god and the soul have1 or have not1 reality4 ,it is the reasoning which we do each hour2 for1 if the most complete ,materialism is right1 we who have believed in truth and goodness shall be no more duped than others4 ,if ,idealism is right1 we have been the true sages1 and we have been wise in the only manner which becomes us1 that is to say1 with no selfish waiting1 without having looked for a remuneration4 ,,ii4 ,we here touch a great secret of moral philosophy and religion4 ,marcus ,aurelius has no speculative philosophy2 his theology is utterly contradictory2 he has no idea founded upon the soul and immortality4 ,how could he be so moral without the beliefs that are now regarded as the foundations of morality8 how so profoundly religious1 without having professed one of the dogmas of what is called natural religion8 ,it is important to make this inquiry4 ,the doubts1 which1 to the view of speculative reason1 hover above the truths of natural religion1 are not1 as ,kant has admirably shown1 accidental doubts1 capable of being removed1 belonging1 as is sometimes imagined1 to certain conditions of the human mind4 ,these doubts are inherent to the nature even of these truths1 if one may say it without a paradox2 and1 if these doubts were removed1 the truths with which they quarrel would disappear at the same time4 ,let us suppose1 in short1 a direct1 positive proof1 evident to all1 of future sufferings and rewards3 where will be the merit of doing good8 ,they would be but fools whom gayety of heart should hasten to damnation4 ,a crowd of base souls would secure their salvation without concealment3 they would1 in a sense1 force the divine power4 ,who does not see1 that1 in such a system1 there is neither morality nor religion8 ,in the moral and religious order it is indispensable to believe without demonstration4 ,it deals not with certainty3 it acts by faith4 ,this is what ,deism forgets1 with its habits of intemperate affirmation4 ,it forgets that creeds too precise concerning human destiny would destroy all moral merit4 ,for us1 they would say that we should do as did ,st4 ,louis when he was told of the miraculous wafer1--we should refuse to see it4 ,what need have we of these brutal proofs which trammel our liberty8 ,we should fear to become assimilated to those speculators in virtue1 or those vulgar cowards1 who mingle with spiritual things the gross selfishness of practical life4 ,in the days which followed the belief in the resurrection of ,jesus1 this sentiment was manifested in the most touching manner4 ,the faithful in heart1 the sensitive ones1 preferred to believe without seeing4 ,blessed are they that have not seen1 and yet have believed1 became the word for the time4 ,charming words6 ,eternal symbol of tender and generous ,idealism1 which has a horror of touching with the hands that which should only be seen with the heart6 ,our good ,marcus ,aurelius1 on this point as on all others1 was in advance of the ages4 ,he never cared to argue with himself concerning ,god and the soul4 ,as if he had read the ,criticism of ,practical ,reason1 he saw clearly1 that1 where the ,infinite is concerned1 no formula is absolute2 and that1 in such matters1 one has no chance of seeing the truth during his life1 without much self-contradiction4 ,he distinctly separates moral beauty from all theoretical theology4 ,he allows duty to depend on no metaphysical opinion of the ,first ,cause4 ,the intimate union with an unseen god was never carried to a more unheard-of delicacy4 ,to offer to the government of ,god that which is within thee1--a strong being ripened by age1 a friend of the public good1 a ,roman1 an emperor1 a soldier at his post awaiting the signal of the trumpet1 a man ready to quit life without regret4 ,there are many grains of incense destined to the same altar3 one falls sooner1 the other later1 in the fire2 but the difference is nothing4 ,man should live according to nature during the few days that are given him on the earth1 and1 when the moment of leaving it comes1 should submit himself sweetly1 as an olive1 which1 in falling1 blesses the tree which has produced it1 and renders thanks to the branch which has borne it4 ,all that which thou arrangest is suited to me1 ,o ,cosmos6 ,nothing of that which comes from thee is premature or backward to me4 ,i find my fruit in that which thy seasons bear1 ,o ,nature6 ,from thee comes all2 in thee is all2 to thee all returns4 ,o man6 thou hast been a citizen in the great city3 what matters it to thee to have remained three or five years8 ,that which is governed by laws is unjust for no one4 ,what is there1 then1 so sorrowful in being sent from the city1 not by a tyrant1 not by an unjust judge1 but by the same nature which allowed thee to enter there8 ,it is as if a comedian is discharged from the theatre by the same prtor who engaged him4 ,but wilt thou say1 ',i have not played the five acts2 ,i have played but three8' ,thou sayest well2 but in life three acts suffice to complete the entire piece4444 ,go1 then1 content1 since he who dismisses thee is content4 ,is this to say that he never revolted against the strange fate which leaves man alone face to face with the needs of devotion1 of sacrifice1 of heroism1 and nature with its transcendent immorality1 its supreme disdain for virtue8 ,no4 ,once at least the absurdity1 the colossal iniquity1 of death1 strikes him4 ,but soon his temperament1 completely mortified1 resumes its power1 and he becomes calm4 ,how happens it that the gods1 who have ordered all things so well1 and with so much love for men1 should have forgotten one thing only2 that is1 that men of tried virtue1 who during their lives have had a sort of interchange of relations with divinity1 who have made themselves loved by it on account of their pious acts and their sacrifices1 live not after death1 but may be extinguished forever8 ,since it is so1 be sure1 that1 if it should be otherwise1 they 7the gods7 would not have failed2 for1 if it had been just1 it would have been possible2 if it had been suitable to nature1 nature would have permitted it4 ,consequently1 when it is not thus1 strengthen thyself in this consideration1 that it was not necessary that it should be thus4 ,thou thyself seest plainly that to make such a demand is to dispute his right with ,god4 ,now1 we would not thus contend with the gods if they were not absolutely good and absolutely just3 if they are so1 they have allowed nothing to make a part of the order of the world which is contrary to justice and right4 ,ah6 is it too much resignation1 ladies and gentlemen8 ,if it is veritably thus1 we have the right to complain4 ,to say1 that1 if this world has not its counterpart1 the man who is sacrificed to truth or right ought to leave it content1 and absolve the gods1--that is too nave4 ,no1 he has a right to blaspheme them4 ,for1 in short1 why has his credulity been thus abused8 ,why should he have been endowed with deceitful instincts1 of which he has been the honest dupe8 ,wherefore is this premium given to the frivolous or wicked man8 ,is it1 then1 he who is not deceived who is the wise man8 ,then cursed be the gods who so adjudge their preferences6 ,i desire that the future may be an enigma2 but1 if there is no future1 then this world is a frightful ambuscade4 ,take notice that our wish is not that of the vulgar clown4 ,we wish not to see the chastisement of the culpable1 nor to meddle with the interests of our virtue4 ,our wish has no selfishness3 it is simply to be1 to remain in accord with light1 to continue the thought we have begun1 to know more of it1 to enjoy some day that truth which we seek with so much labor1 to see the triumph of the good which we have loved4 ,nothing is more legitimate4 ,the worthy emperor1 moreover1 was also sensible of it3 ,what6 the light of a lamp burns until the moment in which it is extinguished1 and loses nothing of its brilliancy1 and the truth1 justice1 temperance1 which are in thee shall be extinguished with thee6 ,all his life was passed in this noble hesitation4 ,if he sinned1 it was through too much piety4 ,less resigned1 he would have been more just2 for surely to demand that there should be an intimate and sympathetic witness of the struggles which we endure for goodness and truth is not to ask too much4 ,it is possible1 also1 that if his philosophy had been less exclusively moral1 if it had implied a more curious study of history and of the universe1 it would have escaped a certain excessive rigor4 ,like the ascetic ,christians1 ,marcus ,aurelius sometimes carried renunciation to dryness and subtlety4 ,one feels that this calmness1 which never belies itself1 is obtained through an immense effort4 ,certainly1 evil had never an attraction for him3 he had no passion to struggle against4 ,whatever one may do or say1 writes he1 it is necessary that ,i should be a good man2 as the emerald might say1 ',whatever one may say or do1 ,i must remain an emerald1 and retain my color4' ,but1 in order to hold one's self always upon the icy summit of stoicism1 it is necessary to do cruel violence to nature1 and to cut away from it more than one noble element4 ,this perpetual repetition of the same reasoning1 the thousand figures under which he seeks to represent to himself the vanity of all things1 these frequently artless proofs of universal frivolity1 testify to strifes which he has passed through in order to extinguish all desire in himself4 ,at times we find in it something harsh and sad4 ,the reading of ,marcus ,aurelius strengthens1 but it does not console3 it leaves a void in the soul which is at once cruel and delightful1 which one would not exchange for full satisfaction4 ,humility1 renunciation1 severity towards self1 were never carried further4 ,glory--that last illusion of great souls--is reduced to nothingness4 ,it is needful to do right without disturbing one's self as to whether any one knows that we do it4 ,he perceives that history will speak of him3 he sometimes dreams of the men of the past with whom the future will associate him4 ,if they have only played the part of tragic actors1 said he1 no one has condemned me to imitate them4 ,the absolute mortification at which he had arrived had destroyed the last fibre of self-love in him4 ,the consequences of this austere philosophy might have been hardness and obstinacy4 ,it is here that the rare goodness of the nature of ,marcus ,aurelius shines out in its full brilliancy4 ,his severity is only for himself4 ,the fruit of this great tension of soul is an infinite benevolence4 ,all his life was a study of how to return good for evil4 ,at evening1 after some sad experience of human perversity1 he wrote only as follows3 ,if thou canst1 correct them2 on the other hand1 remember that thou shouldest exercise benevolence towards those who have been given to thee4 ,the gods themselves are benevolent to men3 they aid them1--so great is their goodness6--to acquire health1 riches1 glory4 ,thou art permitted to be like the gods4 ,another day1 some one was very wicked2 for see what he wrote upon his tablets3 ,such is the order of nature3 men of this sort must act thus from necessity4 ,to wish it to be otherwise is to wish that the fig-tree shall bear no figs4 ,remember1 thou1 in one word1 this thing3 in a very short time thou and he will die2 soon after1 your names even will be known no more4 ,the thoughts of a universal pardon recur without ceasing4 ,at times a scarcely perceptible smile is mingled with this charming goodness1--,the best method of avenging one's self upon the wicked is not to be like them2 or a light stroke of pride1--,it is a royal thing to hear evil said of one's self when one does right4 ,one day he thus reproached himself3 ,thou hast forgotten1 said he1 what holy relationship unites each man to the human race1--a relationship not of blood1 or of birth1 but the participation in the same intelligence4 ,thou hast forgotten that the reasoning power of each one is a god1 derived from the ,supreme ,being4 ,in the business of life he was always exact1 although a little ingenuous1 as very good men usually are4 ,the nine reasons for forbearance which he valued for himself 7book xi4 art4 #ah7 show us his charming good-nature before family troubles1 which perhaps came to him through his unworthy son4 ,if1 upon occasion1 said he to himself1 thou exhortest him quietly1 and shalt give to him without anger some lessons like these1--',no1 my child2 we are born for each other4 ,it is not ,i who suffer the evil1 it is thou who doest it thyself1 my child6'--show him adroitly1 by a general consideration1 that such is the rule2 that neither the bees1 nor the animals who live naturally in herds1 resemble him4 ,say this without mockery or insult1 with an air of true affection1 with a heart which is not excited by anger2 not as a pedant1 not for the sake of being admired by those who are present2 think only of him4 ,commodus 7if it was for him that he thus acted7 was1 without doubt1 little touched by this good paternal rhetoric4 ,one of the maxims of the excellent emperor was1 that the wicked are unhappy1 that one is only wicked in spite of himself1 and through ignorance4 ,he pitied those who were not like himself3 he did not believe that he had the right to obtrude himself upon them4 ,he well understood the baseness of men2 but he did not avow it4 ,this willing blindness is the defect of choice spirits4 ,the world not being all that they could wish1 they lie to themselves in order not to see it as it is4 ,from thence arises an expediency in their judgments4 ,in ,marcus ,aurelius1 this expediency sometimes provokes us a little4 ,if we wished to believe him1 his instructors1 several of whom were men of mediocrity1 were1 without exception1 superior men4 ,one would say that every one near him had been virtuous4 ,this is carried to such a point1 that one is forced to ask if the brother for whom he pronounces such a grand eulogy in his thanks to the gods was not his adopted brother1 ,lucius ,verus4 ,it is certain that the good emperor was capable of strong illusions when he undertook to lend to others his own virtues4 ,this quality1 expressed as an ancient opinion1 especially by the pen of the ,emperor ,julian1 caused him to commit an enormous error1 which was that of not disinheriting ,commodus4 ,this is one of those things which it is easy to say at a distance1 when there are no obstacles present1 and when one reasons without facts4 ,it is forgotten at first that the emperors1 who1 after ,nerva1 made adoption so fruitful a political system1 had no sons4 ,adoption1 with the exheredation of the son or grandson1 occurred in the first century of the empire without good results4 ,marcus ,aurelius was evidently from principle in favor of direct inheritance1 in which he saw the advantage of the prevention of competition4 ,after the birth of ,commodus1 in #afa1 he presented him alone to the people1 although he had a twin-brother3 he frequently took him in his arms and renewed this act1 which was a sort of proclamation4 ,in #aff ,lucius ,verus demanded that the two sons of ,marcus1 ,commodus and ,annius ,verus1 should be made ,csars4 ,in #agb ,commodus shared with his father the title of ,germanicus4 ,in #agc1 after the repression of the revolt of ,avidius1 the ,senate1 in order to recognize in some way the family disinterestedness which ,marcus ,aurelius had shown1 demanded by acclamation the empire and the tribunitial power for ,commodus4 ,already the natural wickedness of the latter had betrayed itself by more than one symptom known to his tutors2 but how shall one foresee the future from a few naughty acts of a child of twelve years8 ,in #agf-agg his father made him ,imperator1 ,consul1 ,augustus4 ,this was certainly an imprudence2 but he was bound by his previous acts3 ,commodus1 moreover1 still restrained himself4 ,in later years1 the evil completely revealed itself4 ,on each page of the last books of the ,thoughts1 we see the trace of the martyr within the excellent father1 of the accomplished emperor1 who saw a monster growing up beside him1 ready to succeed him1 and to take in every thing through antipathy1 the opposite course from that which he had believed to be for the good of men4 ,the thought of disinheriting ,commodus must1 without doubt1 have come often to ,marcus ,aurelius4 ,but it was too late4 ,after having associated him in the empire1 after having so many times proclaimed him to the legions as perfect and accomplished1 to come before the world and declare him to be unworthy would be a scandal4 ,marcus was caught in his own phrases1 by that style of benevolent expediency which was too habitual with him4 ,and1 after all1 ,commodus was only seventeen years old3 who could be sure that he would not reform8 ,even after the death of ,marcus ,aurelius this was hoped for4 ,commodus at first showed the intention of following the counsels of meritorious persons with whom his father had surrounded him4 ,the reproach which is made1 then1 against ,marcus ,aurelius1 is not that of not having1 but of having1 a son4 ,it was not his fault if the age could not support so much wisdom4 ,in philosophy1 the great emperor had placed the ideal of virtue so high1 that no one would care to follow him4 ,in politics1 his benevolent optimism had enfeebled the state services1 above all1 the army4 ,in religion1 in order not to be too much bound by a religion of the state1 of which he saw the weakness1 he prepared the great triumph of the non-official worship1 and left a reproach to hover above his memory1--unjust1 it is true2 but even its shadow should not be found in so pure a life4 ,we touch here upon one of the most delicate points in the biography of ,marcus ,aurelius4 ,it is unhappily certain1 that1 under his reign1 ,christians were condemned to death1 and executed4 ,the policy of his predecessors had been firm in this particular4 ,trajan1 ,antonine1 ,hadrian himself1 saw in the ,christians a secret sect1 anti-social1 dreaming of overturning the empire4 ,like all men true to the old ,roman principles1 they believed in the necessity of repressing them4 ,there was no need of special edicts3 the laws against the coetus illiciti1 the illicita collegia1 were numerous4 ,the ,christians fell in the most explicit sense under the force of these laws4 ,truly1 it would have been worthy of the wise emperor who introduced so many reforms full of humanity1 to suppress the edicts which entailed such cruel and unjust consequences4 ,but it is necessary to observe primarily1 that the true spirit of liberty1 as we understand it1 was not then understood by any one2 and that ,christianity1 when it was master1 practised it no more than the ,pagan emperors4 ,in the second place1 the abrogation of the laws against illicit societies would have been the ruin of the empire1 founded essentially upon the principle that the state ought not to admit within its bosom any society differing from it4 ,the principle was bad1 according to our ideas3 it is very certain1 at least1 that it was the corner-stone in the ,roman constitution4 ,marcus ,aurelius1 far from exaggerating it1 extenuated it with all his powers2 and one of the glories of his reign is the extension of the right of association4 ,however1 he did not go to the root3 he did not completely abolish the laws against the collegia illicita1 and in the provinces there resulted from them some processes infinitely to be regretted4 ,the reproach which can be made against him is the same that might be made to the rulers of our day1 who do not suppress with a stroke of the pen all the laws restrictive of the liberties of re-union1 of association1 and of the press4 ,from the distance at which we stand1 we can see that ,marcus ,aurelius1 in being more completely liberal1 would have been wiser4 ,perhaps ,christianity left free would have developed in a manner less disastrous the theocratic and absolute principle which was in it2 but one cannot reproach a man with not having stirred up a radical revolution on account of a prevision of what would occur several centuries after him4 ,trajan1 ,hadrian1 ,antonine1 ,marcus ,aurelius1 could not know the principles of general history and political economy which have been understood only in our time1 and which only our last revolutions could reveal4 ,in any case1 the mansuetude of the good emperor was in this respect shielded from all reproach4 ,no one has the right to be more exacting in this respect than was ,tertullian4 ,consult your annals1 said he to the ,roman magistrates4 ,you will then see that the princes who have been severe towards us are of those who have held to the honor of having been our persecutors4 ,on the contrary1 all the princes who have respected divine and human laws include but one who persecuted the ,christians4 ,we can even name one of them who declared himself their protector1--the wise ,marcus ,aurelius4 ,if he did not openly revoke the edicts against our brethren1 he destroyed their power by the severe penalties which he declared against their accusers4 ,it is necessary to remember that the ,roman ,empire was ten or twelve times as large as ,france1 and that the responsibility of the emperor was very little in the judgments which were rendered in the provinces4 ,it is necessary1 moreover1 to recall the fact that ,christianity claimed not only the liberty of worship3 all the creeds which tolerated each other were allowed much freedom in the empire4 ,christianity and ,judaism were the exceptions to this rule on account of their intolerance and spirit of exclusion4 ,we have1 then1 good reason to mourn sincerely for ,marcus ,aurelius4 ,under him philosophy reigned4 ,one moment1 thanks to him1 the world was governed by the best and greatest man of his age4 ,frightful decadences followed2 but the little casket which contained the ,thoughts on the banks of the ,granicus was saved4 ,from it came forth that incomparable book in which ,epictetus was surpassed1 that ,evangel of those who believe not in the supernatural1 which has not been comprehended until our day4 ,veritable1 eternal ,evangel1 the book of ,thoughts1 which will never grow old1 because it asserts no dogma4 ,the virtue of ,marcus ,aurelius1 like our own1 rests upon reason1 upon nature4 ,st4 ,louis was a very virtuous man1 because he was a ,christian3 ,marcus ,aurelius was the most godly of men1 not because he was a ,pagan1 but because he was a gifted man4 ,he was the honor of human nature1 and not of an established religion4 ,science may yet destroy1 in appearance1 ,god and the immortal soul2 but the book of the ,thoughts will still remain young with life and truth4 ,the religion of ,marcus ,aurelius is the absolute religion1 that which results from the simple fact of a high moral conscience placed face to face with the universe4 ,it is of no race1 neither of any country4 ,no revolution1 no change1 no discovery1 will have power to affect it4 ,transcriber's ,notes3 ,phrases in italics are indicated by italics4 ,words in the text which were in small-caps were converted to title-case4 ,the oe ligature is indicated by oe 7e4g4 ,phoenician74 ,missing word added3 pg #cd the word it has been added to the phrase3 if 7it7 had been announced ,words re-arranged3 pg #abf the be strongest -- be the strongest ,typos corrected3 pg #cb ,pysche -- ,psyche pg #ed apochryphal -- apocryphal pg #ie ,judean -- ,judan 7#b occurrences7 pg #aji ,mithracism -- ,mithraicism pg #aej ctizens -- citizens